Are any of the California state schools decent?

[Anonymous]

you can't get in as an OOS anyway

I don't know my DD got into Cal Poly. Got into VT, didn't get into UVA.
I agree on cost (although we did gladly sent her out-of-state somewhere else)
We worried about housing cost. Figured we couldn't afford to live the
Southern California lifestyle, so couldn't imagine it working out

[Anonymous]

Back to the two year colleges for a moment…fyi I just read that Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is officially named the top Community College in the country.

I knew it was on par with Santa Monica, another great community college. As I said in a prior post, I went there and it was a fantastic experience.

Also ended up at Harvard Law School so it didn't mess up my chances of getting in there, fwiw.

[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 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.

LOL! Business major here who went to CSU and now works for Google. I think they did a study of most marketable degrees, and Business OR Econ was top 10.

As a PP mentioned, most UC schools do not have Business as a major but do have Econ. This was one of the reasons why I chose CSU over UC; the other factor being cost. I worked my way through college, with a little help from grants and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the two year colleges for a moment…fyi I just read that Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is officially named the top Community College in the country.

I knew it was on par with Santa Monica, another great community college. As I said in a prior post, I went there and it was a fantastic experience.

Also ended up at Harvard Law School so it didn't mess up my chances of getting in there, fwiw.

Using a CC is a great gateway into UC schools as well. Someone I know went to a CA local community college, then got into Cal for the last 2 yrs for a BS in a science field (and we all know how competitive science fields are at Cal).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the two year colleges for a moment…fyi I just read that Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is officially named the top Community College in the country.

I knew it was on par with Santa Monica, another great community college. As I said in a prior post, I went there and it was a fantastic experience.

Also ended up at Harvard Law School so it didn't mess up my chances of getting in there, fwiw.

You went to HLS straight from SMCC? Or did you transfer to another school or work in between?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UC system is amazing

Cal State system is pretty bad

city universities (San Jose State University, for example), are also pretty meh.

There is some factually incorrect information in this reply. San Jose State University is part of the California State University system, not the community college system. San Francisco State is also part of the CSU. The community college system is completely different.

There are three college and university systems in California, with three have distinctly different missions. While the University of California system is at the top, in terms of selectivity and desirability for faculty, there is a distinct hierarchy within the UC system. The University of California at Berkeley is at the top, and the newest UC, at Merced, provides a UC presence in the central valley and is more accessible to first-generation college students.

The California State University system, or CSU, has a completely different mission than the UC system. By law, it is required to be accessible to a very broad range of California residents, and its fees are intentionally kept low. Historically this system has housed service professions, such as teaching. There are good universities and programs within the CSU. In my experience as a faculty member, few students from outside California attend CSUs, but obviously some do. That doesn't mean they're bad schools, it's largely just a reflection of their different mission.

Well said. I'm a Californian as well. It's for the reasons stated above that it is very difficult for an out of state student to get into the Cal State system. I called one of them known for a particular department and they said the waiting list of Californians was enormous so forget even trying. The U.C. system is different. Cal Poly is usually referred to as Cal Tech and is outstanding. There is also a very large community college system in CA. Quite a few students graduate with AAs after two years and transfer to other colleges, in or out of the Cal system

[Anonymous]

Um, no. They are two different universities.
http://www.caltech.edu/
http://www.calpoly.edu/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, no. They are two different universities.
http://www.caltech.edu/
http://www.calpoly.edu/

Indeed. And Cal Tech is private.

[Anonymous]

Dh went to sbcc, then to a uc and is in big law.

Most of my friends did diablo valley college, then Berkeley. Fwiw I didn't get into Berkeley, went to another uc and all of my community College friends ended up graduating Berkeley!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dh went to sbcc, then to a uc and is in big law.

Most of my friends did diablo valley college, then Berkeley. Fwiw I didn't get into Berkeley, went to another uc and all of my community College friends ended up graduating Berkeley!

Yup. An extremely enterprising young person could move to California for a few years to establish residency, do 2 years at one of the excellent CCs, then transfer to UCLA or Cal. Sounds like a lot of fun and an affordable way to get great degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dh went to sbcc, then to a uc and is in big law.

Most of my friends did diablo valley college, then Berkeley. Fwiw I didn't get into Berkeley, went to another uc and all of my community College friends ended up graduating Berkeley!

Yup. An extremely enterprising young person could move to California for a few years to establish residency, do 2 years at one of the excellent CCs, then transfer to UCLA or Cal. Sounds like a lot of fun and an affordable way to get great degree.

Yes. This is exactly what I told my niece to do who desperately wants to move to CA.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Harvard grad but I've heard some good things about Berkeley if one is going to attend public.