Are any of the California state schools decent?

[Anonymous]

Pp also San Diego state?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp also San Diego state?

I love the faculty and staff I know at SDSU and it's kind of a nice little campus, and of course San Diego is fabulous. I honestly know nothing about their business program or their public health program, if there is one. But I have a soft spot for SDSU so I can't really be objective about it.

If your DD thought UNC was too big, has she considered Emory? Terrific public health program and a really nice campus community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad someone started this thread. I'm the poster who started the thread about my DD wanting to attend school in California.

She's not interested in a big school where there are hundreds of students in a class, but more of a "community" feel on campus.

Are there any medium sized schools with diversity that one could recommend?

For what major or interests? That makes a significant difference.

Business or Public Health

What is your budget? And what specifically attracts her to California? Is she a Southern California type or a Northern California type?

Berkeley and UCLA both have excellent public health programs. I don't know anything about their business schools, however.

You probably know there are at least three top-notch public health programs relatively near here: Hopkins, UNC and Emory.

Sorry, I just realized I didn't address any of your size and community-feel issues. Any of the UC or CSU campuses is going to have very large classes at the undergraduate level. You could look at private schools such as Santa Clara, which has a public health program (I don't know how well regarded it is). There are some great small liberal arts and STEM colleges in California but I don't know which ones offer public health degrees. Truly if I wanted the kind of thing your DD mentioned I would consider Hopkins/UNC/Emory, even though they aren't in California!

Not necessarily large classes...I went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and only had a few large auditorium type classes. Most were under 30 students per class (but side effect was that if you had a low registration priority it was really hard to get into classes -- that's when you planned on taking off a couple quarters to do an internship).

For public health, you might look at Cal State Chico. I know it has a strong nursing program so it might also have public health and it's a beautiful campus in a very cute town. Yes, it has a "party school" reputation but my brother went there and he didn't think it was really any different than others. Chico is in Northern CA, a bit north of Sacramento.

FWIW, Cal Poly SLO has an excellent business program (my major) but (unless things have changed a lot) you won't be able to get into it as an out-of-state student. As PPs noted, the mission of the Cal State system is to educate Cal State residents and as such any graduate of a CA high school who meets basic requirements is supposed to be able to get a spot at a Cal State, although not the campus of their choice. Competitive programs in the Cal State system have to give priority to CA residents. Cal Poly is the most competitive of the Cal State's and thus has virtually no OOS students. While I was there I only knew one person from OOS and he at least had a parent who lived in CA (not sure how he worked the system). I'd assume that would also be the case at all of the best Cal States so as an OOS student, you'd likely have a better shot at getting into one of the top UCs. One downside of this is that the reputation of the best Cal States isn't very well known outside of CA so if that matters to you the reputation isn't as portable. It hasn't been an issue at all for my career but I suppose it matters in some fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad someone started this thread. I'm the poster who started the thread about my DD wanting to attend school in California.

She's not interested in a big school where there are hundreds of students in a class, but more of a "community" feel on campus.

Are there any medium sized schools with diversity that one could recommend?

For what major or interests? That makes a significant difference.

Business or Public Health

What is your budget? And what specifically attracts her to California? Is she a Southern California type or a Northern California type?

Berkeley and UCLA both have excellent public health programs. I don't know anything about their business schools, however.

You probably know there are at least three top-notch public health programs relatively near here: Hopkins, UNC and Emory.

If it matters for the major, I believe UCLA doesn't offer a "business" major, they have "economics". I recently hired an intern from there and discussed with her suggestions for future classwork in the marketing field and they had very few classes that focused on that.

Berkeley does have an undergrad school of "business", which at least 20 years ago was a very strong program. I would assume it would still be good as Berkeley's one of the top schools in CA.

[Anonymous]

You might also look at Loyola Marymount U. in Los Angeles. They have a business program, don't know about public health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad someone started this thread. I'm the poster who started the thread about my DD wanting to attend school in California.

She's not interested in a big school where there are hundreds of students in a class, but more of a "community" feel on campus.

Are there any medium sized schools with diversity that one could recommend?

CSU schools (as described by the 9:15 poster) serves the broader CA student body. The schools are normally *huge*, with many being commuter schools. The "medium" sized CSU schools could exist in more of the less populated areas. IDK the numbers, but maybe look at Bakersfield, Chino (that's a #1 party school from what I hear), Monterrey.

I agree with 9:15 poster. UC schools are more researched, theory based schools. CSU schools are intended to teach more hands-on curriculum rather than pure theory. I think a lot of the CSU professors have actual jobs/careers in the field that they teach and are not fulltime professors, while many of the UC professors are purely research and academia oriented rather than have industry experience. Of course, there are several UC professors that are very well regarded, have one prestigious awards, etc.. Neither type of professor is better. Just depends on what kind of education you want.

Also, some CSU schools have majors that don't exist in UC schools, and vice versa.

This was my experience at a Cal State vs. siblings at UCs...at a Cal State I had very few teaching assistants leading classes. Professors were either full-time faculty or people working in their fields and teaching part time. UC's are much more focused on graduate-level education so you'll get more TAs in undergrad. If you live in CA, the best value (depending on major) is probably to go to a top Cal State for undergrad and a top-tier UC for grad school.

[Anonymous]

San Jose State. Cal Poly

[Anonymous]

A PP mentioned community colleges, and I agree that Santa Monica is top notch. Also a great way to get into UCLA.

Another excellent community college is Santa Barbara City College. I got my A.S. there and then transferred to UCLA. It is impossible not to like SBCC--you get it all--sun and waves and really good teachers.

In San Diego, besides San Diego State, there's University of San Diego or something like that--someone help me out--the little private college on the ocean above the cliffs? Wow.

And in Malibu, don't forget Pepperdine for a solid college and community feel.

One more I just remembered. Westmont in Santa Barbara. People love Westmont and it's very community oriented. Both Pepperdine and Westmont have a religious orientation.

[Anonymous]

Look at California Lutheran. Small school, nice area. Modern facilities (I visited there last year)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at California Lutheran. Small school, nice area. Modern facilities (I visited there last year)

+1 my cousin went there and really liked it. It's kind of on the outer edge of LA but not far, over the mountains, to the beach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad someone started this thread. I'm the poster who started the thread about my DD wanting to attend school in California.

She's not interested in a big school where there are hundreds of students in a class, but more of a "community" feel on campus.

Are there any medium sized schools with diversity that one could recommend?

For what major or interests? That makes a significant difference.

Business or Public Health

What is your budget? And what specifically attracts her top California? Is she a Southern California type or a Northern California type?

Berkeley and UCLA both have excellent public health programs. I don't know anything about their business schools, however.

You probably know there are at least three top-notch public health programs relatively near here: Hopkins, UNC and Emory.

Sorry, I just realized I didn't address any of your size and community-feel issues. Any of the UC or CSU campuses is going to have very large classes at the undergraduate level. You could look at private schools such as Santa Clara, which has a public health program (I don't know how well regarded it is). There are some great small liberal arts and STEM colleges in California but I don't know which ones offer public health degrees. Truly if I wanted the kind of thing your DD mentioned I would consider Hopkins/UNC/Emory, even though they aren't in California!

The past three summers we have been going to California (LA) for vacation and she just feel in love. Nice weather, ugg boots with shirts (gag), beach etc. We've set aside roughly 30k per year for her schooling, but hoping to get some financial aide, although it's not a deal breaker. I was leaning towards UNC, but she felt it was just too big. Haven't thought about the other schools you mentioned.

Wow, you need to do a ton more research. Csu is a great public higher ed system, but totally different catagory from unc. Unc is a flagship research doctoral school. No comparison unless you are an engineer at poly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad someone started this thread. I'm the poster who started the thread about my DD wanting to attend school in California.


She's not interested in a big school where there are hundreds of students in a class, but more of a "community" feel on campus.

Are there any medium sized schools with diversity that one could recommend?

CSU schools (as described by the 9:15 poster) serves the broader CA student body. The schools are normally *huge*, with many being commuter schools. The "medium" sized CSU schools could exist in more of the less populated areas. IDK the numbers, but maybe look at Bakersfield, Chino (that's a #1 party school from what I hear), Monterrey.

I agree with 9:15 poster. UC schools are more researched, theory based schools. CSU schools are intended to teach more hands-on curriculum rather than pure theory. I think a lot of the CSU professors have actual jobs/careers in the field that they teach and are not fulltime professors, while many of the UC professors are purely research and academia oriented rather than have industry experience. Of course, there are several UC professors that are very well regarded, have one prestigious awards, etc.. Neither type of professor is better. Just depends on what kind of education you want.

Also, some CSU schools have majors that don't exist in UC schools, and vice versa.

This was my experience at a Cal State vs. siblings at UCs...at a Cal State I had very few teaching assistants leading classes. Professors were either full-time faculty or people working in their fields and teaching part time. UC's are much more focused on graduate-level education so you'll get more TAs in undergrad. If you live in CA, the best value (depending on major) is probably to go to a top Cal State for undergrad and a top-tier UC for grad school.

Very few people would pick san jose state over cal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad someone started this thread. I'm the poster who started the thread about my DD wanting to attend school in California.

She's not interested in a big school where there are hundreds of students in a class, but more of a "community" feel on campus.

Are there any medium sized schools with diversity that one could recommend?

For what major or interests? That makes a significant difference.

Business or Public Health

What is your budget? And what specifically attracts her to California? Is she a Southern California type or a Northern California type?

Berkeley and UCLA both have excellent public health programs. I don't know anything about their business schools, however.

You probably know there are at least three top-notch public health programs relatively near here: Hopkins, UNC and Emory.

If it matters for the major, I believe UCLA doesn't offer a "business" major, they have "economics". I recently hired an intern from there and discussed with her suggestions for future classwork in the marketing field and they had very few classes that focused on that.

Berkeley does have an undergrad school of "business", which at least 20 years ago was a very strong program. I would assume it would still be good as Berkeley's one of the top schools in CA.

Business is a fake major. If you are paying oos it would be just nuts to go to a csu over a uc, assuming you can get in.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I am the PP who just posted serially about CSUs not being the equivalent of UCs. Now that I am at a computer, I just wanted to clarify that I think that CSU is a wonderful public system for California - I have siblings and friends who went there, and my dad was even tenured there. BUT the comparisons being thrown out here are just weird: CSU vs Harvey Mudd, really? CSU is essentially a working class/middle class professional school - the kind of system where in fact the vast majority of college students in this country go. Its strengths are producing educated workers for California, like teachers and nurses, as well as providing an affordable university option (tuition is 1/2 that of UCs, I believe).

All that said, I'm just scratching my head to think of the DCUM child for whom UNC is an attainable option, for whom a CSU would make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I am the PP who just posted serially about CSUs not being the equivalent of UCs. Now that I am at a computer, I just wanted to clarify that I think that CSU is a wonderful public system for California - I have siblings and friends who went there, and my dad was even tenured there. BUT the comparisons being thrown out here are just weird: CSU vs Harvey Mudd, really? CSU is essentially a working class/middle class professional school - the kind of system where in fact the vast majority of college students in this country go. Its strengths are producing educated workers for California, like teachers and nurses, as well as providing an affordable university option (tuition is 1/2 that of UCs, I believe).

All that said, I'm just scratching my head to think of the DCUM child for whom UNC is an attainable option, for whom a CSU would make sense.

Agreed, and I went to Cal Poly. It would be ridiculous to choose most CSUs over options like UNC. The only schools where it could make sense is someplace like Poly for Engineering, Architecture, etc. but then, as noted above, you can't get in as an OOS anyway. If a CSU has spots to give to OOS students, it's probably not one of the better schools. We go to San Luis Obispo every summer and DS would love to go to Poly but that's not happening, nor is any other CA university -- he can go to a good VA state university and pay in-state tuition. If he wants to move to CA he can do that after college.