The UC System

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and so the UC schools were always around and visible while I was growing up. Especially UCLA.

Lots of blue and gold around town.

There are 10 schools in the UC (University of California) system. The are University of California:

• Berkeley

• Davis

• Irvine

• Los Angeles

• Merced

• Riverside

• San Diego

• San Francisco

• Santa Barbara

• Santa Cruz

Some of these schools are well-known brands, while others hardly get any attention.

I feel that it's important to state that the primary function of a UC school is research. All of these schools receive public funds, and the primary reason for these funds is for the faculty to conduct research. Yes, there is plenty of instruction happening, but I feel that it's important to state the primary purpose.

Professors are of course paid to teach students. But at a UC, a professor is on a track toward tenure. Achieving tenure is the goal of most professors. This is because tenure means guaranteed employment, and health insurance paid for - for life, among other benefits. To achieve tenure they must focus on delivering regular, high-quality research to the university.

This can sometimes result in classes being taught by non-professors.

I never did attend a UC, but I have plenty of friends that did. However, I did once attend a class at UCSB (Santa Barbara) that matches what I am saying here.

I remember while I was attending CSUN, I had a break in my schedule. It was for a few days, and since I had friends at UCSB who had an extra bed for me to crash in; I decided to take one of my many unscheduled trips to Santa Barbara. I went to a commuter school. UCSB was the opposite and it was always nice to visit.

While I was there, I got bored. One of my friends asked if I wanted to tag along and go to class with him. It sounded interesting and so I went. I clearly remember sitting in a big auditorium for a class in organic chemistry. Really dry, boring stuff that made no sense to me. The instructor looked very young, but he clearly knew his stuff. He did a nice job teaching this class to over 100 students. It turns out that this was an assistant professor teaching the class.

I had experience with assistant professors in my school as well, but my classes were much smaller. I remember being surprised that an assistant professor was responsible for teaching a class so large. My friend also explained that the class rarely saw the professor. He would poke his head in once in a while, mainly to say hi and retrieve something that he forgot.

From my experience and from what I've heard by talking with my peers, there is more teaching from professors at a CSU than at a UC. More on CSU's in another post. I am not saying that you get a better education at a CSU, although I should mention that the CSU system is less focused on research.

And of course, each UC has its own identity. We toured UCLA and UCSB. Here are our impressions of the UCs that we are familiar with, either because we've been there or because we know people who recently attended.

UCLA - Rich sports history, AMAZING campus and location, no undergrad programs for business, very low acceptance rate, and it's the birthplace of the internet.

UCSB - No football team (we like this), beach culture, buildings look very old like it's out of the '60s.

UC Davis - Smaller and close-knit feel to the campus, a strong veterinary medicine program.

UC Berkeley - Bay area, a very low acceptance rate, a top business school that also has undergrad programs, housing is hard to come by and pricey but I hear that the situation is improving.

UC Irvine - Strong engineering program.

I don't know much about the other UCs.

Do you have any thoughts or comments? Please share.