
Ask HN: UCLA or UCSD for Computer Science? - s_baar
I've visited both campuses and looked at the course descriptions and catalogs of each, and am stumped. I know an equal amount of people going to each, each confident in their choice, and an equal amount of students already there at each, telling me how great it is there.<p>If anyone here has any experience with their CS or life there, and wants to help me out, I would really appreciate it. As for criterion, I'm not 100% sure, but I'd like to meet people who would be interested in, say, something like YC.
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hbien
I'm a recent graduate from UCSD CS program. You'll hear a lot that the UCSD
campus isn't very social, it's true. This has to do with the focus on
"academics" so we don't offer any scholarships to athletes and we don't have
frat houses on campus (no parties on campus). On weekends, the campus is
pretty much dead.

If you do go to UCSD, I hope you picked Warren college. You'll live right next
to the computer labs. It was pretty awesome, I lived @ Black Halls which was a
30 second walk to the CS building & labs.

The CS classes are pretty easy, I managed to graduate in 3 years by taking
16-20 units a quarter and I know a guy who did it in 2 years.

I never met anyone who was interested in YC or doing a startup. The mentality
seemed to be get a good job in the corporate world. I regret not meeting more
CS students, especially looking harder for people who want to do their own
startups. Luckily, I live in Silicon Valley and there are a lot of us here =].

A lot of the CS professors are pretentious, I got the feeling that they didn't
care about teaching students. There were some awesome teachers though, like
Rick Ord who teaches assembly and compilers. Plus there's a great "Games
Class", where you're given a quarter to make a 3D network game.

If you're interested in getting some real world experience there's AIP
(Academic Internship Program). They will hook you up with an unpaid internship
but it counts towards your credits.

Also, the sweetest jobs in the world are at ACS (Academic Computer Services).
It really helps when you have a full course load to have a job where you can
study most of the time.

~~~
s_baar
Thanks.

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mkinsella
I had to make this exact same decision (among others) five years ago.

Background: I was born and raised in Los Angeles, living less than 20 minutes
from UCLA. My mother attended UCLA and my father works at UCLA as an
accountant. As you can see, we were very tied to UCLA and LA.

I chose UCSD and am very happy I did.

A major factor for my choice was location. I wanted to get out of LA and
didn't like the UCLA area at all. Visiting UCLA always makes me feel frantic
and a little unsafe in areas. I absolutely love San Diego, though. There is a
lot to do and I unfortunately don't have time to write a detailed post about
the social life. As a quick note, though, I have decided to stay down in San
Diego and hope to live the rest of my life here -- it's really that great.

As for academics, UCSD and UCLA are very comparable for Engineering and
Computer Science. I would personally rank UCSD higher because many of my
engineering high school friends that went to UCSD have started successful
careers while a few UCLA friends have had trouble, but this is only a small
set of people.

Finally, everyone will tell you UCSD is not a social school, you'll have
problems meeting people, etc, etc. I was a pretty anti-social guy in high
school and was a little worried about this. As for my actual experience, it
couldn't be farther than what everyone said. UCSD seems to offer a much more
casual, relaxed social experience while UCLA (from my visits) offered a much
more party-like atmosphere. Personally, I prefer the former and never had a
problem meeting new people.

Overall, I am very happy I chose UCSD. It gave me a great education, I met a
lot of wonderful people, and I have a great career ahead of me.

If you do choose UCSD, go to Marshall (for the best on-campus housing and
dining at OVT and pretty easy GEs) or Muir (for the easiest GEs but crappy on-
campus housing)

------
a5huynh
I'm currently a UCSD comp sci undergrad, and overall my experience here has
been great.

Academically, our curriculum is one of the best (although, IMHO it is getting
a bit dumbed down, focusing more on Java than C/C++ as it did when I was a
freshmen). We're in fact one of the few schools that requires you to take the
compiler construction class, which is perhaps one of most grueling (yet
intellectually stimulating) classes in the CSE curriculum. We've also got
Dasgupta, the guy who practically wrote the book on algorithms, teaching
algorithms here (<http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/~dasgupta/book/index.html>). For
research we've got Calit2
(<http://www.calit2.net/about/buildings/ucsd/index.php>) which has a bunch of
cool projects going on at all times (just pop on in and ask around, people
there are always happy to show you what they're doing)

Socially, I'd have to admit that if you're the "bustling" city sort of guy, La
Jolla doesn't really cut the cake. But if you like the laid back "chill"
attitude that comes with being practically right next to the beach, then we're
pretty much the place to be. Picking the right college is also an essential
part of the equation. For comp sci (and engineers in general) Warren seems to
be the best choice, and basically surrounds you with students in similar
majors, which really helps when you're on those late night study/hacking
sessions because they'll be people across the hallway doing the exact same
thing.

As for students with interest in YC, I think there's plenty. In fact I'm one
of them. The trick is getting into the right circles, talking to the right
people. Joining orgs on campus that have especially dedicated/passionate
students is the best way by far. I recommend orgs like TESC
(<http://tesc.ucsd.edu>) for engineers in general or CSES
(<http://cses.ucsd.edu>) for comp sci. Both these orgs are filled with people
who like doing what they're doing, and usually have fun projects/events that
enables you to meet the right kind of people.

Now, I don't really know what life is like at UCLA, but hopefully my post
gives you an idea of what its like to be a current comp sci undergrad here at
UCSD.

~~~
kyro
It was actually a UCSD cs professor, his name was something like Rohan
Preturi, who introduced me to YC!

I think at the time, my friend and I were probably the only two at that school
to know about YC, but it's great to know a little community over there is
sprouting. SoCal YC'ers need to get together.

Email is in my profile if you guys wanna chat!

~~~
a5huynh
Haha, i think you mean Mohan Paturi! That explains how he knew his stuff when
it came to new startups, especially web 2.0ish companies.

~~~
kyro
Yes, that's him. He was pushing rails and all that stuff a good 4 years ago.
Seemed like a sharp guy.

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stames
I was a double major in CS and Mathematics at UCLA, finishing in 2004. The
campus is fantastic, Westwood is awesome, but the school of engineering
administration left me with a nasty taste in my mouth. They were the most
bitter, unhelpful academic counselors I have ever encountered. It started when
I attempted to change majors into CS from a major in the letters & science
school, having to apply and appeal to the dean more than 4 times, despite
being extremely qualified and doing everything I was asked. It continued on
well through my fifth year, due to bad advice I was given by a counselor
regarding credits needed to graduate (I could not graduate as scheduled due to
that).

It very well may have been that I got unlucky, but I can't in good conscience
recommend the school of engineering to anyone.

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iamelgringo
I lived in LA for 2 years, and attended meetings for the LA chapter of ACM
Siggraph. They really have some kick ass presentations in graphics. When I was
there, pretty much every month, there were VFX supervisors talking about the
effects done on a movie that was just released.

It's a great resource if you want to learn about graphics, and cutting edge
parallel processing environments (huge render farms). There's a lot of great
graphics/CS work that's done in LA. If that's the route you're interested in
going in, it's a great option.

It was those meetings + Hackers and Painters that got me to switch from being
a design/animation geek to studying software engineering.

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charlesju
I just finished my CS degree from UCLA a few months ago, and I have to say
that it's a much better choice.

College is not all about the academics, it's about the complete package. UCLA
has a crazy sports history with lots of school pride, there are a bunch of
activities to do everywhere, and LA is much more fun the SD.

With that being said, the curriculum at UCLA is rigorous and be ready to pull
a lot of long nights finishing projects.

And if nothing else, UCLA is ranked higher than UCSD. Why sell yourself short?

Here are some tips:

1\. ALWAYS look up your professors on bruinwalk.com

2\. Get out of engineering, do more with college.

3\. Do NOT get a gf.

~~~
s_baar
None of those seem difficult; in fact, I'm doing one of them right now.

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carterschonwald
UCSD has much better theoretical computer science folks, on the other hand,
UCLA has awesome applied math and math.

I'd say figure out what style of socialization is best for you, where you'd
find that, and also where in the blend of engineering, theory and math you're
intellectual style is, and go with the blend that you know you'll be happiest
with. Err on the side of the school which has more classes you'd definitely
take, all other things being equal

~~~
mark-t
Full disclosure: I'm a math PhD student at UCSD.

UCLA is probably better overall for math, but UCSD is better for graph theory
and combinatorics in general, the most likely kind of math CS students would
be interested in.

In my opinion, there will be very little difference between the schools in
terms of education, quality of peers, or job potential upon graduation. I
would choose based on which location I like better. Personally, I hate LA,
although UCLA's campus is beautiful. There's probably a lot more to do there,
too, depending on what activities he enjoys.

UCSD has a great zoo, Sea World, and Lego Land nearby, but not much for
drinking establishments. Many CS and math majors go to the pub on campus
regularly; I haven't heard of anything else.

~~~
apsurd
no drinking establishments??

Downtown San Diego is packed with nightlife spots... too many to count ....

Then there's that street that Pacific Beach is on ...

~~~
mark-t
Downtown San Diego is a long trip for nightlife. Most students probably won't
have a car (parking is ~$600), so it'll be over an hour on the 30 each way
(150 doesn't run at night). I don't even know how to get to PB by bus. My
friends who live there all drive or bike to school.

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Tacomanator
I'm a computer science undergrad at UCLA nearing graduation. Although it may
not be much help to you for deciding, but I must say you will probably be
happy with either choice from an academic standpoint. I think the UC system
has done a fabulous job gathering talent and creating an excellent and
competitive curriculum at a very affordable price.

Now let's get a little more practical.

I've never been to the UCSD campus so I can't speak about that, but I can tell
you that I've been very pleased with my experience at UCLA. I'm from Northern
California and, to be honest, was very reluctant to come down to LA. In fact,
I kept telling my friends and family that UCLA was my last choice simply
because of that. I was mistaken.

The campus is not the most beautiful I've ever seen but it definitely has its
charms, and it's in a very nice area. I used to live near the corner of Santa
Monica Blvd and Westwood Blvd, and I had problem walking home from school
(about 40 min walk) late at night, even with my backpack and computer. Some
may call me crazy but I honestly never once felt unsafe or threatened. Now I
live in Brentwood which I also really enjoy. If you're interested, here are
some pictures taken at the UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden behind UCLA in
Bel-Air (you can walk there from campus):
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacomanator/sets/72157614068382...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacomanator/sets/72157614068382987/)

The Santa Monica bus system has been really great, and you can go to a LOT of
places for 25c (regular fare is 75c, but UCLA students ride for 25c). Anywhere
you can't go on the Santa Monica buses, you can get to on metro for a little
bit more. There are a TON of things to do around here. My girlfriend and I
often walk down to Santa Monica and the beaches around there, there's lots of
interesting places to go inland, and you'll never run short of places to
explore.

I have not forgotten you plan on studying computer science, but please do at
least consider getting out of the nest every once in a while ;)

I can also tell you that overall I've had a very positive experience at UCLA
in terms of classes and academics. There have been a few black sheep, and bad
classes, but overall positive. At the undergraduate level, I honestly don't
think you will be able to differentiate the schools too much, except that
perhaps UCLA is a little more well known. I may be biased, but I've noticed
UCLA's name come up in quite a few articles posted to Hacker News even in the
last few weeks, but I only recall seeing a few for UCSD. Of course, I think
this is perhaps a superficial comparison at best.

Whatever choice you make I hope you have a great time and make the most of it.
If you have any questions, feel free to let me know :)

~~~
octane
Brentwood, Westwood, and Holmby Hills and Bel Air (the areas that surround
UCLA) are some of the wealthiest areas in the nation and _world_ , right up
there with Palo Alto, Woodside, Stanford, etc.

I have no idea where you or any of your friends got the idea that it would be
dangerous there.

~~~
Tacomanator
Hi octane, just the opposite. I meant to say I had no problem walking home
late at night but somehow I left out the "no." The next sentence is correct,
however (that I've never felt unsafe or threatened).

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jacoblyles
UCSD has a nice 5 year master's program.

I get the feeling that the social life is a little lacking for undergrads. The
campus is in La Jolla, a rich suburb removed from San Diego proper. It is not
a college town.

San Diego does have some cool places, but you will want to have a car to get
to them.

The hacker spirit (i.e. open source and entrepreneurs) isn't very strong at
the grad school. I think the undergrads do more. There's an iPhone programmers
club and a CS organization that has, among other things, built a Lisp RPG.

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kyro
I went to UCSD for my first two years, majoring in biology, and transferred to
UCI, not because it was tough, but because I HATED the school.

Please, please, please consider campus and social life. I held the belief
prior to entering college, one probably inherited from my traditional familial
roots, that social life and location really doesn't matter - it's all about
the academics and doing well. It's not true.

I was admitted to UCSD's Sixth College, and I was even given a student
apartment, which as a freshman was pretty amazing. Problem was, I got it in
some forrest-like part of the school. I felt like I was going hiking every
time I'd walk to the bus stop. I started off on a bad foot.

I tried looking past that, though, and tried to find the social scene. The
school is very very disjointed, having 6 separate 'colleges,' all with their
own dining hall, etc. You don't feel like you're part of one big amazing
school. Come 6pm, the campus is pretty empty, as the main hubs where students
are supposed to be hanging out are quite far from their dorms. Everyone hangs
out in their dorm building. It's depressing. Very very depressing.

Sure, La Jolla is a beautiful city if you're a 35+ moderately wealthy
individual who likes to kick back on the patio of an Italian restaurant and
watch the waves go by, or if you're a surfer. Me, I'm a city guy. I wanted a
bustling city, where there was always something to do. The closest 'city' to
La Jolla is downtown SD, which is nice, but you won't find yourself hanging
out there too often. La Jolla just isn't a college town.

I couldn't bear it any longer after two years. Home was an hour and a half
drive away, all my friends were at UCI, there were more things to do in Orange
County and at UCI, and at UCI, I just felt like I was part of one proud
campus. Although I do commute from home now, I often stroll into campus with
my friends late afternoon, and attend lectures, free movies, etc., that are
always happening on campus.

My brother, and good friends attend UCLA and from what I've experienced there,
the social life is quite amazing. If anywhere you feel proud of the school you
attend, it's UCLA. You're a Bruin. And although I hate the school and
everything about it, due to some residual hatred from being rejected, I can
say that UCLA/Westwood, compared to UCSD/La Jolla, is magnitudes upon
magnitudes more bustling, exciting, and social.

I can't speak to the CS part of your question, but I can definitely give you
some info on campus life with respect to UCSD. I had such a crappy experience,
and really advise people not to go unless they are that type of individual
that enjoys the laid back, surfer type lifestyle.

Campus and social life matters. Big time.

BTW: Since some SoCal HN readers seem to be popping up in this thread, we
should really network and maybe throw a little get together. I've been trying
to find people on here from SoCal for ages, but no one really responded to any
of my inquiries.

~~~
apsurd
Just a quick +1 to this post. Had some friends go to UCSD. Visited them on
many occasions, and there is an undoubtedly strong sense of SEPARATION you get
there. That's about as best as i can describe it. To put it another way, when
you walk around campus, nobody really looks at eachother, and its weird
because you get this sense of how not only are they not looking at you, but as
if they do not recognize your existence.

I've visited, UCR, UCI, UCLA and have never felt the way i felt at UCSD.

Just one guys opinion, but have to agree.

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hiteshiitk
In computer system/networks field, nothing good at UCLA these days, apart from
LA itself.

------
s_baar
Thanks everyone. I'm going to UCSD.

~~~
soundsop
Care to share how you decided in the end?

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octane
I went to UCSD and did a shitload of drugs and lost my sexual innocence and
had a great time for 4 years.

Just remember there are no campus parties at UCSD, but plenty of house parties
thrown by campus orgs. You probably won't go to any until 2nd or 3rd year. In
the mean time, steal liquor from the 24 hour Ralphs supermarket by campus and
sneak them into the dorms. If you want to go to campus parties just drive to
visit your friends at UCLA.

Every quarter there is an on-campus festival where everyone gets SHIT faced
drunk on campus. Sun god festival is one of these - honestly I've never seen
anything like it at any other college. It's kind of ridiculous how far people
take it since they don't get to party on campus. There are 2 bars on campus
though if you feel like getting a beer. Make sure you have a real good fake ID
though.

The cliffs by Blacks beach is a good place to bring a girl at night. Just
don't fall into the ocean. If you get kicked out of the dorms for smoking pot
or drinking, don't worry, it's not a big deal. They can't even tell your
parents. I had a friend who got kicked out so far into the year he just didn't
even move out, they refunded his money too. He bought BBQ for everyone for the
rest of the year.

Teach yourself CS on your own time and major in something that is less
demanding academically. Learn how to surf. Use RIMAC to work out so you don't
get fat. Spend your meal points at the convenience store in warren instead of
the dining halls.

Here's a tip for when you live off campus: instead of buying a parking pass,
park in the Ralphs parking lot and ride the shuttle 2 stops to the top of the
hill. They may have started cracking down on this.

One more thing - STUDY ABROAD FOR HALF A YEAR.

I'm getting sort of choked up writing this post.

------
ddemchuk
My girlfriend is a Bio Engineering major at UCSD, I go to SDSU. There's
definitely much more of a social life at UCLA than at UCSD. She's in a
Sorority at UCSD and always says that without that, it would be very hard to
socialize at that school. Academically I think they're relatively equal, UCSD
might even be a little higher, not sure though.

UCSD is a 10 minute drive from Pacific Beach, where I live, where pretty much
everyone in San Diego goes out once they're 21. Plus, there's a good Ruby
Programming Club down here that meets at UCSD.

