UCLA vs. UCSD ?

Started by j-weezy
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UCLA or UCSD?

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    61
J

j-weezy

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In case I don't get into Penn 🙁 I need to start thinking about where I'll go. I've been accepted to UCSD and UCLA but I'm pretty torn as to which I like more.

Thoughts welcome

edit: especially those voting for UCSD...UCLA advocates have been quite vocal now I want to hear from pro-UCSD people
 
Well I didn't apply to UCSD but I thought UCLA was pretty awesome. Plus like you if I don't get into Penn I will likely be headed there. So, I think we would make excellent classmates/shopping buddies/beach bums and thus you should go to UCLA.
 
OncDoc19 said:
Well I didn't apply to UCSD but I thought UCLA was pretty awesome. Plus like you if I don't get into Penn I will likely be headed there. So, I think we would make excellent classmates/shopping buddies/beach bums and thus you should go to UCLA.
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I agree with OncDoc, and for the exact same reasons.
 
I didn't interview at UCSD but I thought UCLA was pretty amazing. I'll probably be headed there and you should join me. 🙂
 
i actually did interview at both... and i would be pretty torn as well, but if i didn't like the research at ucsd so much i would pick ucla in a second. the students at ucla did seem to be a little happier and spend less time in lecture, and from what i've heard from friends in phd dpts at ucsd, the grad school there can be a little miserable sometimes (i know someone who transferred out, actually). obviously this probably doesn't apply to everyone, but...

while you can't beat the beachside location at ucsd, you could easily live in venice or santa monica a block or two from the beach in a 2br for under $1000 each and commute 15-20 min into school, which seems to be basically a given at both places unless you live on campus, if you are that beach-oriented. and, i mean, the difference between driving 15 minutes to the beach and living on it are negligible anyway.

i will say that because ucla in a driving city, there isn't much activity on campus about 5, just fyi. maybe this is normal but my undergrad campus was very different.

la as a city kicks san diego's butt any day in terms of diversity, stuff to do, etc

so in conclusion: ucla unless you have convincing research reasons to go to ucsd.
 
Hey guys,
I'm new to this forum. I thought I'd share my biased input (I'm pretty set on going to UCLA next year). I'll break down my UCLA-bent into the categories of med school, research, and student life.

Med school: UCLA has the more relaxed learning environment. I don't want to be ultra-stressed out in med school.

Research: UCSD has Salk, Scripps, etc., a lot of opportunities, but so does UCLA (and Caltech, if you are part of that program). Like ppl have said countless of times (I particularly like the micro-environment example), a good mentor is vital, and you can find that both at UCLA and UCSD.

Student life: UCLA and UCSD are going to be expensive. Keep in mind, however, more young people and more activities will be present in the West Hollywood area. LaJolla is beautiful, but only old, rich ppl can afford to live there. In either case, you probably will need a car in SD or LA.

hope that helps!
 
addendum: cancer research or stem cell technology is what i'm interested in

broad and vague yes but it certainly isn't neuro or immuno or ID
 
seconded; west hollywood is a super fun neighborhood to live in and very convenient to campus with lots of shopping (new h&m just opened on sunset), bars, etc. i would have moved there if i hadn't wanted to stick with my roommate this year.
 
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will any of the UCSD supporters speak up?

I know UCSD has insane cancer research...but does that outweigh everything else?
 
kingsdynasty said:
Hey guys,
I'm new to this forum. I thought I'd share my biased input (I'm pretty set on going to UCLA next year). I'll break down my UCLA-bent into the categories of med school, research, and student life.

Med school: UCLA has the more relaxed learning environment. I don't want to be ultra-stressed out in med school.

Research: UCSD has Salk, Scripps, etc., a lot of opportunities, but so does UCLA (and Caltech, if you are part of that program). Like ppl have said countless of times (I particularly like the micro-environment example), a good mentor is vital, and you can find that both at UCLA and UCSD.

Student life: UCLA and UCSD are going to be expensive. Keep in mind, however, more young people and more activities will be present in the West Hollywood area. LaJolla is beautiful, but only old, rich ppl can afford to live there. In either case, you probably will need a car in SD or LA.

hope that helps!
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welcome! when did you interview?
 
You will not be limited in research opportunities at either school, I guarantee you. Especially for cancer, which is after all a pretty broad and common field.

Any differences in research strength between the two schools are basically going to be imaginary, so I'd use other criteria if I were you (location!).
 
UCSD by a slim margin mostly because of Salk, Scripps, and the beach. I know someone who did undergrad there and worked part time at Salk; she absolutely loved it. Scripps, as you know, is a powerhouse. Finally, I think I'd rather spend 7-8 years in San Diego than LA...but that's just me.
Interesting note that might interest you, J: Michael Best, a chem professor here at UTK, did his PhD at UT Austin and a post-doc at Scripps.
 
jlamacc1 said:
UCSD by a slim margin mostly because of Salk, Scripps, and the beach. I know someone who did undergrad there and worked part time at Salk; she absolutely loved it. Scripps, as you know, is a powerhouse. Finally, I think I'd rather spend 7-8 years in San Diego than LA...but that's just me.
Interesting note that might interest you, J: Michael Best, a chem professor here at UTK, did his PhD at UT Austin and a post-doc at Scripps.
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I really don't understand the huge bias towards UCLA...and I'm confused as to why more UCSD supporters don't come forward..

I'm honestly torn between the two so the more insight people have the better!
 
j-weezy said:
What does that mean? I'm not from TX!!


(way to ruin my anonydmityhfd) half price happy hour!
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Anonymity...riiight. Congratulations on hitting the 1K post mark, btw. You're really are an SDN machine.
 
j-weezy said:
I really don't understand the huge bias towards UCLA...and I'm confused as to why more UCSD supporters don't come forward..

I'm honestly torn between the two so the more insight people have the better!
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I think you subconsciously prefer UCSD and should go there. Honestly, a coin toss would be a fine way to make this decision.

Can you try contacting current students or recent alumni to see what they think? I know a few UCLA/Caltech MSTP folks that I can pass your contact info to if you PM me. I don't know anyone at UCSD, but maybe you can look them up on a website somewhere?
 
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pseudoknot said:
I think you subconsciously prefer UCSD and should go there. Honestly, a coin toss would be a fine way to make this decision.

Can you try contacting current students or recent alumni to see what they think? I know a few UCLA/Caltech MSTP folks that I can pass your contact info to if you PM me. I don't know anyone at UCSD, but maybe you can look them up on a website somewhere?
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I really don't prefer UCSD over UCLA...I'm just surprised at the huge bias I didn't expect it to be that much of a landslide victory for UCLA...

My visit to UCLA was about 36 hours long of which approximately 4 hours were spent amongst current students and other applicants

My visit to UCSD was soooo unorganized - I was totally disappointed in the program

so yeah...obviously revisits will be necessary
 
I really liked some things about UCSD but things weren't organized that well. I felt very judged in my interview ( and obviously it didn't go well). It seemed like a better place for a post-doc than a phd, if that makes any sense. Students were less involved and outgoing (the free clinic tour was way oversold).

Unfortunately, I didn't get an interview invite at UCLA....I think they were bothered by my lower MCAT scores...but I digress. Clearly the clinical training is better at UCLA and students are a bit happier and out of class more and more involved in stuff. I hear very positive things through a college acquaintance.

Unless you're looking for more of the "post-doc experience" and like the offerings of the Salk or Burnham, I would give LA a bit of an edge. The clinical training would be better for residency, too.
 
It's unfortunate that your UCSD interview was disorganized. The UCSD MSTP had an amazing administrator a couple of years ago who unfortunately left and they have yet to find a good replacement. I'm a little baffled by the idea that any PhD program gives you more of a "post-doc experience." Your PhD experience is almost entirely dependent on who you choose as a PI. If you decide on a big lab, hands off PI, then yeah... you'll get a post-doc experience. If you choose a lab where the PI is more involved and invested in the grad students then you won't. Any large school like UCLA or UCSD will have tons of different PIs to choose from who have a range of styles. It's true that UCSD has more class time, but they're also in the process of developing a new curriculum that has less class time and should go into effect either next year or the year after. I'd base your decision on where you'd rather live, you'll get comparable training at both schools but at either one you'll be stuck there for 7-8 years so just make sure you like the areas. I think your best bet on helping make the decision is to go to both re-visits. Talk to the students about the area and the curricula etc. You'll figure it out. Good luck and congrats on all your acceptances!
 
J-weezy, I chose UCLA partly because of Caltech. I did not interview at UCLA, though, and I did not finish UCSD's secondary, so perhaps I'm not the best judge.
 
I'm torn between these as well. I really liked the learning atmosphere and curriculum at UCLA more, but UCSD is very strong in my field (neuro). I think I heard that UCSD's new curriculum won't be implemented until the year after next, and I'm not sure you want your 2nd year of med-school to be a pilot year with a new curriculum...just a thought. It's also really unfortunate that UCLA and UCSD's revisits are on the same day.
 
Just scanned the thread so might have missed it, but has no one commented on how the current MSTP students are? When you are comparing two roughly equivalent programs in terms of location/research quality/opportunities I would rather go somewhere where the current students were tight, hung out with each other, and were the kind of people I would want to rely on for support the next 8 years of my life. Realize that after the 1st 2 years your closest med student friends are gone to the wards and then soon gone to residency, leaving you with your current MSTP peers as your friends/support group. If you go somewhere and the current students don't really know each other all that well, if the program doesn't have regular get togethers (both academic and socially), if everyone does their own thing and no one hangs out, that is a red flag in my opinion...unless you are a pariah and happen to roll that way. Did not like the UCLA prog director when I interviewed back in the day, maybe they have a new one now.
 
greg12345 said:
Did not like the UCLA prog director when I interviewed back in the day, maybe they have a new one now.
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They do have a new one now - Kelsey Martin. She is one of my favorite directors out of all the programs I interviewed at. Really supportive, friendly, helpful and communicative.
 
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OncDoc19 said:
They do have a new one now - Kelsey Martin. She is one of my favorite directors out of all the programs I interviewed at. Really supportive, friendly, helpful and communicative.
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OK, I agree with the last few posters. You should go to UCLA. Kelsey Martin is an awesome physician-scientist and I think she'd be a fantastic program director.
 
pseudoknot said:
OK, I agree with the last few posters. You should go to UCLA. Kelsey Martin is an awesome physician-scientist and I think she'd be a fantastic program director.
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lol...you went from telling me to go to UCSD to telling me to go to UCLA!

see - it is a hard decision!
:laugh:

here's to hopefully getting into penn so i won't have to make this decision!
 
I put my vote in for UCLA. But I'm a current first year at UCLA/caltech, so my opinion is obviously biased. I can't really make comparisons to UCSD since I didn't take my interview there. But, I can talk a bit about my UCLA experience. I really love the program here. The Med-school is fantastic, they do a good job in limiting the amount of class time you have so you can have a life, do a bit of lab work, and even sleep. We first years tend to hang out a lot together; though I don't find myself spending a lot of time with the older students. Kelsey Martin and Steve Smale are great program directors, and the administrative staff is also great (though they are being slow about updating the website). If you end up at Caltech there is a lot of really unique basic science work going on and many labs have strong collaborations with UCLA on more clinical relevant topics (e.g. David Baltimore, James Heath). UCLA has tons of PI's which can make finding a few to do rotations in a bit difficult. I really like the location. The weather is always fantastic, I get to run by the beach when I want, great gym on campus, though the food in at the hospital cafeteria sucks.

PM me if you are considering UCLA and want more specifics, that goes for anyone considering UCLA/Caltech, I'm happy to answer all questions 🙂
 
j-weezy said:
lol...you went from telling me to go to UCSD to telling me to go to UCLA!

see - it is a hard decision!
:laugh:

here's to hopefully getting into penn so i won't have to make this decision!
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Good luck with Penn (but why wouldn't you want to be in California???). :luck:

However, keep in mind what I said in a different thread on this subject:
pseudoknot said:
(This is also why it doesn't matter which institution you choose: the important thing is your advisor, and you can't really evaluate them until you are there.) Just relax. People freak out so much about which school or which program but that's really a pretty unimportant decision.
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thanks for the help everyone (especially mimsy)

pseudoknot: I 100% agree with you...and I think that's the reason I'm not longer quite so stressed about penn decisions - at this point i can't make a wrong decision and all i need is to make a decision
 
I'm sure you got this vibe while at UCSD but they tend to be pretty brutal on their Med Students and pride themselves on it (I work at UCSD Medical School and so do not know first hand except for the MD/PhD students in our lab). There are almost limitless opportunites between scripps and salk and UCSD, but alternatively UCLA has a lot more people on the main campus.

In terms of living expenses....there are cheap places to live in San Diego. I payed $650 rent for a studio, though it was in a part of town some people shun (I now work in a satelite lab and avoid San Diego like the plague). The living in SD and LA will be similar.....they are both in Southern California for better or worse, and weekend trips to the other are incredibly easy.

As a suggestion to decide: Write down the names of all the professors at each school you could imagine yourself working with base on their projects.....then think about which ones you could work with based on their personality and the happiness of those that work for them (SOOOO important, and under utilized by people I believe). Make your choice based on which school give you the most options after those write ups.

There are not SOOO many differences in the campus environment or med school curriculum that I think you cana make a decision based on those things. Good luck, and happy surfing either way......unless you get into Penn and then Hooray!
 
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