Not a fan of Villanova although it has a great reputation. Campus however couldn’t hold a candle to GTown. Resembled more of a Catholic high school than college IMHO.
When I lived in San Diego as a young man, I used to visit UCSD once in awhile because of a friend who was attending its engineering school. That was in the early 80’s, and the campus had more eucalyptus trees than buildings, if I recall. Even back then, though, the campus had this isolated, “impersonal” feel about it and I just never warmed myself to it. I don’t mind the “isolation” of an LAC in bucolic setting, mind you. At least it comes with a sense of freedom of movement and access. But with UCSD, it feels more like a prison, sort of like what the inmates must have felt at a place like Alcatraz, trapped amidst beauty. Although the campus sits directly above the beautiful beach with the Torrey Pines Golf Course right next door, the campus feels isolated even from the beach at a stone’s throw. The campus of course is very isolated from the rest of La Jolla. You’d have to have a car to access the rest of what La Jolla has to offer. All those goodies – restaurants and shops, etc. – that students would very much want to have access to once in a while to get away from the academic stress, are located at La Jolla Beach, on the other side of I-5 and far away. A bicycle just won’t do.
Then, decades later, just on a whim after spending some quality family time at a nearby Torrey Pines Beach, I decided to introduce the campus to my college-age boys. Everything, except the very entrance driveway, had changed – drastically and unrecognizable way. The campus, given its lack of rear estate prime space, seemed bursting with ugly concrete buildings with no breathing spaces in between. Yet, there were constructions going on still, adding more ugly concrete buildings. Just imagine concrete 3-story parking garage structure at every turn – that’s today’s UCSD. I got lost in the middle of the campus and took a little while to find the exit with a long line of cars trying to get off the campus.
@lovespink In the spirit of my new years resolution to not speak I’ll of my hometown… Oh you really didn’t believe that did you? UCSD is located just north of La Jolla, which is known for a beautiful cove and named for the La Jolla band of a regional native tribe who in eons past occupied the cove seasonally, and have been conveniently relocated to an area of the county where they wouldn’t get in the way of building tasteless tract homes with forever views. Those very tract homes were restricted by compact to a few select ethnic groups until in the 1960’s when UCSD had difficulty recruiting Jewish professors including some Nobel prize winners and as a result the compact if not rescinded, was amended. La Jolla to La Jollan’s horror is actually just a section of the city of San Diego which to it’s credit has two things going for it: 1) The best weather in the country; 2) Did I tell you about #1. Until the 1980’s much of the area around UCSD was open scrub but today has been transformed into a suburban nightmare of bad planning with all the trappings, car malls, tacky condos, and big box Chinese restaurants. To understand UCSD one must understand San Diegans and La Jollan’s. Many are transplants with money they made elsewhere and/or inherited wealth. They tend to be industrious types that owned supermarket chains in Chicago, divorced the first wife for their mistress and sought refuge in La Jolla. Toward the end of their lives they may give large sums of money to the arts and to UCSD in an attempt at immortality or to get right with the deity of their choosing. The campus is a history in architecture of these industrious midswesterners and the questionable modern taste of their trophy wives. In the spirit of southern California’s tendency to murder urban planners UCSD is a melange of competing modern styles.
One of the benefactors who does not fit into that mold is Irwin Jacobs, the founder of Qualcomm which is the source of much locally developed wealth and will soon be lost to the city with it’s sale to Broadcom.
As a great believer in geography as a key determinant of success. I’d say choose UCSD because there are opportunities in San Diego in the following areas, pharma, medicine, oceanography, CS & EE. Alternatively choose UCSD so that you can visit your child a couple of times per year and get out of whatever winter wonderland you’re trapped in. I went to school in Buffalo, and so I feel your pain.
If you haven’t felt like murdering me yet or giving my whereabouts to the authorities ( I do have a degree in planning) one last shot, IMO the nicest UCSD building is a multi-story parking lot.
@lovespink It’s a great school to attend if your kid likes to surf while attending school. It’s got a very good engineering school and marine biology and some international relations area. The surrounding area is pretty nice but the campus is not attractive. I live 1.5 hours away from the area so I know the area pretty well. SD is a nice area and safe but the campus is so-so. Just doesn’t impart the warm, nice feeling it should based on its great location. Sort of impersonal. If they had a more attractive campus, UCSD would be a lot more in demand. However, it’s still in big demand though because it’s arguably 3rd best UC, at least in CS and engineering field.
There is an unspoken understanding or knowledge among more aware parents that many smart STEM kids go to UCSD because they got denied from top colleges and Berkeley and UCLA which are very difficult to get in especially in CS and engineering fields. I know many parents with super high stats whose kids were rejected from UCLA and Berkeley STEM majors so they had to go to UCSD which is widely acknowledged as one of the best UCs in STEM fields especially CS.
^ 4th best UC (just arguing)
The architecture at UCSD includes a number of Brutalist style buildings. Many people don’t respond positively to this architecture style.
@Old_parent Hilarious yet true post. Lol I think UCSD is 3rd best UC when it comes to CS and engineering fields. UC Davis, UCSB, UC Irvine and UCSD are pretty similarly ranked I believe. I personally believe UC Irvine will be the highest ranked among these in 15 years.
Thanks everyone! S18 is looking at engineering, thus the interest in UCSD.
UCSD’s campus wishes that it was UCSB’s campus; best way to sum up its campus in my opinion. (I didnt end up applying to either although a lot of my friends applied to both and I have visited both campuses obviously)
DOWN:
Pomona/CMC: Just returned from visiting the Claremont Colleges. I have to say we were really disappointed and, frankly, turned off by the CONSTANT comparisons with the Ivy League. The tour guide at Pomona also bragged that their admit rate was now almost as low as Columbia or Chicago. So what? It just struck us, and other families, as a sign of insecurity which I must admit I do not understand.
UP:
UCLA. I was expecting a commuter university but was really impressed. Great vide and the admissions people could not have been more welcoming. I felt sorry for them, however, as there were OOS families present and they admitted their state-mandated financial aid policy was killing them.
^^Westwood really is great, and the band, men in capes, what more could you ask for? Hubby went there and both my kids were admitted, but went elsewhere. It is an exciting place.
OKay, now Pomona/CMC, I think they’re having trouble getting their head around why a small liberal arts college is so hard to get into. It’s like they keep repeating it to try to understand why? I think its more that than hubris to tell you the truth. It’s also more the impostor syndrome seen at a lot of top colleges, like the students can’t believe they were picked because everyone else is so much smarter, similar to kids at Columbia and Chicago. Don’t be put off by the wonderment. Having a student there, I can tell you they are a group of modest kids who work hard and want to share their good fortune of being admitted with other like minded and talented kids.
Most Pomona/Claremont kids are very smart, and it’s true that it’s very hard to get into their schools, harder than UCLA, Berkeley or even Cornell IMO.
For me, UCLA had the best campus and vibe wise among the UCs. I was surprised that there was this kind of school one hour away from me. They also have one of the best cafeteria foods; several parents confirmed this. Still, based on my kid’s HS stats, slightly smarter kids go to Berkeley than UCLA – purely my opinion. But personally, I would go to UCLA.
@Old_parent As the parent of a planning student at USC, your reference to southern CA murdering urban planners rather grabbed my attention. 
^^much harder than Cornell. Dear Students and Hubby went to Berkeley, Pomona and UCLA, all harder to get into than the lower ivies.
@rienrah purely figurative, but planners in Socal should prepare themselves to be perpetually ignored.
@websensation I go to a public highschool near Sac, and there are many very smart kids (a lot of which would be above average students at both UCLA and UCB that refuse to even apply to UCB and have UCLA as their number one because of the vibe of UCB being such a deterrent. I assume that it is happening at more than just my hs. imo thats why it would be incorrect to say that slightly smarter kids go to UCB. plus the stats between the two are nearly identical, although UCLA has a lower admit rate.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/ucla/freshman-profile/index.html
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/berkeley/freshman-profile/index.html
I said purely imo from my experience, and you are right, this may be changing fast. One thing Berkeley still has is its world wide recognized Graduate School. Berkeley is still viewed at my kid’s HS in Southern CA as a top UC academically, and I am sure at many other HSs.
@websensation That’s definitely the reputation Berkeley has overseas. In the UK, Berkeley is the only UC spoken of in the same league as the Ivies, Chicago and Stanford. This may be a case of it living on its laurels, but it is the truth.
@exlibris97 And it has real world implications too. LSE has a year long exchange program (not a taught study abroad course, i.e. not just a moneymaker) for 10 students a year with UC, and they say only UCB students are eligible, presumably they don’t consider UCLA a peer.
In some subjects (e.g. math), Berkeley is regarded by many in the UK as superior (academically speaking) to Stanford. The balance of academics I know who moved over here is still tilted much more towards Berkeley than Stanford (though it is more reflective of historic patterns, as many of these people moved a long time ago).
I have tried to love Villanova too - I think all the construction going on will improve it’s overall appearance. Having said that, aside from Georgetown’s main quad, it’s not very attractive. It’s a bit of a hodge podge mess. It scores its points because it’s located in a very charming section of DC. As far as campuses go, Notre Dame tops both of those and it’s not really close.
Lots of shade for Wash U, WUSTL or whatever. To each their own. Our student fell in love with it at first sight. Great tour. Friendly students. Good vibe. Three years in with no regrets. We love St. Louis as well. Hope it works out as well for all your as it has worked out for ours.