Home Forums Graduate School Miscellaneous Deciding between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara

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  • #23935
    TonyTiger68
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    Hi everyone,

    I have recently been admitted to both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, and now I am trying to weigh all the factors and make my decision.

    I am planning on pursuing a PhD in physics, and for some reason I have this belief (I’m really not sure where it came from) that UC Santa Barbara ranks higher than UCLA. So I guess my first question is whether anyone knows of a good grad school ranking website. I took a brief look online and couldn’t really find anything that didn’t cost money.

    Even if UC Santa Barbara is a higher ranked school, the decision is not so easy because UCLA has offered me a fellowship for the first year, whereas Santa Barbara has only offered a TA. Additionally, a UCLA professor that read my statement of purpose has personally contacted me, asked me to visit, and explained to me that he plans to work on CMS (compact muon solenoid), which is one of my main interests. In other words, UCLA is really taking steps to try to get me to go there. I also think I would prefer to live in LA. I’ve been there many times before and I love it.

    So UCLA looks more favorable right now. My question is: How much importance should I assign to the school’s ranking? One of the professors I work with here seems to think that you should always choose the top-ranked grad school rather than the one that gives the best offer. But are UCLA and Santa Barbara THAT far apart in rankings to outweigh everything else? What do you guys think?

    I would really appreciate your input,

    Thanks

    #32662

    TonyTiger68,

    Congratulations! It sounds like you have a couple of great options to choose from.

    Please re-post your question to the Graduate School Ask Admissions Consultants thread. The monitor, who has grad school admissions committee experience, will see it and answer it there.

    Again, congratulations on your offers — and best of luck with your PhD studies!

    quote:


    Originally posted by TonyTiger68

    Hi everyone,

    I have recently been admitted to both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, and now I am trying to weigh all the factors and make my decision.

    I am planning on pursuing a PhD in physics, and for some reason I have this belief (I’m really not sure where it came from) that UC Santa Barbara ranks higher than UCLA. So I guess my first question is whether anyone knows of a good grad school ranking website. I took a brief look online and couldn’t really find anything that didn’t cost money.

    Even if UC Santa Barbara is a higher ranked school, the decision is not so easy because UCLA has offered me a fellowship for the first year, whereas Santa Barbara has only offered a TA. Additionally, a UCLA professor that read my statement of purpose has personally contacted me, asked me to visit, and explained to me that he plans to work on CMS (compact muon solenoid), which is one of my main interests. In other words, UCLA is really taking steps to try to get me to go there. I also think I would prefer to live in LA. I’ve been there many times before and I love it.

    So UCLA looks more favorable right now. My question is: How much importance should I assign to the school’s ranking? One of the professors I work with here seems to think that you should always choose the top-ranked grad school rather than the one that gives the best offer. But are UCLA and Santa Barbara THAT far apart in rankings to outweigh everything else? What do you guys think?

    I would really appreciate your input,

    Thanks


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