r/ucla • u/itzmeisabella • May 08 '26
UCLA or University of San Diego!
Hi!! I just got off the waitlist for UCLA and I’m wondering if it’s worth going for 45k vs USD for 20k? I am Public Health major planning to go the pre-PA route. Here are some things I’m curious about:
- pre-med culture: is the whole thing about weed-out classes true? as someone whose strength isn’t science and math i’m a bit concerned
are clinical opportunities over saturated? is it also really competitive to get experience?
large classes vs small classes
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u/Silver_Stick_4888 May 09 '26
Pizza vs poop.
All jokes but please do yourself a favor and pick UCLA. much better opportunities here and USD does not even compare to UCLA at all. I know people who chose community college over schools like USD purely because it's almost a waste of time/money. UCLA, even though it's more expensive, is way more worth the price. Unless financial cost is #1 priority for you, ucla is the no-brainer choice.
To answer your questions, yes to the first two, and yes the class sizes are way different. But it's not so bad. If you put in enough effort into studying for classes and applying for opportunities, you'll see results.
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u/drippdroppp May 09 '26
Was offered a lot of money to go to USD for undergrad but went to UCLA. Don’t regret my choice :) also am a PA now
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u/itzmeisabella May 09 '26
congratulations! may i ask how your experience was and why you ultimately chose ucla?
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May 09 '26
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u/nobody___100 May 10 '26
its not UCSD, its USD. not nearly the same level
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May 10 '26
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u/nobody___100 May 10 '26
not really, no. you mentioned a bad economy - that is precisely where a higher quality/more prestigious degree would help. if the economy was good, a degree from anywhere would be sufficient.
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u/drippdroppp May 09 '26
UCLA was fun. Really got the college experience but it is what you make it. I will say that the college counseling is not as hands on compared to private institutions. Make sure you enroll for the classes you need because they don’t always offer certain courses each quarter and that can delay graduation.
Chose UCLA because it had been my dream college since 7th grade. I’m from LA. Plus, my sister went there as well.
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u/Bliker1002 UCLA '22 May 09 '26
- Yes, and if you're not good at rote memorization, you're gonna have a hard time regardless of school.
- Yes to both. You'll have to be really on the ball for research in terms of emailing professors.
- Lower divs are huge, 100-400 people per lecture. Discussion sections are 15-25 people each. Upper divs are usually smaller, 10-50 people depending on class with 1-3 discussion sections each, depending on TAs.
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May 10 '26
Only a 25k difference and u go from random school to Ivy League
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u/itzmeisabella May 10 '26
ucla isn’t an ivy league
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Jun 02 '26
It’s ivy league level I mean. In the world ranking it’s above a lot of ivy’s since they rank on a diff criteria but even in the US ranking it’s above Vanderbilt which is a Ivy League level school
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u/Busy-Particular5119 May 09 '26
Let me take a stab at this since this question is right up my alley. I'm a UCLA alumni Mentor (retired), my core work at UCLA was human genetics (gene mapping) most of which was in the school of public health, much of my 40+ year career revolved around biotech and healthcare, I'm a 61 year Type 1 diabetic revolving around my team of Drs who support me, and I'm now a Sr volunteer at Cedars Sinai taking care of patients and families coming in for surgery.
Being a PA is a great job with good job security since Drs today more than ever rely on their PAs.
UCLA Public Health is great. Below is a direct contact you can reach out to with specific questions.
It comes down to one simple question - if your family can afford the $25K difference (per year?) then definitely go to UCLA. If however the finances are a burden you can do just fine at USD.
People to contact
Kristy (Jernigan) Sherrer, MS
Director of Career Services
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Suite 16-085 CHS
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772
https://ph.ucla.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/kristy-j-sherrer
[ksherrer@ph.ucla.edu](mailto:ksherrer@ph.ucla.edu)
310.825.1020