Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

So I want to do postgrad in the States. Want to go to a good uni, but there are plenty of them. So, assuming I just want to go to one of the best 20 or so schools in the U.S, where is best to live?

I'm very tempted by California as AFAIK it is very multicultural, has an amazing climate, and lots of girls walking around in tank tops. It also has 4 of the top 15 schools in the U.S for Economics postgrad (Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, San Diego). I don't really know much about the advantages of San Diego v. LA v. San Fransisco v. whatever.

What are the various +s and -s of each option?

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

Despite how gay the Red Sox are I looked at a ton of schools in Boston. It looked like a great place to go to school.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

By San Diego do you mean USD or UCSD?

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

UCSD

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

no stay away

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

Weak sauce. You should check out USD. Amazing campus with amazingly good looking women. Pretty good school as well.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

FWIW this is the ranking from www.phds.org based purely on quality of teaching

1. Massachusetts Inst of Technology
2. Princeton University
3. University of Chicago
4. Stanford University
5. Harvard University
6. University of Minnesota
7. University of California-Berkeley
8. Northwestern University
9. Yale University
10. University of Rochester
11. University of Pennsylvania
12. Univ of California-San Diego
13. California Institute Technology
14. University of Wisconsin-Madison
15. University of Michigan
16. Univ of California-Los Angeles
17. Columbia University
18. Brown University
19. Cornell University
20. Duke University

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

Boston would be my choice, but I'm a bit biased. The only real con I could think of is that it gets cold in the winter and I HATE COLD

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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Boston would be my choice, but I'm a bit biased. The only real con I could think of is that it gets cold in the winter and I HATE COLD

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Another con: East Coast girls = meh.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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Boston would be my choice, but I'm a bit biased. The only real con I could think of is that it gets cold in the winter and I HATE COLD

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Another con: East Coast girls = meh.

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True, at least in the northeast. I was in FLA and the girls there were generally good looking. I get back home and see a bunch of pale bitches. Damn. Even worse, I go back to school and there are no girls!!1

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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Boston would be my choice, but I'm a bit biased. The only real con I could think of is that it gets cold in the winter and I HATE COLD

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Another con: East Coast girls = meh.

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True, at least in the northeast. I was in FLA and the girls there were generally good looking. I get back home and see a bunch of pale bitches. Damn. Even worse, I go back to school and there are no girls!!1

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Yes, I should have clarified and said Northeast. There are some fine girls further south for sure, and even in Virginia.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

location should really only be an issue for you if you are debating 2 equal (or close to equal) schools.

For instance, if you are debating whether or not to go to Stanford or MIT, well, you'll probably be good at both places, and location preference becomes a factor.

If you only get into Stanford and Boston College (unlikely, I know) location should really not be a large factor. BC is a good school, but it's not Stanford.

Ditto for MIT/Harvard vs a good but not great West Coast school.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

For every big-time research university in the US, there is a big difference between graduate and undergraduate education. As an undergrad at Berkeley, you will not be sitting in lectures with Nobel Laureates. This is not to say that undergrad profs there aren't good at what they do, but don't put too much credence into rankings like this.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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6. University of Minnesota

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Look up any publication that makes "most liveable places in america" lists and you'll find Minnesota at the top.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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Boston would be my choice, but I'm a bit biased. The only real con I could think of is that it gets cold in the winter and I HATE COLD

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That's a pretty big con. The weather in LA or SD is about a million times nicer than Boston. Maybe more.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

Location-wise, it's hard to beat Pepperdine.

Edit: Didn't notice you're looking at grad schools. I know they have Law at Pepperdine, but I'm not sure what else in the way of grad programs.

http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/images...University.jpg

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

The list posted is almost certainly not an undergraduate ranking, but specifically a ranking of the reptuation of various economics Ph.D. programs. MIT being near the top there is a giveaway.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

FYP [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
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6. University of Minnesota

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Look up any publication that makes "most liveable places in america for Eskimo's" lists and you'll find Minnesota at the top.

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Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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The list posted is almost certainly not an undergraduate ranking, but specifically a ranking of the reptuation of various economics Ph.D. programs. MIT being near the top there is a giveaway.

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Yes, it is specifically for PhDs.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

UGA

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

Boston blows weather-wise. Maxim described the women there as "orc-like." I did five years. Yeah it's got the Sox and some other good features (including the best sports section of any newspaper in the country), but you would have to really like slush, hate good food, and be a serious Catholic to prefer that over California. The collective culture there is definitely a plus, although if you are from the South or West it all seems very rude for the first few months til you realize everyone just hassles each other. The biggest proponents of Boston are those who are from there and haven't lived in the better places, or people who visited in late May or late September.

Stanford cannot be beat. After that UCSD for living. San Francisco is great but Berkeley is very crowded and too big for most people. Berkeley has the best cheap food and the crunchiest student body of the ones you listed.

my 2 cents.

Matt

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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UGA

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bwahahahahahahahahaha

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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Boston blows weather-wise. Maxim described the women there as "orc-like." I did five years. Yeah it's got the Sox and some other good features (including the best sports section of any newspaper in the country), but you would have to really like slush, hate good food, and be a serious Catholic to prefer that over California. The collective culture there is definitely a plus, although if you are from the South or West it all seems very rude for the first few months til you realize everyone just hassles each other. The biggest proponents of Boston are those who are from there and haven't lived in the better places, or people who visited in late May or late September.

Stanford cannot be beat. After that UCSD for living. San Francisco is great but Berkeley is very crowded and too big for most people. Berkeley has the best cheap food and the crunchiest student body of the ones you listed.

my 2 cents.

Matt

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Thanks. Boston sounds a bit like Great Britain.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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Weak sauce. You should check out USD. Amazing campus with amazingly good looking women. Pretty good school as well.

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don't listen to this. USD is a terrible school compared to UCSD and they're close enough by that it really doesn't matter where you go if you just wanna meet hot chicks.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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Thanks. Boston sounds a bit like Great Britain.

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England has more overbites.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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don't listen to this. USD is a terrible school compared to UCSD and they're close enough by that it really doesn't matter where you go if you just wanna meet hot chicks.

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Everyone I know that has gone to UCSD under or post grad hates the school. They like the location etc, but think the school is miserable.

JustinA may be able to give the best opinion since he goes there (undergrad though), so...

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

I'll list a few priorities. They are roughly in order or importance to me.

1) Quality of the uni. I want to enhance my chances of a career in academia, learn from brilliant minds, be around smart people. It is also important that I can find a supervisor in an area of interest to me.

2) The students. I want to meet interesting, smart, open minded and diverse people. Don't want too many bible bashers.

3) Opportunities to indulge in my interests, and take up new ones. One thing that appeals to me about CA is that I am a keen boxing fan, and lots of the top bouts are either there or in Vegas. I also like poker, bridge, backgammon etc. Would like to experience new cultures, so CA again appeals to me as it borders Mexico. Nice variety of restaurants is good. I am not a big nightclubber so that doesn't really bother me. Nice live music places (Jazz, Indie, Classical) would be cool.

4) Climate. I fkn hate the English climate. I want blue skies with a big round yellow thing visible in the middle of it. I want to be able to play tennis on most days of the year, rather than the exception. Being able to go for a walk at 21:00 without having to put on 20 layers of clothing would also be very nice.

Probably lots of other things I forgot to mention too.

Thanks, some good replies so far.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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UGA

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Go dawgs...100 percent.
Lots of girls, lots of bars, good sports, warm.

-JMP

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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I want to meet interesting, smart, open minded and diverse people.

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Good luck with that one [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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10. University of Rochester

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I have to question any list that puts Rochester at number 10 in anything, let alone quality of phd programs.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

After looking at your priorities I think you should focuse on schools in LA. Check out UCLA and USC programs, they seem to be what you are looking for.

LA is a very "interesting" place; probably a cool experience for a European.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

Based on your priorities I would say Cali is your best bet. I've never lived there only visited, but based on the time I spent there I would say San Francisco and San Diego above LA. LA just rubs me completely the wrong way, sure the whether is beautiful everyday but the city itself is ugly as far as I'm concerned. I would think San Fran would be your best bet.

That said, given that you posted the rankings and you put school prestige at the top of the list you might consider giving No. 6 Minnesota a look. We're pretty liberal, I can't remember the last time we voted for a Republican for president. (Although we have been sliding toward the middle in recent years.) The girls are surprisingly good-looking, not California or Southern Belle hot I guess, but certainly significantly hotter than East Coast or other Midwest girls. The potential dealbreaker of course with Minnesota is the cold. We do not, I repeat do NOT have any English type weather. What we do have though is one hellaciously cold winter that lasts a solid 4-5 months accompanied by about 4-5 months where temps are consistently 17-18 degrees celsius plus and another few months where its plenty nice enough for me to golf. Also, Minneapolis/St. Paul has a nice card room with everyone 18+ able to play and plenty of overly loose and overly passive hold em players. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

San Fran is probably you're best bet, but judging from your list I'd give Minnesota a look.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

I went to grad school at Penn and it was a great experience. I live in San Diego now and my ex is a current phD student at UCSD so I have a decent basis to compare and can easily say Philly is a much better place to be a grad student. Very accessible city, not ridiculously expensive, lots of culture, etc... If weather is a top priority, it's not the greatest, not as brutal as Boston though.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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UGA

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One problem...

64. University of Georgia

By the way, the SEC managed to sneak one school into the Top 40 with Florida slipping in at number 39. Hooray, SEC!!!

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

Before coming to the states, stop using the term "uni," unless you want to get a lot of funny looks.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

I'm from the Midwest(MN, cold as hell), went to HS in LA, went to undergrad at Berkeley, and now live in basically downtown LA for the past 6 yrs. So I've hit the places you are thinking about and have experienced the cold. Yes, it does suck.

Easily I think the best option for you given all the conditions you have listed is Berkeley. If you can get into Stanford, that would place second. San Diego is one of the nicest cities in the US to live, but not diverse enough for your interests, most parts scream "suburbs". Same goes for the Palo Alto region(Stanford), although you would be at one of the top institutions in the world, the male-female ration in Silicon Valley is horrendous and every other person you meet will be associated with technology.

Berkeley has the best of all worlds, isn't a big "nightclub" scene, is one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, and has some of the top graduate programs in the nation. It gets cold there, but never snows and has a great university "feel" to it. It's one of those cities where people are playing the games you mention outside many of the coffee shops. And of course, SF is only a short hop across the Bay Bridge. I think this choice is easy.

Anyone that is giving non-Cali answers should leave the thread immediately. MN, GA? Obviously you have not left those states and lived in Cali for an extended period. I doubt you would have gone back.

DN

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

I just finished my B.A. in economics from UCSD. My direct experience with the grad department is based solely on interactions with teaching assistants and one undergrad/graduate mixed seminar.

I'm sure you know that within any "good" department, there are some that are "better" in certain subject areas. UCSD's econ department has found a niche at the foreground of econometric theory. Engle and Granger picked up the Nobel Prize a couple of years ago (The ARCH test is the only “winning” concept that I am familiar with). Hal White (who is still there) is being considered for a future prize as well.

That's the stuff any recruiter will tell you. Like the rest of UCSD, the 10-15 econ grad students I interacted with were a mixed bunch. Overall, they seemed to be less wound up that the Science and Engineering grad student who are notorious for their over-the-top treatment of every little detail. Because so much of the school revolves around its engineering and science achievements, the negative demeanor of these departments often permeates the rest of the school.

As for the notion that people are unhappy who go to UCSD, it is very easy to get caught up in the grind. This is not unusual for a top-flight school and I don't understand why people complain. UCSD is a top school placed in the city where the average 18-25 population could care less about education and it’s from this stark contrast where the notion that UCSD is boring came from.

PM me if you have any more specific questions I may be able to answer

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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UCSD is a top school placed in the city where the average 18-25 population could care less about education and it’s from this stark contrast where the notion that UCSD is boring came from.

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From what I understand, it is "boring" because it is in La Jolla, which is basically a very quiet city where the average age of its citizens is &gt; 50 yrs old.

DN

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

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UCSD is a top school placed in the city where the average 18-25 population could care less about education and it’s from this stark contrast where the notion that UCSD is boring came from.

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Letting education rule your life 24/7 is where the notion came from.

There is a fine line between enjoying life and valuing your education. There is a reason that UCSD gets the rap it does.

Re: Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)
 

what's your area of interest?

Also, are you really good enough to get accepted to top 5 programs? Seems unlikely given that you aren't familiar with the schools already to some extent, and you care a lot about region which is normally not a relevant factor unless you are indifferent between departments.