My child is an OOS admitted student to marine bio at both UW and UCSC.
Costs are effectively the same for our family after aid and awards.
Yes, we are well aware the weather is not.
They want meaningful undergrad research and opportunities, ideally as soon as possible in their college life.
They are a SCUBA diver.
Their ECs include theatre and music and arts.
Not interested in greek life, more board games and music jams and hanging out.
We will NOT be able to visit either school again for Admitted Student Day.
They had a straightforward tour and positive visit to UW. (on a rainy day)
They had a botched tour which didn’t really do UCSC its proper dues.
My gut is they wish they had applied to a few smaller schools from the beginning but truly did want research so what we have are choices at awesome R1 and R2 choice schools on both coasts. My child truly will bloom where they are planted. That is not the problem. My challenge is they are almost too agnostic about it I’m finding it hard to help them come to a decision.
We live in a mixed use neighborhood exactly in the middle of a city of about 600,000. So they are familiar with transit, and cities - but different scale.
We have extended family near all schools (Portland, OR and Bay Area).
I can help them see the opportunities/costs at the other schools they’ve been accepted to (CSUMB, URI, UNE, UNH, StonyBrook) but what I don’t really know enough about is the UW and UCSC opportunities and things to keep in mind at each of these school. Please lend your insights. Thank you.
My daughter is in Marine Bio and also considered both schools. UW is ranked slightly higher than UCSC for marine bio but programs are similar. UCSC is literally in a redwood forest. It is hard to get to downtown Santa Cruz except by bus/car. Obviously Washington still has the large city feel if you want it. Diving is very different in the two locations. What does she want to study? Large invertebrates-Washington is better. small invertebrates/mammals-Santa Cruz is better. Santa Cruz has the advantage of a ton of local private and public research orgs. Marine mammal center, Fitzgerald marine sanctuary, MBARI, Sunflower labs…the list is endless and they do take undergrads. However the marine Bio research centers at UCSC rarely take undergrads for research unlike Washington. I’d have her take a look at which school aligns better with her research interest.
Thank you. Yes - I’m thinking one way to get out of the haze she seems to be in focus in on the research opportunities specifically. this is insightful. Curiously, where did your child choose to attend? It won’t impact our decision, it simply sounds like you choose elsewhere. We too have many options. Gratefully.
She hasn’t made a final decision but is leaning towards USC as she has the best merit package there. Her other considerations are east coast but she is interested primarily in pacific coastal ecosystems. She has done research at MBARI and works at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There is a really tight and active group of marine biologists in this area. It has opened a lot of doors for her. She’s gone on expeditions with scientists from the Cal Academy and other amazing adventures. Your child would love it either place but would definitely have many kindred spirits at UCSC…
I’ll add one more tip. Have your child get involved with Reef Check if they come west for school. Pretty much every marine scientist we know is involved in one way or another. It’s a great way to make connections (active both in Seattle and Santa Cruz)
I stumbled across this thread while looking for information on UCSC and marine biology.
My child is interested in marine bio and I’m trying to help them look into which schools might be promising fits.
One bit of information I read here that I was really hoping to follow up on was this insight from user @Mellome : <<…The marine Bio research centers at UCSC rarely take undergrads for research unlike Washington.>>
I was surprised and little sad to hear this, because I have otherwise been really hopeful about UCSC. I was was hoping to ask more about it?
From our tour and what I’ve read, I’d had the impression that UCSC has a lot of research opportunities for undergraduates. Partly because it has a higher ratio of undergrads to grad students than most other UC’s and R1’s. So I was concerned to hear this might not be true in marine bio. We did meet an amazing marine bio student at UCSC who was working with a professor, but I didn’t realize that might be rare.
How hard is it to get to do research in marine bio at UCSC? If undergraduates rarely get the opportunity, why is that? For instance maybe the marine bio labs are teeming with grad students already? Are there specific professors who do, and others who don’t, work with undergrads? Why might it be easier for an undergrad to get involved in marine bio research at UW than UCSC?
Thank you for any insights!
(PS., my child doesn’t plan to apply to UW… though to be honest I wish they would consider it. They are applying to some other obvious west coast marine bio universities, i.e., UCSC, UCSD, Oregon State,and CSUMB, and also some small liberal arts colleges.)
I am very curious about where jaloCentre’s child decided to go for marine bio! My daughter was admitted to UCSC (UCSD and UCSB as well, but they didn’t offer a scholarship, so off the list). I would really like to know about the research opportunities now that funding is being cut in the sciences. I would also like to know if the math and science classes are large and “weeder” classes. This is really my daughter’s first choice, but she got a full ride at a small liberal arts college and I am wondering if she could get all of the requirements out of the way there and transfer to UCSC later. I am worried that there will not be research opportunities for undergraduates.
If she likes the smaller college, taking the full ride then transferring as a junior would maximize the benefits of the small classes then of having lots of upper level courses to choose from (though CC transfers would have priority so she’d need to have good grades).
UCSCs main problem is finding housing so saving the money during the first 2 years would likely make that issue less salient (if you were easily able to pay 2k/month).
However you say UCSC is her first choice. What does she like about it? Is she okay with the large intro classes?
UCSC does try to involve undergraduates in research but you should reach out to them to know how the cuts are impacting their research teams.
First of all, funding cuts to science are real and will have a massive impact across the board (and are already) so that is a real concern for STEM students and their parents.
Anecdotally, my marine bio college sophomore was in the same boat and took the full ride to a LAC and I can’t imagine a better outcome.
She is currently in 2 research projects on her campus, got into 2 REU’s for the summer, and was shortlisted for one of the top programs in the country. (Pertinent to the OP’s question, UW cut one of their summer research programs for undergrads this year due to lack of funding) Certainly a lot of this has to do with the student, but I don’t believe she would have had nearly the same opportunities at UCSC/UCSB/UCSD or even UCB, where she was also admitted.
In addition, she has really been able to hone the area of research that she is most interested in pursuing this year, and is heading into her junior year at her LAC as one of the top students with the professors knowing and loving her and writing amazing recommendations on her behalf. There is no way she would consider transferring at this point and leaving the opportunities behind.
Personally, if research is your student’s focus, the school that gives them the best chance to do so as an undergrad is not always the big state school. Happy to discuss offline if you’d like to hear more, and congrats to your daughter!