Guys I am planning to move. I just need some help deciding where to move to between these two places. Anyone thats ever lived in either one of these two cities please help me. I plan to continue with school and as I see it both UCSD and UW are both great schools. I think the weather is better in San Diego than it is in Seattle year round. San Diego def has more sun and has the beach. Seattle has the beautiful mountainside and timberland. You can go surfing in San Diego but then you can go Snowboarding in Seattle. You have Mexico by San Diego and then you have Canada by Seattle. Cost of Living is higher in San Diego than it is in Seattle. You can see how this is confusing.
You forgot that Seattle is suicide central; too much rain. But yes, both beautiful cities, I would pick Seattle though
You should also highly consider UCSD vs. UW (it could make a difference depending on what you want to do). In terms of the actual cities, San Diego is a great place to live if you like warm places...Seattle not so much. IMO, San Diego lacks diversity, compared to the likes of Los Angeles or San Francisco, and I struggled to find good food there. I also did not like how far away everything was. Overall, great beach city but that's about it. If you like Pacific Beach in SD (if you have ever visited), then you will love SD. La Jolla and Coronado are gorgeous...everywhere else not that much. Seattle has a fairly small downtown area but Pike's place is awesome and so is the area around UW. Honestly, I really liked Seattle more than San Diego but I probably would live in SD b/c of the area UCSD is around (La Jolla).
I have visited both places although I remember a lot more about Seattle than I do about San Diego. I do actually plan to attend either UCSD or UW and have started looking into which one would be a better fit. Both are very nice schools. thanks a lot. This info was very helpful.
Didnt think of it that way. I was thinking of Whistler. I am guessing you are talking about Colorado or New Mexico.
You can go to Big Bear in california to snowboard which is about 2-3 hours from Sandy Ego. I live an hour away from SD so I'm usually there like 2 times month visiting friends and its an awesome/fun place to live. Never been to Seattle. if you choose UCSD, be careful there is a bird that attacks you on campus :grin: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nu9jg8zrZzI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nu9jg8zrZzI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I actually was in your exact situation last year; choosing between attending the UW and UCSD for my grad program. Ultimately, the quality of the program and the potential research opportunities were what influenced my decision, but I truly would have been happy at either place. I'm typing this right now from La Jolla, and I haven't regretted my decision for one second. I really do love this place, as it reminds me of Hawai'i so much in terms of how laid back everyone is, the great surfing, and the awesome weather. I really can't stress how great the weather is down here. Right now, there's a huge rainstorm coming through, but other than perhaps a few rainy weeks per year, the weather is just clear skies every day with fairly low humidity and nice cool tradewinds; from what my friends in Seattle tell me, it's basically reversed; rain the entire year, with a few weeks of blistering heat. As someone said earlier, if you're a snowboarder, there are a decent amount of places within driving distance; Big Bear is about 3 hours away, Mammoth is around 7-8 in central Cali. One more huge factor for me is you can get to Vegas in under 6 hours; 5 if you're willing to endanger some lives on the I-15. There's also Los Angeles 90 minutes away as well. Personally, I love the Mexican food here, but I'd imagine that's because it's been crap everywhere else I've lived. I know I got spoiled by living in Philadelphia and Hawai'i with all the amazing food in those places, but I've been happy with the eats thus far. The city is definitely laid back in almost everything it does; you shouldn't come for a big, modern, metropolitan place, you should come if you like the beach town vibe. Seattle is also a much better sports town than San Diego. Plus, they should be getting a new NBA team soon. San Diego's weather is too nice, and there's too much outdoor stuff to do for people to care about pro sports, and there's no major Division-I school around, unless you want to count San Diego State. What kind of schooling are you looking into? Extension classes? Masters? UCSD and UW are both good, but different in which disciplines are well respected. As far as I know, both states also have their economies in the gutter right now, so aid will be very hard to come by, and both schools are hiking tuition like crazy. (UCSD just instituted a 33% raise between quarters, and UW is probably just as bad.) Anything else you need to know? I'm happy to brag about my new home...
Big Bear Lake: <iframe width="200" height="475" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Big+Bear+Lake,+CA&geocode=FUEy8wEdeVIE-SlLHpKtD1PZgDF53xX9_SE6DQ%3BFTiFCgIdwxII-Sllh3ACibPEgDG_U7tfdkVt9A&dirflg=&saddr=san+diego&f=d&gl=us&sll=34.867905,-116.762695&sspn=10.177765,12.084961&ie=UTF8&ll=33.596319,-117.009888&spn=2.173265,1.098633&z=8&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Big+Bear+Lake,+CA&geocode=FUEy8wEdeVIE-SlLHpKtD1PZgDF53xX9_SE6DQ%3BFTiFCgIdwxII-Sllh3ACibPEgDG_U7tfdkVt9A&dirflg=&saddr=san+diego&f=d&gl=us&sll=34.867905,-116.762695&sspn=10.177765,12.084961&ie=UTF8&ll=33.596319,-117.009888&spn=2.173265,1.098633&z=8&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small> I think UW has more school spirit, plus D1 basketball and football. Yes, it's important. UCSD is a good academic institution with a very outdoors-y student body. EVERYBODY surfs. Here's another one: Airlines have deals from Seattle to San Diego VERY often. Seattlities love them some San Diego for some reason. Pick the school/city whose culture/personality suits you. The rest will fall into place.
Well My Decision wont completely be based on Education. I dont really care for the school athletic programs as I am older. I am more concerned about getting my degree. Thanks for the insight as to government funding for schools. I didnt think about it that way. I knew California was going down in smoke but I didnt think the situation was that bad in the state of California.
I read in an article a month or two ago, that La Jolla is one of the the richest counties in the USA.
San Diego...and for me it's not even close. Sun + beach + perfect weather year-round + MEXICO = good times at all times. Seattle is cold, wet and dark for extended periods of time. The seafood is great, though... (Proximity to Whistler is a definite bonus, too.)
Have not been to Seattle, but the weather difference pretty much makes the choice easy for me. San Diego is actually the only city in CA I would consider moving . So laid back and didn't seem very crowded to me.
I can't really say anything negative about San Diego - the few times that I've been there, I'm always impressed with the cleanliness of the city, the laid-back feel, and of course, the weather. But for me, nothing beats Seattle. In 2007 I had a pretty good job offer in SoCal...I was trying to decide between moving there or moving up to Seattle to finish my degree at UW. The weather up here is certainly something to take under advisement - people think it rains up here constantly, and that's only kind of half-true. During the summertime, it actually is pretty rare to get rain and you have temperatures between 65 and 85 pretty much the whole summer and lots of sun. The rest of the year, OVERCAST is a much better description of what you get...certainly it rains a lot, I don't want to understate that - but it's not really STORMY very often. It's much more of a constant misty/overcast feel. The wife and I absolutely LOVE that kind of weather, so that was a big draw for us rather than a concern - everybody's different. As far as the UW goes, it's been great - this is the third university I've attended, and although all schools have their quirks and frustrations, the UW is fantastic. Campus is incredible, there's a good deal of diversity within the student body, and the faculty is (for the most part) quite impressive. And whether or not you really care about the university athletics, football games at Husky Stadium and basketball games at Hec Ed are tough to beat, atmosphere-wise. Just my two cents - I love Seattle, and even though I've only lived here for about 2.5 years, I can't see myself ever leaving.
