So, when I interviewed at UCSD, it was my first interview. The people seemed nice, the place is right on the beach. It was a bike-friendly, jog-friendly city to live in. But our tourguide (super sweet), was saying she hadn't been able to work out in a few weeks and hadn't even seen the beach in a few weeks... but still, I thought they were the normal premeds turned meds (and I wasn't too big of a fan of the premeds i went to school with), so I thought it was normal. The next day I had USC. And it was kind of like going from Bratislava to Prague, sure people were content at UCSD but at USC they were, well, gregarious, engaging, involved (in everyything), partying, busy, and all that. And then I thought that was just USC. And then as I went on to the other 9 interviews (all in 3 weeks mind you, since I had to leave the country again), I realized that the one that stood out was UCSD. And that my first impression, that UCSD was normal was wrong. It was the outlier. It wasn't a dismal place by any means, but it felt the most tight. And I'm sure they know very well and are trying to change it (did anyone else on interview day hear them comparing themselves to UCLA and other CA schools? - they were the only one that did this). And the new dean spoke to us, there is definitely a push to make it a more chipper place. So there. Another of my two cents...