Ahh... I had a fun time at LA and San Diego over the Spring Break that I just had. I used this time to visit LA for the second time and San Diego for the first time ever, only that this trip is primarily to visit both the UCLA and UCSD campuses, 2 of 8 colleges that I was accepted to. I'm thrilled and honored to be accepted to these public ivy schools that are one of the best in the nation overall. In fact, I read from US News and World Report that UCLA is ranked the second best public university in the nation, outranked only by UC Berkeley.
I visited the engineering schools located in the South campus that I would be taking classes at should I attend UCLA, as I chose Chemical Engineering as my undergraduate major for this university.
Now, I took a college tour for both campuses. My, they were immensely huge and convenient schools to stay at! I have to admit, when we started at the Kerckhoff Hall, which serves as a house for the student government offices, we toured all over the campus, including the engineering schools that I earlier visited, as well as the North campus. Royce Hall is perhaps the most unusual building of them all. Not only are the patterns noticeably out of place when comparing the overall symmetry of the building designs, but if you compare the sides of the building, you'll notice some missing features that should have been there when the university was established. Interestingly enough, the North Campus where Royce Hall is located is actually the original location of the UCLA campus until it expanded.
I visited the UCSD campus (note: a couple photos of UCSD are down below) as well, by driving from LA down to San Diego using the rental car that we earlier got when we landed at LAX. I also thought it was cool too, only in the way that it is much more of a typically modern research university than UCLA, where it is a mixture of laboratory buildings and early 1900s and Gothic campus buildings. The view of the campus itself is really beautiful, as good as UCLA. Of course, the different strengths and weaknesses that are fairly equal between these two campuses make it difficult for me to decide which to attend between these schools.
I would say that UCLA is good in the way that it offers good housing services, meal services, overall rank, overall location and layout, and the science programs given out. UCSD is also good with science programs, but it lacks the Chemical Engineering major I would've liked to major in. On the other hand, UCSD is good in transportation services, meal services, overall location and layout, and its overall rank.
Some weaknesses I thought about these universities: well, both universities are enormous, which makes it hard to get around sometimes. Also, some of UCLA's science programs are a little bit weaker than UCSD, but still very good overall, given its good overall rank. And I thought UCSD's service for housing for students in junior and senior years are really bad in the way that you cannot choose to live in the same dorm as you would in your sophomore year, which conveniently includes a kitchen. And you are limited to just 3 choices of housing on campus that can all get filled up with transfer students almost quickly. Again, as I said before, UCSD lacks the Chemical Engineering majors, which is one of the top majors I would want to major in as an undergrad.
Right now, I am happily choosing between UCLA, UCSD, and Boston College as the possible choices of college I would attend next year. I will decide at least by the end of this week.
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