Doruk

Do you have an idea about how many CSE Ph.D. student USC and UCSD admitted? I've heard that UCSD went pretty crazy this year. Heard of a guy who got admitted by Berkeley and Stanford, yet rejected by UCSD for some reason. Thanks man! But I sure am not, got 8 other rejections Wow! I didn't know that! Thought L.A. would require more.

hahaha! that most probably is true. And... I JUST received an email about that from a Ph.D. at USC. Here it goes: "Your living style won't be that different even if you get more money from USC since LA is an expensive city." I don't know man, I just made a choice, and I have no other option than to stick to it I'll visit USC Campus during my stay, for sure, though!

Compared to Los Angeles, I'd say yes.

According to the Ph.D. students from USC I talked to, life in Los Angeles is around $500-$600 (or even more) more expensive than that of San Diego. They warned me not to be allured by the high fellowship amount. After deducting the tax from these amounts ($2600 for USC, and $1800 for UCSD), USC seems to give only $200-300 more per month. Where did you get admission from, btw?

I'd like to ask whether you applied to UCSD (CSE or Bioinformatics and Systems Biology), and where you ended up choosing.

My thoughts exactly. I applied to both CSE and Bioinformatics and System Biology Dept., but after being accepted by the former, the latter rejected me (which was pretty reasonable --as I was a CS undergrad.) Besides Prof. Ideker, on the CSE Dept., they have profs such as Vineet Bafna & Pavel Pevzner, which are both well-reputed as far as I learned from fellow Bioinformatics Ph.D. students. I'll just look at their researches and see whether I can work at other profs labs such as Ideker, if I find them more exciting. Rejecting USC's Provost's Fellowship was really hard for me, but analyzing all conditions UCSD seemed a little nicer. Where were you admitted, by the way?

I'm pretty sure it wasn't such a strong factor to reject a university, but I needed a reason . And a Ph.D. student warned me that she did not use public transportation as she thought it wasn't safe enough. Apart from social life ON campus, UCSD seemed better. After having a car --which is a necessity in SoCal, believe me-- it no longer would be a issue (as I imagine.) And I guess I thought I'd feel more comfortable in a place I'm more accustomed to - and where I can go surf during lunch break Academically, there is just no major reason to prefer one and reject the other (which is also what a professor in CSE dept. at UCSD told me.) Believe me, USC's Campus is simply amazing. If it only had the Pacific Ocean at its borders, then it would be the prettiest one in the entire Southern California! P.S. Have you applied to UCLA or UCSD?

Hey everyone, International student, got accepted to UCSD, USC, UCSB, and UMD Ph.D. programs (with many other rejections) in order to study bioinformatics as concentration area. It would be nicer if I showed the smartness of posting this question before finalizing my decision, nevertheless, I just wanted to know where you would prefer going, for what reason, if you were to decide between those 4. Here were the offers: UCSD: $19,000 for 9 months (financial aid available during 3 months for summer if I choose to stay and continue doing research instead of an internship.) USC: $30,000 for 10 months (Provost's Fellowship - same situation applies for summer) UCSB: $16,600 for 9 months UMD: $20,500 for 9 months at USC, I was admitted to the Computational Biology/Bioinformatics Dept. under the Biology department (not Computer Science). For the others, the admitting department was Computer Science and Engineering. Professor-wise: (I was pretty interested with the research in all 4 places.) USC: 15 professors working under the program. UCSD: 3 professors doing bioinformatics under CSE, (I got a reference letter from 2 of them, so I'm quite familiar with their work.) UMD: >3, still as good as UCSD & USC. UCSB: only 1. (it -kind of- was my safety school) Reputations/Rankings: Almost same for all 4. (as far as I know) Location-wise: UCSD: I lived there 1 year, last year (as an exchange student) -- pretty but VERY serious campus, city not extremely expensive, 25 min to the Pacific Ocean on foot (less, if you run ) USC: Downtown Los Angeles, heard from a Ph.D. student that it was located very near the ghetto area, there. EXTREMELY pretty and relaxed campus, good social life, but inland, and more expensive than others. UCSB: By the beach, AMAZING campus, (social life rocks, there). Small city (Santa Barbara), not expensive. UMD: Near Washington D.C., looks like a cool campus, too. doesn't have California climate, apparently. Guess not as expensive as the L.A., either. What I did: I chose UCSD, because I didn't want to go to a ("not the safest place on earth") place (USC) for 5 years, even though they gave a lot of money, and thought it woulnd't matter since L.A. is pretty espensive. (I'm still in love with its campus, though :c ). Rejected UCSB because the bioinformatics wasn't that strong, there. And the only reason why I favored UCSD over UMD was because I knew the the environment, professors and I already took part in a research project during summer with one of them, and it was located in California. Anyone attending to one of the schools I mentioned?, or would like to express their choices on a similar situation? Any comment highly appreciated!

Hey everyone, International student, got accepted to UCSD, USC, UCSB, and UMD Ph.D. programs (with many other rejections) in order to study bioinformatics as concentration area. It would be nicer if I showed the smartness of posting this question before finalizing my decision, nevertheless, I just wanted to know where you would prefer going, for what reason, if you were to decide between those 4. Here were the offers: UCSD: $19,000 for 9 months (financial aid available during 3 months for summer if I choose to stay and continue doing research instead of an internship.) USC: $30,000 for 10 months (Provost's Fellowship - same situation applies for summer) UCSB: $16,600 for 9 months UMD: $20,500 for 9 months at USC, I was admitted to the Computational Biology/Bioinformatics Dept. under the Biology department (not Computer Science). For the others, the admitting department was Computer Science and Engineering. Professor-wise: (I was pretty interested with the research in all 4 places.) USC: 15 professors working under the program. UCSD: 3 professors doing bioinformatics under CSE, (I got a reference letter from 2 of them, so I'm quite familiar with their work.) UMD: >3, still as good as UCSD & USC. UCSB: only 1. (it -kind of- was my safety school) Reputations/Rankings: Almost same for all 4. (as far as I know) Location-wise: UCSD: I lived there 1 year, last year (as an exchange student) -- pretty but VERY serious campus, city not extremely expensive, 25 min to the Pacific Ocean on foot (less, if you run ) USC: Downtown Los Angeles, heard from a Ph.D. student that it was located very near the ghetto area, there. EXTREMELY pretty and relaxed campus, good social life, but inland, and more expensive than others. UCSB: By the beach, AMAZING campus, (social life rocks, there). Small city (Santa Barbara), not expensive. UMD: Near Washington D.C., looks like a cool campus, too. doesn't have California climate, apparently. Guess not as expensive as the L.A., either. What I did: I chose UCSD, because I didn't want to go to a ("not the safest place on earth") place (USC) for 5 years, even though they gave a lot of money, and thought it woulnd't matter since L.A. is pretty espensive. (I'm still in love with its campus, though :c ). Rejected UCSB because the bioinformatics wasn't that strong, there. And the only reason why I favored UCSD over UMD was because I knew the the environment, professors and I already took part in a research project during summer with one of them, and it was located in California. Anyone attending to one of the schools I mentioned?, or would like to express their choices on a similar situation? Any comment highly appreciated!