UC Davis or UC san diego for chemical engineering?

[vincent_vega]

I'm about to transfer out of a community college, and so far I got accepted to these two. I'm still waiting on Berkeley, but if I don't get in which of these two would be better if I want to go on to a phd program after undergrad? does it even matter? Thanks.

 

[SbF5]

Judging by website alone, UC Irvine seems to have something a little more put together than UCSD. UCSD only seems to have a Nanoengineering program and not a real Chem E group.

You can check their department brochure here:

https://webfiles.uci.edu/hdn/UCI_ChEMS_Brochure.pdf

 

[vincent_vega]

Thanks, but I said uc davis :p

All I know is that san diego is ranked around 18th and davis is 30th. Is that in issue for grad school later on?

If the ranking doesn't matter then I prefer Davis because it's only 1.5 hours away from my house. San Diego is like 9.

But if the difference in rank is significant, then UCSD it is.

 

[prettymidget]

I'm assuming you are looking at the USnews rankings? I seriously doubt it would be an issue for graduate admissions. I think when graduate schools gauge school quality they look at the school's undergraduate reputation overall rather than at the school's research reputation in said field. Looking at the USnews rankings for chemical engineering Harvard isn't in the top ten and Uminnesota - Twin Cities is #4 but it would be ridiculous to give an applicant from UM an edge over someone from Harvard. Plenty of fantastic undergraduate schools don't even HAVE graduate science programs yet I can assure you a degree from Harvey Mudd is far from worthless. :)

All things considered both schools have a good academic reputation, I wouldn't worry about small academic differences in quality as is perceived by a news magazine. I'm sure graduate schools don't either.

 

[vincent_vega]

^ Thanks for all the info. I just got into berkeley though so my decision has been made easier. It's probably going to be harder to get a research spot though