[impendia]

An interesting conjecture.

As an academic, it's interesting to observe the relationship between geography and attractiveness to new faculty.

As I heard from a UCSD professor, it is extremely rough to live in San Diego/La Jolla on a grad student salary, and prospective grad students are aware of this and (largely) avoid the place. So, the grad program is weaker than one might think, which the faculty find a little bit demoralizing.

So, in this instance, the attractiveness of the area seems to go against the university.

[akbar501]

As of 2010, the UCSD Bioengineering graduate department was #1.

The strength of UCSD in bioengineering, plus their other strengths (chemistry, theoretical chemistry, biology, physics, math...), is part of what explains San Diego's strength in life sciences industry.

[mmc]

I went to UCSD about 10 years ago, and have lived in the area since.

If we're talking about new faculty, who probably want to buy a house and may want to live near campus, I'd agree that UCSD's location is problematic financially. They seem to be able to attract solid faculty at least in engineering (the people I know), so they must be figuring this out somehow. Certainly some professors are living in small condos who would be living in big houses in the midwest…

However, most grad students while I was there managed well enough. If you don't have kids, and are OK with roommates, you can find places near campus or a short drive away (e.g. Pacific Beach) that are plenty affordable.

I don't really believe that any grad students avoid UCSD because of the cost of living - in a place where you'll only spend a few years and then probably leave.