University of California-San Diego Reviews

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent during my undergraduate with the biological sciences faculty and peers. The faculty members were very knowledgable and great educators."

"I participated in the joint BS/MS program at UCSD. It was a challenging yet rewarding additional year. While trying to complete an MS with only one extra years is a handful, it does force one to grow at an exponential rate. I learned a lot about research and a lot from my mentors. The La Jolla area is decently well off and therefore housing can be challenging, but it lends itself to being a relatively safe area. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"Pro: Great school, secluded and quite feeling environment yet still close to everything needed by a student to enjoy their years of study Con: Diversity could be better. Having more emphasis on sports would foster a better school spirit."

"Pros- great school, great weather Cons- not enough funding for grad students, expensive to live here"

"Lots of great professors to choose from, great location. Classes are not as rigorous."

"This is a great program to pursue your own professional interests, wether it is stay in academia, industry, or other kind of job. There is a lot of support from faculty for your research, and collaborations are common. When your experiments fail and you don't produce data, sunny San Diego is there to comfort you."

"It is a great program that offer courses that tend to be more presentation-based. This offers more opportunity to master the crucial skill of talking concisely about science in front of peers and professors. Professors are helpful and are willing to spend time with students to talk outside of class."

"The pros include the program being nationally and internationally recognized as a prestigious science institution. The diversity of colleges allows for more interesting student body. The cons include a lack of understanding of each of the six colleges on the campus, and lack of teachers who are passionate about teaching students."

"I feel that UCSD has a variety of opportunities available to students as long as they are open and willing to look for them. The student center had a variety of different job/interview opportunities and as long as you make appointments, it is very easy to communicate with the counselors. The integrated BS/MS program counselor is very courteous and he tries very hard to help as much as possible to complete deadlines and completing applications. Not so much a con as a side note, students have to be proactive in completing their coursework. Professors and counselors will only be as helpful as the effort you put in to finish your degree."

"It's a great program. Amazing faculty and a fun environment."

"Faculty is excellent and the majority of professors are approachable and supportive. I loved each and every seminar I took and feel I grew professionally in my academic field. The sad part is that although there are several courses of foreign language literature (German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, French) offered at the undergraduate level, none is offered at the graduate level. Even if professors in these fields are amazing. Great area, transportation is good but going through transition so not sure what is going to be in the future."

"I am in a wonderful joint program between UCSD and San Diego State University. I love the variety of resources that I have available to me across both campuses."

"The academic competitiveness and faculty support ensure that you have the opportunity to reach your potential. The surrounding area is in one of the most vacationed spots in the United States, and for good reason. It is a beautiful area, very close to the Pacific Ocean. The few cons are the cost of living is a bit higher than other cities. Also, you may get a good education but it can be expensive and leave you in debt after graduating (which can be true of most schools)."

"UCSD's bioengineering M.S. program is rigorous and forces you to keep on your toes. If you fall behind, it can be very challenging to get back on track. It's a fantastic program for those who wish to learn more about the innovations and basics of some of the most advanced health care topics such as tissue engineering or advanced biophotonics. The faculty love working with students who demonstrate a genuine interest in learning. The only con I can think of involves group projects. I would very much prefer to learn the course material and apply it towards assignments focusing on design, critical thinking and engineering analysis. Overall, I am proud to be in UCSD and recommend the program to any prospective student."

"Strong program but some drawbacks bc funding."

"UCSD offers an accelerated MA/Credential program in which you earn your masters and teaching credential in a little more than a year. This is great because it saves time and money, but the workload is pretty intense. The quality of the education is great and the UCSD M.Ed. program has a good reputation in the schools around here, which is beneficial when searching for jobs. So far I am enjoying the program and learning a lot. I highly recommend applying if you want a high quality teaching education."

"UCSD excels in research, as the many awards and rankings can attest to. However, the social life of the university is pretty bleak most of the time. The location (in La Jolla) definitely contributes to this, as does the lack of accessibility to the rest of the city of San Diego from campus. Furthermore, most of the professors are so heavily invested in their research that the quality of education in the classroom is abysmal (particularly in certain departments in the sciences)."

"The pros are the prestige of being in a bioengineering program that is ranked so high in the country. The faculty are brilliant and there are so many networking opportunities to help expand your horizons and chances of securing employment upon leaving the university. The main con I would have to say is that there aren't many faculty I know of who actually do research on developing medical devices such as artificial heart valves. I would love to try to learn the modeling software involved with it."

"It's a small program, which means we have sufficient time to contact professors. The courses we learned here are more theoretical based and, to be honest, is not that applied to find a job in statistics area. However, if you want to pursue a phd degree in the future, you can gain a deep mathematics basics in the department since the program of master of statistics belongs to the department of mathematics. Every year, the program admits more than 10 students, among which are mainly from China."

"Overall I like the graduate program in which I have been. I especially like the fact that I am required to do so many works and studies, because this will eventually enhance my academic capacity. It is, however, in my opinion, necessary for the program to include more non-white peoples."