[CpSeoul]

I'm a sophomore in College looking to transfer. And on the list of possible schools i have a whole bunch of cali schools. lol always wanted to goto school in cali. Can anyone give me a recomendation of any cali schools?
I'm looking into UCSB, UCSD, UCLA, UC Berkley, USC.

And if it helps:

i'm an electrical engineering major (might change)
I like to be creative and work well w/ other creative people
I'm looking for a nice social life
I'm motivated
Extracurriculars are important. I wanna be able to go out and get a pickup game of football going if i feel like it =)

[Kpianist]

I don't know too much about which schools are good for which colleges

I can give u the UC rankings though.. 1. Berkeley 2. LA 3. SD 4. SB

USC is good for alumni stuff.

sorry, tried my best.

[dulcedeleche]

I'm from the east coast in cali for college. I go to USC right in LA and you seem like a big football person so you'd fit right in here. Umm....yeah. lol. I'm not too into football, but obviously, it's big here (we're like #...5 in national rankings? HAHAH i should be shot for knowing nothing about USC football.). I think our school offers the ideal American college experience: fun city, partying, football and excellent academics (funny how academics comes last in my list lol).

Sure USC's not the best for engineering, but the school is being recognized every year -- and now more than ever -- for its outstanding academics. We were #27 this year (tied with UNC and Tufts) in USNews best undergraduate universities rankings, up from #30 (or 31?) last year; UCLA was at a stagnant 26. I can't say this from personal experience, as I'm merely a freshman, but USC alumni (the Trojan Family) is AMAZING. This is what USC is especially known for (aside from how "spoiled" we are...which we kind of are lol).

Socially, there's all kinds of people here but we're heavily influenced by the greek system -- I think 1 in 4 students belongs to a fraternity/sorority. If you're into that, that makes the school that much better for you; and if you're not, hey, I ain't in a frat and I'm doing...decently, although the KAPPA GAMMA TRI DELTA pink t-shirts do get tedious rather quickly. About half the student body hails from Cali, and then like 35% out-of-staters and 15% international kids. Partying is, like, everywhere. There are so many clubs, intramural teams, etc. etc. so you can easily find your niche in campus.

Speaking of the campus, it's really nice: very grassy and sunny; nice architecture (although everything is pretty much brick-y...thus, quite mundane); small enough to find your way around without any trouble, but large enough to have your "own space." Unfortunately though, we're located in downtown LA so it's not the safest area (we get crime alerts every other night-ish), but I haven't had any problems my first semester (I'm just a freshman! ). It's like any other college in a large city, meaning don't go running around off campus at 3 AM drunk and alone.

But being in downtown LA definitely has its perks because I'm ALWAYS off-campus and LA is fun for an 18 year old. You need a car to get around LA, but all my close friends have cars so it's okay (I'm from NY so I still don't have my permit). If you have more questons, feel free to ask.

Best of luck to yoU!

[ngaouction]

i go to UCLA and i'd say it's a pretty good choice. i believe we're still #1 overall in sports in the US, and there are a ton of intramural sports teams you can join. the engineering school here is pretty hardcore, but it's very good. it's located in a great area, right in between bel air and westwood (out of those you listed, i would say UCLA has the nicest campus), with lots of stuff to do. there are also tons of clubs, including a lot of asian american orgs as well as frats.

i'm sure any school you choose out of your list will be good.

[erure]

I think UCSB sounds good because I heard from a friend [who's at UCSB] that the engineering is good there... And if you like football, then Cal or USC? Just apply to all of them lol

[damon2000]

i'm at berkeley so i would say come here because it has everything you need, but i know people at cal state san luis obispo because of there good engineering program... whereever you go.. berk, ucla, usc.. they're all good. sorry, i didn't really narrow down your choices.

[mikalovesyou]

ucsd...because of the very beautiful SAN DIEGO
actually, because i heard the engineering school is very good, thats why its impacted... so good luck.

[yujo]

I go to Berkeley so count me as biased. When it comes to engineering, it pretty much is Berkeley. You certainly won't be for lack of a job when coming out of graduation (first year friends of mine are already being courted for high paying jobs at Intel, etc...) although your need for a social life may be a slight snag. Another potential snag when it comes to going to USC - the price. If you are out of state, you will have to pay even more to be able to attend. This goes for UCs too.

I suggest that you stay at your college because in the end, it's not the college but how you do there.

[luvxholic]

for engineering, ucsd is realllly good but we don't have a football team or anything

[wanderlust]

i'm wondering... my school here in the Philippines is Entrepreneurs School of Asia and i am taking up Mass communications. i am a foreign degree student as i finish my course, i'm gonna get an advance diploma. a foreign degree student MUST finish his/her study abroad in an affiliate school of my school. the affiliate of my school are actually in UK and AUs and Hawaii in the US. and it will only take around 1-2 years to finish.

i'm into my 6th term this january. and almost done with my curiculum.
so, i'm almost moving to a new school abroad.

NOW.. i want to study in the US. but hawaii is the only affliate school of my school AND i think it's not really into mass communications.

I WANT TO STUDY IN either San FO or LA.. still taking up the course i'm in now.
if i move will i repeat everything since i'm moving to a new school and a non affiliate one, will i START all OVER AGAIN?

[kawaii_bobo]

I have no idea... but I have a couple of friends going to UC Berkley, some in UCLA, and 2 or 3 in UCSB... UCSB is beautiful... I love it there... I was actually thinking of going there but ended up in CSUChico because it was closer to home... >.< now I hated it here... USC was beautiful too... I'm just regretting my school choice now... dang.

[twinkl]

Well, it seems like all the choices you listed would be a good fit for the "helpful info" you listed. I do know that EE/EECS majors at Berkeley tend to not leave their building. And not shower. But there are still plenty of engineers who have social lives and yadda yadda. It's the same everywhere. If you like beaches, try SB or SD. If you like cities and all that they have to offer, go for LA or SF (I think SF is far superior to LA... and I've only lived 2.5 years in SF versus 18 in LA). Since you say that you're motivated, the only glaring differences I see in those schools are their locales. :shrug:

[jansOri23]

if you get into Berkeley's school of engineering
that's pretty amazing... It's way better than columbia's fu foundation for sure
and i know for a fact that engineering kids do have a social life..
both of my roommates and a lot of my friends are in the engineering school and they're the smartest and most hardcore partiers i know
Cal Berkeley and USC's football are greattt.. it's good to go to schools with great football teams cuz your campus will have more school spirit and it's just fun to go to the games
I don't know about the other campus's too well.. but my friends play intramurals all the time at berkeley.. my friend got to the semi's in basketball.. and there's people playing various stuff out in the grassy areas all the time...berkeley is the most cultured place you'll get basically: has protests everyday.. people doing weird stuff.. wearing weird stuff.. but it's all fun.. diversity of interests is the craziest here..and you can get into basically anything you want...students are pretty much laid back and easy to make friends with.. i dont know.. I LOOOOVE my circle of friends that i met at berkeley in my first semester..

good luck!! basically any of those campus' you choose.. i think you'd like

[hello_Haejin]

I'm a sophomore in College looking to transfer. And on the list of possible schools i have a whole bunch of cali schools. lol always wanted to goto school in cali. Can anyone give me a recomendation of any cali schools?
I'm looking into UCSB, UCSD, UCLA, UC Berkley, USC.

And if it helps:

i'm an electrical engineering major (might change)
I like to be creative and work well w/ other creative people
I'm looking for a nice social life
I'm motivated
Extracurriculars are important. I wanna be able to go out and get a pickup game of football going if i feel like it =)

It all depends on your grades! (Test scores, too)
I recommend UCLA and UC Berkeley (By the way, there's 3 E's in "Berkeley" - I can be obsessed about spelling )
UCSB - Beautiful campus. Party school.
UCSD - Beautiful campus. SIX different colleges in UCSD - I forget which one is which, but I have an article saved somewhere. Most of the six are party schools, except for one of them.
USC - is ranked lower than UCLA and UC Berkeley. For the longest time, USC's reputation was a "rich kid's" university and not that hard to get into. It's more focused on academics now and getting accepted is much more difficult than it used to be. Still,

UCLA, UCB!!! (UC Berkeley is ranked higher than UCLA)
- I'm sure there are nice people at every school. =) If that's what you meant by "social life."
-As for extra curriculars.. I don't know much about those =T I'm not a big football fan

On the other hand, have you heard of CalTech? (California Institute of Technology)
and Harvey Mudd.

I don't know too much about Cal Tech, but Harvey Mudd is great! Because it is an undergraduate college focused on the sciences, undergraduate students have the opportunity to carry out research, directly study with professors, etc. (Unlike other universities where a great deal of opportunities are saved for graduate students). Since you are majoring in engineering for now, this would be an excellent opportunity!

There's also Stanford University.... The west coast's own ivy league =) (It's not really an ivy league.. but it's a really great school)

Good luck! (Hope this helped )

[guiyeoni]

Well, it seems like all the choices you listed would be a good fit for the "helpful info" you listed. I do know that EE/EECS majors at Berkeley tend to not leave their building. And not shower. But there are still plenty of engineers who have social lives and yadda yadda. It's the same everywhere. If you like beaches, try SB or SD. If you like cities and all that they have to offer, go for LA or SF (I think SF is far superior to LA... and I've only lived 2.5 years in SF versus 18 in LA). Since you say that you're motivated, the only glaring differences I see in those schools are their locales. :shrug:

aww you said almost all that i was gonna say... (including the SF superior to LA thing lol) no offense to people who love LA. i LOVE LA and i'm from the large LA area. i just love SF more lol maybe that's because i was not there long enough...

[iluvfany86]

UCSB made the list as one of the top party schools. [FYI]

UCSD is a pretty good school and has a very impressive engineering program.

UCLA is top notch.

UC Berkley is very liberal. My best friend goes there and she says the neighborhood is scary but the programs are good.

USC is very prestigious.

You must be super smart then. Good luck.

[sgkchoi]

I'm a 2nd year going to UCSD and I'm majoring in Mechanical Engineering here...what really made me want to come here is the large/beautiful campus...the beaches...and UCSD's Jacob School of Engineering is known to be the fastest growing engineering school in the nation. I remember one of the guys saying that at an engineering conference. It sure is sad that we don't have a football team, but theres a bunch of people here who likes football like me and I'm sure you can find ppl to play with here all the time. You should try visiting each of the socal schools if you haven't done so already.

[calgirl139]

I go to UC Berkeley, so I'm being biased I suppose but you can't escape the facts :] Berkeley is probably ranked the highest in engineering out of all the other schools you mentioned; engineering is one of the majors we're most known for. And electrical engineering is considered to be the hardest major.

UCBerkeley is very liberal and yes, the city itself is extremely ghetto but all in all, I think it's an interesting college experience. You really do feel like you're going to college. ANDD our football games are awesome I'm not sure what our rankings are but from my knowledge, I know we're pretty good. The workload is hard I will admit, but I think the hard work will definitely pay off in the end. Honestly, our campus isn't as great as the other UCs...I love UCSB and UCSD's campuses...they're gorgeous and BIG. But having a smaller campus definitely has benefits because you can walk around; you don't have to get another form of transportation (although alot of people do...like bikes, skateboards etc)
Our school is very close to San Francisco, so that's a plus! I LOVEEE San Francisco; I prefer it to LA (although LA is awesome as well). There are alot of places students can escape to on the weekends.

Someone mentioned this earlier, but it is true that what school you go to doesn't matter as much as what you make of it. But g'luck with whatever school you decide to transfer to! The majority of Cali schools are very good.

[localpinoy]

i go to USC and currently I'm an Industrial and Systems Engineer major right now...so I can give you a bit of information if you need any about the engineering program. Our undergraduate program is pretty prestigious among the private universities...and the engineering teachers I've had so far have been pretty helpful. As for campus life and stuff...going to a football game is a must. Our basketball program is getting up there too as we just broke the top 25 mark also. The engineering programs over here are tough but they offer a lot of FREE help such as supplemental instruction and tutors offered by the Viterbi school.

If you plan go to the other UC schools...I hear UCSD has a really good engineering program. But don't discount the other ones. I hear UCD and UCI have pretty good ones if UCB or UCLA are out of your reach.

If you're thinking about Caltech...I was invited to a dinner from them when I was applying to colleges. They seem that they really wanted me to go to their school as they were telling me how many opportunities I would get. But I didn't like the other peers I met at the dinner since I felt that they didn't have no lives (no offense!) since they are very into their studies. I feel that the other schools have better to offer such as campus life so that's why I chose USC.

But if you have any questions about USC's viterbi school...pm me, and I'll give you the scoop

[poox]

I'm from UCB. EECS is pretty well known at UCB, definitely one of the best majors in this school...but definitely hard. However, EECS has a pretty bad social reputation, although I personally wouldn't know since I'm not EECS. But, it all depends on the individual since there are so many ways to be social and get to know other people (outside of EECS). Hope that helps somewhat...