Ok, I’ll admit it.  Like everyone else I have pre-conceived notions of what certain colleges are like based on what others say and write about them.  Some of those impressions are positive and some are not as enthusiastic.

Over the last 5 years, I’ve received very strong reactions about 2 schools in particular – University of California San Diego and San Diego State University.  The majority of the transfer clients I’ve worked with who have not come out of community college, have come from 1 of these 2 schools. Anecdotally, I hear often of students dropping out of or transferring from these schools.  In contrast, the stories I heard of happy students from these schools are rarer.

So, when our family started planning our spring break trip to San Diego, I anticipated due diligence tours of UCSD and SDSU, so that I could confirm my negative opinions and then get to the rest of our vacation.

Well, last week I was reminded about why it is so important to visit colleges yourself and research school fit before passing judgment.  Tours of both schools helped me discover why these schools are not a fit for some and what you should consider before matriculating at either one.

University of California – San Diego

UCSD’s campus is beautiful.  Close to the coast, it is a sprawling behemoth with over 1,200 acres and a mix of modern and even more modern architecture.

 This is UCSD's main library (in addition to being a building of the future in many feature films).  It is stunning. 

With over 23,000 undergraduate students, UCSD is highly competitive, admitting only 37.9% of applicants.  Admitted students had an average GPA of 3.96 and SAT composite of 1980.

Over the years, I had heard from multiple students how unhappy they were at UCSD and most of the criticism was around 2 different areas:

• The campus, large and spread was too isolating.  The colleges within UCSD tend to be cliquish and unwelcoming
• There was too much inflexibility around the lower division general education classes

·          As I took the tour and learned about the 6-college system at UCSD, I began to understand the reason for the dissatisfaction of some students. Beyond the usual mismatch fit of a specific university, which happens occasionally, it appears that being placed in the “wrong” college at UCSD is significant grounds for university unhappiness.

Each student who applies to UCSD completes their college choice at the same time by ranking each college in order from 1-6.  UCSD first admits the student to the university and then assigns a college.  While we were told that 92% of students receive their first or second college choice; in an official straw poll I conducted, the number was far lower and a fair number of students were housed in their 5^th or last choice college.

Since the college admitted dictates the underclassmen general education classes to be taken, a college mismatch can be meaningful to the overall educational and college experience.  For example, a student primarily interested in history and humanities may feel out of place at Sixth College where the emphasis is on technology and modern era content.

UCSD is a university where particular attention to the college one is assigned needs to be factored into the decision on whether to matriculate. It also points up to the importance of doing due diligence on where to spend the all-important 4 years (or more) of undergraduate studies. A good fit college assignment correlates directly to UCSD student satisfaction. 

In the case of college visits, more is definitely better.  It is only with seeing a number of schools and hearing first hand about their offerings that a good comparison of the qualities can be made.

Go see a school, or even better go see a dozen schools. Learn first hand and in-person what makes a school unique.