Accepted from Waitlist at UCSF!!!! Where should I go?

[llgordon]

So I know there are other posts on this, so please forgive me for rehashing this. I know it's annoying, but I hope some of you will still give me your thoughts.

I just got a call from UCSF that a spot opened up and I am being accepted off their waitlist. I am also accepted at UCSD. I am completely torn over which school to attend in the fall, and UCSF is giving me 3 days to respond!

Here's my thinking...I was very impressed with the students at UCSF. I think they offer the best educational opportunities. They have great faculty and many organizations in which to get involved. However, me being from Southern Cal, I'm concerned that adapting to life in SF will be difficult and I will be unhappy. I am used to having a car and sometimes drive over 100 miles a day. I am certainly not above public transportation, and supposing I can figure it out (I'm REALLY bad at directions) would be more than happy to use it. But it just seems that even simple things are more difficult if you don't drive. For example, groceries...no more stockpiling several cases of water. Laundry...hard to treck 5 loads of laundry to the laundromat without a car. I could go on, but basically I'm worried about the weather/lifestyle changes that involve moving from LA to SF.

As for UCSD, I love the area. Can't beat the sun and the beach. The facilities are gorgeous...a whole building for us pharm kids as opposed to that sad little hallway at UCSF. The class size is only 60 so you get the family feel even more than you do at larger schools. Faculty interaction is more extensive. After school, it is likely I will end up somewhere in the SoCal area, so perhaps networking in the SD area will be more valuable to me than doing so in SF. But I am still a little concerned about it being such a young program. Its newness and its honors/pass/fail grading system could be a disadvantage when I am competing for residencies (which I plan to do).

And although I try not to think too much about rankings, it's hard to forget that UCSF is #1 (UCSD is currently #32, but will no doubt move up).

So I'm looking for opinions either way...as many as possible to help me figure this out. I only have 3 days!!!!

Thanks in advance everyone, and sorry again for creating another thread on what is perhaps a long dead, beaten horse. I'm just excited...and confused!

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[thanawalt]

Ucsd.

 

[IBU]

UCSF all the way

 

[laimyours]

I think you will adapt fine to SF. Most people love SF. I would take a look at the tuiton costs at each and also the cost of living. I think UCSF tuiton is less but the cost of living there is a lot more, UCSD might come up to be a little bit cheaper. I know that the UCSF progam is very clincal, i'm not so sure about the program at UCSD i'd compare the programs to see if there was something i'd prefer. Consider the class size also, small versus large. I know this is weird but maybe see if they have facebok groups for each class and see which school seems to have a cooler group of people

 

[UES Girl]

So I know there are other posts on this, so please forgive me for rehashing this. I know it's annoying, but I hope some of you will still give me your thoughts.

I just got a call from UCSF that a spot opened up and I am being accepted off their waitlist. I am also accepted at UCSD. I am completely torn over which school to attend in the fall, and UCSF is giving me 3 days to respond!

Here's my thinking...I was very impressed with the students at UCSF. I think they offer the best educational opportunities. They have great faculty and many organizations in which to get involved. However, me being from Southern Cal, I'm concerned that adapting to life in SF will be difficult and I will be unhappy. I am used to having a car and sometimes drive over 100 miles a day. I am certainly not above public transportation, and supposing I can figure it out (I'm REALLY bad at directions) would be more than happy to use it. But it just seems that even simple things are more difficult if you don't drive. For example, groceries...no more stockpiling several cases of water. Laundry...hard to treck 5 loads of laundry to the laundromat without a car. I could go on, but basically I'm worried about the weather/lifestyle changes that involve moving from LA to SF.

As for UCSD, I love the area. Can't beat the sun and the beach. The facilities are gorgeous...a whole building for us pharm kids as opposed to that sad little hallway at UCSF. The class size is only 60 so you get the family feel even more than you do at larger schools. Faculty interaction is more extensive. After school, it is likely I will end up somewhere in the SoCal area, so perhaps networking in the SD area will be more valuable to me than doing so in SF. But I am still a little concerned about it being such a young program. Its newness and its honors/pass/fail grading system could be a disadvantage when I am competing for residencies (which I plan to do).

And although I try not to think too much about rankings, it's hard to forget that UCSF is #1 (UCSD is currently #32, but will no doubt move up).

So I'm looking for opinions either way...as many as possible to help me figure this out. I only have 3 days!!!!

Thanks in advance everyone, and sorry again for creating another thread on what is perhaps a long dead, beaten horse. I'm just excited...and confused!

I just want to say: Congrats !

You must be one EXTRAORDINARY individual to be accepted to both of these schools. I would do anything to be in your shoes right now.

 

[wrek92]

Forgive me for being harsh but I am just gonna throw this out there:

#1 school vs. #32 school.

Fact: Our residency program interviewed ZERO people from UCSD. We interviewed like 23 people.

I don't get this pass/fail thing. Did you pass with a 95 average or with a 75 average? huh?

Seriously, you need to deal with a known quantity. UCSF is an excellent program. You admitted it yourself that they were a highly clinical program which is what most if not all residency programs look for.

The only reason you should go to UCSD is if you really are going to be so unhappy being away from Southern California for 3 years since you can do your 4th year clerkships down here that you think it will really affect your schoolwork.

 

[chibipinkbunny]

Well I'm a current first year at UCSF so I'll try to help you out. Well the car thing is kind of weird at first, but its not bad once you get used to it. I actually have a car, and I live in inner Sunset (about 15 min walking distance from UCSF). I use my car to get groceries, and go to work. I take the bus a lot, and its kind of nice actually. 511.org is really great because you can type in your starting, and ending address, and it will give you a map and tell you what bus to take. The price of housing is expensive, but a lot of my classmates are paying around $600-$800 for their own room in an apartment or house. I actually have a washer and dryer at my place so I don't have to go to a laundromat. I guess it just depends where you live. Most of the classes are not held in tiny little hallways You're right though, San Diego definitely has a nicer facility for the Pharmacy students. The weather does take a little bit of getting used to. I myself prefer 90 degree weather so I had trouble adjusting to it. Our class is actually really close with each other. I don't know how the class of 2012 will be though. Everyone one is pretty nice, and even though there are cliques, everyone seems to get along with each other. I don't know how it is at UCSD, but at UCSF the faculty is very personable, and has a lot of interaction with the students. They also listen to our input, and this year they have started to change things to accomodate IPPEs. I guess that's about it. There are quite a few SoCal people in the UCSF program that turned down UCSD, maybe of them will come on here. I did my undergraduate at UC Berkeley, so San Francisco isn't that different. Oh, if you want to end up in SD you should do your rotation there, and then do a residency there. I don't think going to UCSF would hamper your connections too much if you wanted to end up in Southern California. I think where you do your rotations would be more indicative of where you end up. Hope that helped some

 

[Gosondth]

Forgive me for being harsh but I am just gonna throw this out there:

#1 school vs. #32 school.

I was surprised they would even bother ranking UCSD since it has only been around for 6 years.

Fact: Our residency program interviewed ZERO people from UCSD. We interviewed like 23 people..

Who is "our residency program"? If it's UCSF, then I know of at least one, if not two, people that did get into the program there. UCSD has only graduated two classes so far (2006 & 2007) for a grand total of 47 UCSD PharmDs right now. In that time frame, UCSF graduated ~240 candidates. If you interviewed 23 UCSF ppl out of 120, then you would be looking for approximately THREE people out of 24 from the last class that might have been interested in your program. Numbers are hard to compare with that much disparity in class size. When the first class of 60 graduate in a year, then the likelihood of finding someone from UCSD interviewing at your program would be much better.

I don't get this pass/fail thing. Did you pass with a 95 average or with a 75 average? huh?

Seriously, you need to deal with a known quantity. UCSF is an excellent program. You admitted it yourself that they were a highly clinical program which is what most if not all residency programs look for.

The only reason you should go to UCSD is if you really are going to be so unhappy being away from Southern California for 3 years since you can do your 4th year clerkships down here that you think it will really affect your schoolwork.

Pass is generally a 75, but really depends on the class. Honors is typically >90%, but that also depends on the class. Pass/fail system is designed such that the focus is moved away from purely academics towards building networks with the pharmcy community, so it's not all that bad of a system.
So far UCSD has had a high match rate for residencies, so the pass/fail system has not really hampered the school.

If you choose one school over another, I would seriously consider which of the interviews you felt most comfortable with. The interview gave you a better perspective of what your next four years would be like, at least more so than a published ranking.

 

[SuperG]

Just go with your gut, where you can picture yourself fitting in best. I had to choose between SD and SF as well, and although I like SD area better, I am from the bay and wanted to be close to my family. SF is an awesome city though! So either way you can't go wrong.

 

[tharper14]

#1 school vs. #32 school.... UCSF, like durr! I can't believe you wouldn't jump at the chance!

 

[needpharmhelp]

UCSD!!! #32 but who care... the ranking is base on the research funding... it is basically bullS**T. I LOVE UCSD.. very good school. take classes with med students.. FOR me UCSD is #1. it is young but it has potential..

 

[Klemmentine]

UC San Diego.

 

[ExpressMaiL]

Have you decided yet? Regardless of what you do, this is an exciting time in your life; good luck!

 

[llgordon]

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your input! I really thought I was going to go with UCSD, but my gut told me to go to UCSF. I surprised myself I guess! I really think it will be the best opportunity for me and living in a dense urban center like SF is something I will probably never do again in my life. Taking that chance to adapt, live, and grow there while studying at a fantastic school are experiences I just couldn't pass up.

 

[stkyrice]

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your input! I really thought I was going to go with UCSD, but my gut told me to go to UCSF. I surprised myself I guess! I really think it will be the best opportunity for me and living in a dense urban center like SF is something I will probably never do again in my life. Taking that chance to adapt, live, and grow there while studying at a fantastic school are experiences I just couldn't pass up.

Congratulations on making your choice! I hope it'll be my turn to decide very soon.

 

[AggiePharmer]

Congratulations on making your choice! I hope it'll be my turn to decide very soon.

Stkyrice, your posts are always thoughtful and sincere, hopefully something good will come your way in the coming months! Keep your hope up.

 

[AggiePharmer]

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your input! I really thought I was going to go with UCSD, but my gut told me to go to UCSF. I surprised myself I guess! I really think it will be the best opportunity for me and living in a dense urban center like SF is something I will probably never do again in my life. Taking that chance to adapt, live, and grow there while studying at a fantastic school are experiences I just couldn't pass up.

Congrats on getting in llgordon and I bet you're pretty enthused, too! Lookin' forward to meeting you and ExpressMail!