University of California campus rankings, US News 2022 edition... (Riverside, Berkeley: 2013, dorm)

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by waltchan

While we actually don't know UCSB's actual ranking in the 1970s, history shows that it was a rather violent, poorly-ran, and unorderly campus. Chancellors resigned constantly. These factors, surely, would not have given a great UCSB ranking at that time, and it could be the lowest-ranked UC campus of the 1970s.

But a chancellor doesn't rank a school. By the late 1970s, several of my classmates were enrolled there, and when visiting, I found it to be a lovely campus. And fairly sought after, with tough requirements--unless one was a transfer student--so I don't know about that ranking you assigned to it.

Originally Posted by waltchan

Stanford used to be #1 in the 1980s, until the mid-1990s.

Was Stanford once easy to get into? https://www.city-data.com/forum/cali...-get-into.html

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Was Stanford once easy to get into? https://www.city-data.com/forum/cali...-get-into.html

A few years ago, I found a MBA ranking book from the early 90s at a friend's house. It showed the average GMAT scores. Let's just say that the top schools, including Harvard, Stanford and Wharton had average GMAT scores in the low-mid 600 range. That would not even get someone into a top 50 program nowadays, so you can see how much more competitive it's become.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

But a chancellor doesn't rank a school. By the late 1970s, several of my classmates were enrolled there, and when visiting, I found it to be a lovely campus. And fairly sought after, with tough requirements--unless one was a transfer student--so I don't know about that ranking you assigned to it.

We know about Stanford.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/cali...-get-into.html

Fair enough...

But, by 1990-1993, UCSB was not tough to get in at all. Acceptance rate got easier in the early-1990s than the 1980s, actually. Because there was birth rate gap difference (with decline) between baby boomer and generation X. And then birth rate increased again between 1988-1995 (for 2010-era college applicants).

[waltchan]

Finally found this old article about UCR from 2003, when I was a freshman student there:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...s27-story.html

Confirmed... UCR was indeed a "dummy" school for that year I saw. Brings me clearer memories again. Students with tattoos were fairly common sight when I checked into freshman orientation. Average SAT was only 1120 out of 1600. Don't ask about their high school average GPA, it wasn't high at all. All the smarter students went to better UC campuses. Which means, UCR had great difficulty finding smart "takers," and could only appeal to "dummies" to accept and fill in the campus.

Julie Neilson, college counselor at Jordan High School in Watts, said when she suggests UC Riverside to her students, “Most of them say, ‘I think I can get into a little bit better school.’ ”

“UC Riverside is a good school,” she added, “but it takes a long time to lose the reputation from being easier to get into.”

[Valley Boy]

Originally Posted by waltchan

Finally found this old article about UCR from 2003, when I was a freshman student there:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...s27-story.html

Confirmed... UCR was indeed a "dummy" school for that year I saw. Brings me clearer memories again. Students with tattoos were fairly common sight when I checked into freshman orientation. Average SAT was only 1120 out of 1600. Don't ask about their high school average GPA, it wasn't high at all. All the smarter students went to better UC campuses. Which means, UCR had great difficulty finding smart "takers," and could only appeal to "dummies" to accept and fill in the campus.

Julie Neilson, college counselor at Jordan High School in Watts, said when she suggests UC Riverside to her students, “Most of them say, ‘I think I can get into a little bit better school.’ ”

“UC Riverside is a good school,” she added, “but it takes a long time to lose the reputation from being easier to get into.”

I think you are holding on to this stuff to seriously. For the vast majority of jobs, where you went to undergrad is pretty much irrelevant.

[Fisherman99]

Originally Posted by Valley Boy

I think you are holding on to this stuff to seriously. For the vast majority of jobs, where you went to undergrad is pretty much irrelevant.

True... honestly, anybody from the midwest/outside of California would know the flagships of UCLA/Berkeley, but for the other 7 UC's most wouldn't really know the difference between Santa Barbara, Davis, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Cruz, and probably never still heard of Merced (that may be changing now though)...kind of a California bragging rights thing, but the entire University of California System holds a solid reputation as the best public system in the world where you can receive a quality, affordable education at any UC location.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Fisherman99

But the entire University of California System holds a solid reputation as the best public system in the world where you can receive a quality, affordable education at any UC location.

Correct... I was just refreshing my good old memory of that bizarre time during the easy fall-2002 UCR's admission process. I got accepted with only a 2.6 HS GPA and 1050 SAT score (not too far away from 1120 SAT average). I was also accepted to UC Santa Cruz and Cal Poly Pomona, but not UC Santa Barbara. This is due to perfect timing, and I was born before the 1986 immigration amnesty by former president Ronald Reagan, which was actually the cut-off date for any future easy college admission.

Otherwise, yes, a University of California is a University of California, and you're not required to disclose the campus location in your resume. You still attend the best public university system in America.

[TheseGoTo11]

I agree about the high quality of the UCs, but the lack of sports at most of them seem to weigh on school spirit. The website Niche student reviews are higher from USC (and the "Trojan" family") than most of the UCs besides Berkeley and UCLA.

USNews needs to move rankings around to keep the whole survey relevant, but would agree that after Berkeley and UCLA, the others aren't well enough known east of the Rockies for anyone to know the difference between Santa Barbara and Merced.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by waltchan

Finally found this old article about UCR from 2003, when I was a freshman student there:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...s27-story.html

Confirmed... UCR was indeed a "dummy" school for that year I saw. Brings me clearer memories again. Students with tattoos were fairly common sight when I checked into freshman orientation. Average SAT was only 1120 out of 1600.

Tattoos are an indicator of someone's academic ability? That's a bit of a stretch. The article was interesting, although full of many anecdotal stories. UC Riverside will probably always lag behind the other UC campuses because of its location. As your article quoted a high school counselor stating, “Santa Barbara has the ocean. UCLA has Westwood...people want to go someplace where there’s something besides just the school.”

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Tattoos are an indicator of someone's academic ability? That's a bit of a stretch. The article was interesting, although full of many anecdotal stories. UC Riverside will probably always lag behind the other UC campuses because of its location. As your article quoted a high school counselor stating, “Santa Barbara has the ocean. UCLA has Westwood...people want to go someplace where there’s something besides just the school.”

Well, that high school counselor in Watts LA was saying that students told her they could get into a better UC campus than UCR, even with less than 3.00 high school GPA. Talk about hindsight... Of course, they didn't get accepted, so they went into UCR, and crowded in with great numbers.

Honestly, when I applied, only UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz were easy to get in for the underserved students. UC Santa Barbara was already way too hard to get in (despite being the 3rd worst UC-ranked campus after Santa Cruz and Riverside at that time), with average high school GPA of 3.94 for fall-2002 applicants, that I read.

https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2003/01169...8706-fall-2003