Hi octane, just the opposite. I meant to say I had no problem walking home late at night but somehow I left out the "no." The next sentence is correct, however (that I've never felt unsafe or threatened).
I'm a computer science undergrad at UCLA nearing graduation. Although it may not be much help to you for deciding, but I must say you will probably be happy with either choice from an academic standpoint. I think the UC system has done a fabulous job gathering talent and creating an excellent and competitive curriculum at a very affordable price.
Now let's get a little more practical.
I've never been to the UCSD campus so I can't speak about that, but I can tell you that I've been very pleased with my experience at UCLA. I'm from Northern California and, to be honest, was very reluctant to come down to LA. In fact, I kept telling my friends and family that UCLA was my last choice simply because of that. I was mistaken.
The campus is not the most beautiful I've ever seen but it definitely has its charms, and it's in a very nice area. I used to live near the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Westwood Blvd, and I had problem walking home from school (about 40 min walk) late at night, even with my backpack and computer. Some may call me crazy but I honestly never once felt unsafe or threatened. Now I live in Brentwood which I also really enjoy. If you're interested, here are some pictures taken at the UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden behind UCLA in Bel-Air (you can walk there from campus): http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacomanator/sets/72157614068382...
The Santa Monica bus system has been really great, and you can go to a LOT of places for 25c (regular fare is 75c, but UCLA students ride for 25c). Anywhere you can't go on the Santa Monica buses, you can get to on metro for a little bit more. There are a TON of things to do around here. My girlfriend and I often walk down to Santa Monica and the beaches around there, there's lots of interesting places to go inland, and you'll never run short of places to explore.
I have not forgotten you plan on studying computer science, but please do at least consider getting out of the nest every once in a while ;)
I can also tell you that overall I've had a very positive experience at UCLA in terms of classes and academics. There have been a few black sheep, and bad classes, but overall positive. At the undergraduate level, I honestly don't think you will be able to differentiate the schools too much, except that perhaps UCLA is a little more well known. I may be biased, but I've noticed UCLA's name come up in quite a few articles posted to Hacker News even in the last few weeks, but I only recall seeing a few for UCSD. Of course, I think this is perhaps a superficial comparison at best.
Whatever choice you make I hope you have a great time and make the most of it. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know :)
Cool thanks, I was able to get in and check it out. I thought I saw somewhere before that it has a setting for stroke order strictness, but I could not find it documented anywhere. Overall I think the UI needs a little work still but very glad to see this concept in execution. I await the release of Japanese..
Fast enough, I have cable modem. They started to change very quickly after a few minutes. While the site appeared to be completely loaded, however, the widget went blank after any change within the first few minutes. I got the same result in Firefox and Safari. It most definitely could have been a glitch in my connection, however if it affects me it will affect others too. Hence my suggestion for a loading indicator, it gives us something to watch the pass the time :)
First thing I notice is some trouble with the currency widget, which is taking a long time to update when a new currency during the first few minutes after the page is loaded. I would suggest an indicator that the new currency list is on the way for these slow cases (otherwise the currency list is blank).
I'm glad you're planning on expanding the site to include Japanese, I'm very very excited about this. I was not able to login using the demo account given, did you already expire it?
Hearing your account reminded me of when my eyes were burned by accidental exposure to welding light. It was quite painful, and basically felt like there was sand in my eyes for several days. The doctor used a special dye to detect the burns. Probably not the case for you unless you've had a particular exposure, but something to think about..