I was bummed out when all of my friends were accepted to UCLA and I wasn't. I chose UCR over UCSB and UCSC, best decision ever! I was the only one of my friends that got into grad school, some of my friends didn't even manage to graduate from UCLA. It is what it is!
not really it is pretty dangerous i have a family member who goes there. I'd recommend UCI (there's not much student life at UCI), UCSD, UCLA, (Berkley can also be pretty dangerous) it also dropped in ranks so @@alsaqrr
I went to UCR! There was a lot of stigma from my fellow classmates feeling they should have went to a "better" university, but honestly loved my time here at UCR. Had many amazing experiences and the campus gave me everything and more I needed to be successful. People here were awesome. I'm so proud to be a UCR alumni and I am now a first-year medical student in Nevada. Couldn't have done it without all the resources UCR provided me.
I went to UCR 40 years ago and got a great education. I discovered what I really wanted to do in my Senior year, Computer Science. I continued with my History degree and graduated with my B.A. in '83. I went back to school in '96 and earned my B.S. in Computer Science. Who knew that the Pandemic would be more applicable to my History degree from '83.
As a UCR alum from the 90's it was interesting to hear that the sentiment around the school hasn't changed much. Everything you said is spot on from back in the day, except class size was never more than 150 - 200. I heard all the negatives before going, it was called UC redirect back then so it had a major stigma. Having said all that I loved my UCR experience, I even got into UCLA as a transfer and didn't take it since UCR life seems so much nicer. In the end, I have had a great career and learned tons from my UCR experience. Go Highlanders! (oh wait there is still no sports teams :-)
UCR class of 2016 here. I connected with so much of what you said in this video. Unfortunately, I did not make the most of my time while I was UCR because it wasn't my "top" school so to speak, but it has taken me time to learn that where you are is where you're meant to be. So much has changed because of the epidemic, and I'm grateful that I was able to have the on campus experience that I had
I went to UCR, too, and graduated a couple years ago, and I connected with just about everything you said in this video. I liked the lack of competitiveness because I feel like it’s sometimes better to be a “big fish in a small pond” rather than a “small fish in a big pond.” If I had gone to like Berkeley, I’d probably have felt like a complete idiot and been totally stressed out all the time, but at UCR, I was able to get good grades and a high-quality education without tearing my hair out. I also wholeheartedly agree about the diversity factor. It was certainly the first time that I, as a white guy, was firmly in the minority, but I think that’s something that really adds to the UCR experience. And I also appreciated all the concerts they had (Post Malone performed there when I was a student), but, like you, I didn’t fully appreciate those because I live like kind of a grandpa haha And then in terms of the cons, the first two things that came to mind for me were the lack of sports hype and the fact that Riverside is kind of a shitty city, and those were the first two cons that you mentioned hahaha the campus is definitely super nice, but once you get like 5 minutes off-campus, things go south pretty quickly, and even as someone who loves basketball, I only went to one UCR game during my time there because their team just stunk 😬 For the overpopulation, the large class sizes didn’t bug me too much, especially because when you get to upper div classes, they’re usually much more reasonably-sized, but the classes at the UV theater were definitely pretty lame. There wasn’t anything worse than having to walk all the way from Glen Mor to the UV theater for a class at 12:10 on a hot Riverside day. The only other pro I’d personally mention would be the dining halls. I know not everyone liked the food there, but I thought they had some seriously dank options either at AI or Lothian, and the all-you-can-eat nature of it was pretty awesome even if it was a major contributor to the Freshman 15 being a very real thing for me hahaha
hi! Yeah i tried my hardest to find pros and cons that resonated with a lot of UCR students so i'm glad you found it relatable! but wow i wish I could've seen post malone during my time at UCR!! And i completely agree with you about the dining halls! That freshman 15 really hit me hard too because the food was so good. Thank you so much for the detailed response as well and I'm glad you enjoyed the video :))
Um sorry no the diversity is extremely forced at UCR. Thanks, but in this day and age when white people are practically crucified for being white, I don’t want to surrounded by people that aren’t Asian, white, or Pacific Islander lmao
-college experience + dorm + sorority ("like in the movies") -5 Pro's of UC Riverside: 1. chill, and not competitive = :) (classes are manageable, able to get/earn a good GPA) 2. free resources (like ARK tutoring = chem, bio, math, writing essays) & first year learning communities/HCD (peer mentors: help with transition from HS to CC) 3. diversity 4. student-involvement clubs/organizations 5. free programs (guest speakers, celebs, musicians/concerts) 5 Con's of UC Riverside: 1. no college city/town life 2. ghetto-land (not safe, homeless ppl) 3. no big school spirit 4. over-populated students, over-impacted majors/classes (23,000 undergrads + 4,000 grads = grand total student population = 27,000 students) big class sizes (300-600 students: a small lecture/concert hall) 5. pretty basic/generic/general majors (no specializations/specifics/niche majors)
Congratulations!! If you decide to go I hope you enjoy your time there !!! I graduated spring 2022 with a BS in neuroscience and love this campus so much!!! They gave me all the resources and more to succeed 💛💙🐻
Great video. As someone who attended UCR like 10 years ago and transferred out, I concur with many points on your list. One thing I'm surprised you didn't mention is how UCR has always had a bad reputation of being a "UC Reject" school (I know you kinda referred to it near the end). It's what deters many people from going and ultimately is what drove me to transfer (although I ended up not fitting in at the school I went to). I think most kids should know that the "status" of your undergrad school does not matter once you are looking for jobs; so many of us get caught up in university status but the truth is, no one out there cares. I will say with your last con, yes, if you are looking for a specific major (for me it was communication), UCR won't have it. Majors are very broad indeed, so that is something to consider, esp for those looking for marketing/communication/advertising/PR stuff.
Hi I am incoming freshman majoring in MCD and accepted UCSC (with a 20k scholarship) and UCR please advise I am living in San Jose Does UCR fulfill MCAT prerequisites? Will get clinical internships? Please please suggest Thank you
UC Riverside alumnus from way back in the day when there was only West Lothian (my dorm) and Aberdeen and Inverness (A&I)! Great people and programs (ranked in the US News Top 100) at one of the fastest growing UC's for a reason. Received a great education/college experience at UCR...go Highlanders!!
Hello! UCR grad class of 2016. I told people college experience is what you put in determines the experiences that come out of it. There's are A LOT of clubs and organizations to meet people. I was in a sorority and community service club but met a lot of people who were in my classes because that will help a lot when it comes to study groups. UCR offers great concerts and events. I loved all the quarter concerts and its a great incentive since a lot of schools don't offer it as much as us. I've had people from other schools try to buy student id's to attend these concerts 😆 and same for the panels and theaters since we have a theater down the street that does midnight showings for free. On campus jobs helped a lot of my friends because there were so many food options. I also worked at the book store which was easy bc I went to work from 8-2 and then my class at 2. UCR internships and study abroad programs were amazing. I did UCDC that offered students to intern in DC and they provided housing and financial aid and if you felt you weren't competitive enough in DC, the coordinator would help you on hands to learn how to make you stand out or who to help you contact for letters of rec.
thank you so much for this!! i think now i understand what its like there bc my friend recommended it for me and im thinking of studying abroad and study there so im glad there's a diversity going on i just hope i get accepted tho
I’m an 8th grader who is in the AVID program. We’re talking about college and university rn in class. I plan on applying for UCR since I have family near and I have relatives who been there.
Awesome!! Hope you like it!!!! I graduated spring 2022 with a BS in neuroscience and love this campus so much!!! They gave me all the resources and more to succeed 💛💙🐻
UCR was my #1 choice. Mainly because I wanted to go to a university closest to my hometown, Hemet, which is about 35 miles away (35-45 min drive). I wanted to commute from home to university. My other choices that were closer to Hemet were Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State San Marcos, which are much further away requiring me to stay in housing or nearby there. Just so you know, Hemet is a small town that is far away from a lot of major cities, so UC Riverside was the closest university to it. UC Riverside was also my #1 choice because some of my relatives such as my cousins and even my father went there. I applied to UC Riverside in Winter 2022 and only to UC Riverside, and I was happy when I got accepted into UC Riverside. I am enjoying UC Riverside. As far as the city of Riverside goes, it seems like a main place students would go outside of Riverside is the University Village, where there are various cuisines such as Indian restaurants, Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants, Boba Tea places, a Pizza restaurant, a Cajun seafood restaurant, etc. Whenever I go to Riverside, I love going to the University Village whenever I can.
@Blackowl44 I somehow thought it was a bit further away, but I realized it's about the same distance. Private universities (like the University of Redlands) weren't my top choice. And I completely forgot about it when considering the aforementioned Cal States.
Attending UCR this year. The biggest factor as to why is that I’m being given a full ride. My mom teased me about not getting into UCI, but I’m perfectly fine with. I’m glad that the competition isn’t all that much, but I also know that I’m getting a solid education out of it. A W in my book
You know, my friend goes to UCLA and he says it's not competitive. Maybe it's because he rents an apartment with his friend. I mostly hear that people are stressed during exams. That's about it. Most horror stories come from Berkeley.
Tks for the video. I'm a study-from-home UCR freshman, and plan to live on campus this coming Fall. Can you provide suggestions for dorm vs. apartment? And which dorm/apartment you recommend?
I'm transferring into a UC from a community college. UCR was one that I got in, I wasn't expecting to get accepted. Now I know why. It's not competitive. Got rejected from the other UC's i applied to.
This is a really late reply but absolutely! I am an Arts Major and I had a few STEM major peers taking introduction classes to fill out their major requirements. Also when I dormed my floor was all stem, and many of them took dance :). I'm not sure about the higher up classes, but i think as long as it fits within your credits and they have available seats i think you can be let in no problem. hope this helped!
I think the psych program was actually really good! The classes were really interesting and there’s a lot of opportunities for you as a psych major. So you could join research labs, etc. the only downside is, is that psych classes are larger than others, but overall I still liked the program
i got waitlisted for irvine, but if i don't go to irvine...I've already accepted my admissions at riverside. definitely not my first choice...was going to go to csu long beach if i couldn't go to irvine, but I'm looking up and researching about it and im looking forward to being happily surprised at UCR.
yes! honestly UCR is so great! If I’m going to be honest it wasn’t my first choice in school either but I’m so glad I chose UCR. I know that anywhere else I wouldn’t have enjoyed college as much as I did at UCR!
does UCR offer a good amount of classes online? for those who can't physically go as much? is there a good amount of psych class requirements for the psych major online as options?
I appreciate you making this video! But I do question your perspective on how dangerous Riverside is. Riverside is one of the more safer cities in the Inland Empire. Also, If you live on campus, why would you drive to campus? But you right, parking is outrageous -a commuter
hi! I actually lived in a house off campus so I had to commute to get to class and campus. I just think that in comparison to other UCs and Riverside’s proximity to more dangerous cities, it makes it a more dangerous campus. Thanks for the feedback!
@@laurenpak4198 I think that may be an unfair characterization of Riverside. Riverside does have a lot of homeless people but they are relatively harmless. Riverside gang activity was a joke for the most part. When I first moved there from San Bernardino I felt like I was in a world away from home. But that's not to say crazy stuff didn't happen there I was less effected because I didn't know anyone out there aside my boyfriend at the time.
I'm going o be a junior in high school in the next school term and college has been on my mind for the majority of the summer. My other friends are probably BORED during summer while I'm drying out my tear ducts to find a college in california that has a good Creative Writing/ English major. I need help TT
I know this is kinda of late but if I were to join clubs other than Greek life, are there still occasional house parties? I know education definitely comes first, but I’m curious to know if ucr is more open to that. Like I know sdsu is super reserved to frats (that’s why I don’t wanna go there.)
This video is helpful really! However im still stuck because i want to attend for 2023 since i finish up in a few months. And i would love to go here since my family is typically in fontana which isn’t that far from riverside . However i dont want to miss out on the college life by not dorming yet i see the cost for dorms and waitlisting for them and i doubt i might be able to dorm. So do you by chance know how social life is there
hi!! I’m so glad u found it helpful! to answer your question I don’t really think there’s any snakes. Maybe up in the mountains there would be, but I think on campus there aren’t because I never saw or know anyone who encountered one :)
I thought UCR was going Division 1-A for basketball? I am an alumni--grad year 2000. And if you think that area is dangerous you should try San Bernardino...I think not! CSUSB is awful! I attended that school for a teaching credential I was not allowed to finish because of a racist white woman. And come to find out she still works there and now is in the most fitting yet most ironic department Theater. She's a great actress to say the least! 🤦 She was my P.E. teacher but was not in good shape or health, but she still in the kinesiology department. 🤦 Anyway, UCR is WAY BETTER than CSUSB. And Riverside is less violent than San Bernardino. And for fun there is Castle Park Amusement Park. There is the movies and drive-in movie in Rubidoux. There is Ontario Mills Mall is not too far away. Galleria Mall at Tyler in Riverside. She mentioned the movie theater classes. I took a class at the movie theater it was nice. My weight was great because I had to walk everywhere. A lot has changed due to COVID I am sure, but there is plenty to do in the Inland Empire and if you feel like getting that L.A. vibe sit in traffic a few hours and go to the big city. 🤦🙄 But UCR hasn't changed much since I graduated 20 years ago. WOW can't believe it has been that long. I still should have gone to Grambling State College. 😣
I have a question. Would I need to send a hard copy of my transcript to the school or am I able to send it through a PDF? it would be though a service website that does the transcript. I just want to make sure so I don’t mess up
ty for this video! The only real thing I'm worried about is the surrounding city but then I ask myself, how often am I really going to be going off campus lol :)
congratulations!! so UCR actually has job fairs throughout the quarter that you can go to if you’re looking for jobs, etc! And then also if you join an on campus organizations it’ll open up a lot of opportunities for you as well !
hey!! I'm currently deciding between UCR pre-business and CSUF Business Administration and I'm also worried about the job opportunities at UCR. Would you say you made the right call? Is UCR's business program looking promising? (UCR is going to be about 4000 dollars cheaper than CSUF for me)
Keith Zmudzinski hi! So I’m actually not on campus, but I’d assume that the campus as of rn is probably empty. They closed the campus and most resources have transitioned to remote access, so I’d say that there probably aren’t many people on campus :)
Hi, I got an admit from UCR MS in CS 2 days ago. I also have an admit from ASU MS in SE. Was very confused on which to choose. Your inputs on this would be great.