<p>Doesn’t sound like much of a gentleman to me.</p>
<p>Assuming that the couple profs you had at UCI are like all profs at all UCs is a pretty big jump, and one I don’t think is fair.</p>
<p>Sax, did you just think of that? Not a gentleman? Cause, like, my handle is gentlemanandscholar? That’s so, so witty! Good for you for coming up with that! Wait, wait, I might have one. Uh…you don’t sound very much like a saxaphone. Get it? Cause you have the word sax in your name? Get it? Pretty funny, huh? Keep the zingers coming my way. I really can’t get enough of them.</p>
<p>Is UCI really so much like UCLA anyway? I’ve heard several people compare the two schools, but like gentleman pointed out, it seems a little bit ludicrous. The quality of education at UCLA is clearly better, even despite its larger size.</p>
<p>At least that’s the way it seems to me…</p>
<p>This is slightly asinine… Comparing the faculty at UCLA and UCI is like comparing the faculty at Michigan-Ann Arbor and Michigan-Dearborn. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies, you guys. As a parent, I sure do appreciate it, especially yours Mrtrojanman (eg coming to a UCLA post even though you are an usc guy). </p>
<p>A few more questions for all of you. . .</p>
<ol>
<li> D likes math and science, but is not sure what her major is at this time (although she has declared engineering for some of the schools that seemed easier to get into engineering from the start vs transferring into the engineering program later).</li>
</ol>
<p>What help at UCLA and USC do freshmen and undergraduates get in choosing a major? Did you know what major you wnated from the beginning, and did you stick with that?</p>
<p>As I have told my D, she has time to choose a major. How can one choose a major while still in high school when one has never taken a psych class yet, or anthropology, or whatever–that is one of the reasons why General education classes are important.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Campus wise, are both schools safe , esp at night walking to and from the dorms. I realize that USC is not in a good neighborhood, however, D wouldn’t live in an apt yet, at least not her first year.</p></li>
<li><p>Both are great schools. D is potentially getting a $5,500 UCLA regents scholarship (which would lower her cost at UCLA for tuition , room and board to $14k/year) and a $16k half tuition scholarship/year at USC (which would lower her cost for tuition , room and board at USC to about $27k/year). </p></li>
</ol>
<p>At this point, we are seriously considering UCLA because of the lowered cost–unless D absolutely loves USC this weekend when she goes for her scholarship interview (then we would choose USC regardless). </p>
<p>Of course, if she doesn’t get the UCLA regent’s scholarship ( I hear 800 were invited to apply for the 100 scholarships offered), then the cost between the two are more similar --eg $9,000 tuition at UCLA and $16,000 tuition at USC. Any thoughts regarding that aspect.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Which is more conservative in terms of social and political conservatism, and in terms of drinking, etc. D is fairly conservative, probably not interested in frat life, and she doesn’t drink – will she stand out as “too different”.</p></li>
<li><p>D enjoys the fine arts, and currently, does school and community plays for the fun of it–but doesn’t plan to major in it. Any thoughts on which school would allow D to still be involved in theatre, dance, etc just because she enjoys it–without having to compete with the students who are planning to do theater or fine arts as their “life’s work”.</p></li>
<li><p>How hard is finding a parking spot? How expensive is getting a parking permit, and if you get one, does that guarantee you a space?</p></li>
<li><p>How much construction is going on at both campuses? Does the noise affect studying, or being able to hear lectures in the classroom? What new construction on both campuses has recently been completed?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That’s all the additional questions for now. Thank you so much for your answers.</p>
<p>One last question for you USCers, any questions that D should ask during her scholarship interview this Thursday/Friday? </p>
<p>And assuming that D is a finalist for the regent’s scholarship and get invited to a regent’s overnighter, any questions that D should ask at UCLA? </p>
<p>Thanks again for your wise counsel…and civility.</p>
<p>Flopsy, your analogy is way off. UCI and UCLA are both national top 50, unlike the two University of Michigan you mentioned. </p>
<p>UCI is rising in science research community recently. They got more Nobel winners than UCLA in this centrury. I don’t know how the professors teach there, but their research ability is well respected.</p>
<p>I can only answer a few questions due to my limited knowledge and time constraint:)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>USC makes changing major very easy. You also can double major, or add minors. I heard a guy got 3 majors when he graduated (I don’t understand why he did it, but he definitely can). There is a “Women In Engineering” program at Viterbi, focusing on helping girls doing engineering majors. If your daughter wants to transfer to engineering, I bet they will be satisfied. Talk to them when you have chance.</p></li>
<li><p>USC campus is safe, but surrounding area not comparable to Westwood. Living on campus for the first 2 years is wise.</p></li>
<li><p>Politically, USC is more conservative. UCLA is too liberal to someone’s taste, but fine to me. </p></li>
<li><p>When you go to see USC, you will know there can’t be much construction on campus, which is already way crowded.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<ol>
<li>Campus wise, are both schools safe , esp at night walking to and from the dorms. I realize that USC is not in a good neighborhood, however, D wouldn’t live in an apt yet, at least not her first year.</li>
</ol>
<p>UCLA is pretty safe, but there are occasional happenings, and these get highly publicized since UCLA/westwood is known to be a good neighborhood. you can call a CSO escort to walk you back to your dorms at night. </p>
<ol>
<li>Which is more conservative in terms of social and political conservatism, and in terms of drinking, etc. D is fairly conservative, probably not interested in frat life, and she doesn’t drink – will she stand out as “too different”.</li>
</ol>
<p>UCLA overall is politically liberal and USC overall is politically conservative, but these are just generalizations. you can ask pixiedanzer (member of bruin republicans) how conducive the environment at UCLA is for those who are politically conservative. there was a recent crusade by a former student who tried to pay students to expose political liberalism on campus, but i think overall, i havent experienced any problems with political bias as a political science major. … in fact i think i’m turning from liberal to more moderate. in terms of social life, USC has more of the party school reputation, but don’t be fooled, because UCLA can also be a party school. the social opportunities here are so vast that you can basically make UCLA into a hardcore academic school, into a party school, or into both (there are a lot of students here who work hard party hard). people who don’t drink won’t feel like a social outcast. they emphasize this since orientation. </p>
<ol>
<li>D enjoys the fine arts, and currently, does school and community plays for the fun of it–but doesn’t plan to major in it. Any thoughts on which school would allow D to still be involved in theatre, dance, etc just because she enjoys it–without having to compete with the students who are planning to do theater or fine arts as their “life’s work”.</li>
</ol>
<p>also ask pixiedanzer about this. she’s really into theatre too. i’m sure she can elaborate on the many opportunities out there. </p>
<ol>
<li>How hard is finding a parking spot?</li>
</ol>
<p>very hard. it’s a problem with LA schools in general. </p>
<ol>
<li>How much construction is going on at both campuses? Does the noise affect studying, or being able to hear lectures in the classroom? What new construction on both campuses has recently been completed?</li>
</ol>
<p>UCLA = Under Construction Like Always. just kidding. construction is a sign of financial strength if you will and long-term investment. anyway, the main construction projects at UCLA include several new buildings on campus (especially in south campus… there’s a new engineering building currently being built) as well as new dorms that just opened and one more dorm that will open next fall. since there won’t be anymore dorm construction, then that’s not a problem in regards to studying and sleeping. construction on campus hasn’t been a problem for the most part, but i do have one chinese class that is near the engineering building currently under construction, and sometimes the noise affects our concentration. most students aren’t bothered by construction though because the projects are spread out across campus; only if you end up in one of the classrooms near the construction sites will you potentially have noise problems. </p>
<p>last advice: talk to pixiedanzer. your D seems to have some similar social/extracurricular interests as her. also talk to flopsy in regards to engineering questions. </p>
<p>and finally, good to see someone from brea. i’m from over the hill in rowland heights.</p>
<p>mom of four, your aksing a lot of questions that dont really matter too much. you might be a little too concerned. justa little bit. like i said, be confident and proud your D is in such a good position. but ill get to your questions as soon as i can…</p>
<p>comparing uci with ucla is not as asinine as you would like to think. us news has a rating for just publics. youll see uci and ucla are pretty comparable, if you disregard all private school. maybe its just me, but i heard prof horror stories from ucla students.</p>
<p>i know where rowland heights is…thats funny what a small world. i hate that place.</p>
<p>If UCLA is pretty close to UCI, then that means USC is even closer, as USC is ranked lower than UCLA, right?</p>
<p>mom of four:[ol]
[<em>]UCLA is rigid about being an engineer from the beginning, and enforces this by setting a ~3.50 GPA cut-off for lower-division students wanting to switch into the HSSEAS after taking a typical engineering lower-division courseload; that way, only the best and the brightest change majors and still graduate in 4 years. I was set on my major from the very beginning, and so were all of my engineering friends; all others who applied to change majors into Computer Science or Electrical Engineering from the CL&S were denied.
[</em>]Westwood is a very safe neighborhood. The only serious problems that occurred here (the shoot-out in 1988 and the stray bullet last year) were from outsiders that don’t belong to the Westwood area. The neighborhood is very well-lit, and thoroughly patrolled by UCPD/CSO – the proximity to the police station tends to discourage any crime. I feel no worries going there by myself from the dorms for In-N-Out or merely grocery shopping late at night.
[<em>]If money isn’t an issue… go with your daughter’s intuition. :rolleyes:
[</em>]UCLA is typically more liberal, while USC is typically more conservative. UCLA has less involvement in fraternities/sororities and less drinking than USC. If you compare the fraternity rows at the two schools you can see the difference.
[<em>]Sorry, I can’t answer this question, being an engineering major. :rolleyes:
[</em>]Getting a parking space is very difficult and keeping one is very costly. I don’t have a car, though, so I don’t have any first-hand experience with getting a parking space.
[li]The rule of thumb at UCLA is that there’s always at least three construction projects under way at any given time. Rieber Terrace, a new plaza for upper-division students is nearing internal furnishing on the residential hill, and the replacement for Engineering I is making strides. The XCape Arcade was moved into the Viewpoint Lounge in Ackerman Union to make way for a new Jamba Juice study lounge. However, the Engineering I construction imparts a dull roar to my Statistics 110A discussion in the nearby LaKretz Hall… good thing there’s so much soundproofing.[/li][/ol]</p>
<p>Gentleman,
“if you disregard all private schools”??</p>
<p>Private schools have their reasons to be private. As for science displines, UCI’s professors are quite good, and comparable in chem and bio at least.</p>
<p>We’re talking about rankings, so the only reason to disregard private schools would be to make UCLA closer in the ranking to UCI, when in fact life doesn’t disregard privates and thus means that USC and UCI are much closer in the rankings. As far as the reasons for being private, I was under the impression that was to keep the number of students to a minimum, as well as to cherry pick only the very best students. USC is roughly the same size as UCLA and has lower stats, so I don’t see why they couldn’t be compared.</p>
<p>GnS,</p>
<p>Actually, I think that the median student at USC has recently surpassed UCLA. If not, it’s very very close.</p>
<p>^^^Ok, thats an even better reason why they should be compared. Just because USC is private and UCLA is public doesn’t mean anything in this argument.</p>
<p>I agree 100%. There are plenty of pooptacular privates.</p>
<p>way to stay on topic, guys</p>
<p>Ah, South Central. What a lovely, fun place to be in. Ugh.</p>
<p>There’s a reason why the Trojans lost the Trojan War. Not because of fate, not because Athena helped the Greeks, but because there’s one thing all Trojans have in common, no matter what time period they’re from:
THEY SUCK.</p>
<p>Trojanguy, what was the topic? I was explaining why a private school of some 33,000 students can easily be compared to UCLA, which has something like 35,000 students. Its not like we’re comparin UCLA to Pepperdine. These are both huge research universities and are very similar, except one is ranked lower in every poll and costs 4 times as much.</p>