Community colleges are much better resourced and not stigmatized in California. The pipeline these days is to do CC for two years and then transfer into UCLA/Berkeley/UCSD/UCI. The admission rates from CC are a lot easier than gaining entrance straight from HS.

Very thankful we chose to live in VA back when the kids were preschoolers and college wasn’t on the radar. DD got into W&M and is getting a high caliber SLAC type education at in state prices. She did knot have a perfect transcript, but applied ED and demonstrated interest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA for sure due to the amount and diversity of options.

+1 VA's system is unrivaled

Nope, CA is better. More choices. Yes, the state is bigger, but that's why there are more choices.

The California colleges are better than the VA colleges. Just UCLA and Berkeley alone knock UVA out of the water. And then there's the others in CA which rival it.

True, but very few can get into UCLA or Berkeley anyway.

But there are ten other schools in the Top 50 publics in CA, and only 1 in TX.

+1 OP asked about in state options, not just the top one or two.

In that regard, CA cannot be beat. There are at least 20 decent publics to choose from in CA. Competition may be tougher, but you still have 20+ to choose from, both in norcal and socal.

Michigan. The in state acceptance rate is pretty high, especially compared to other top schools

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA for sure due to the amount and diversity of options.

+1 VA's system is unrivaled

Nope, CA is better. More choices. Yes, the state is bigger, but that's why there are more choices.

The California colleges are better than the VA colleges. Just UCLA and Berkeley alone knock UVA out of the water. And then there's the others in CA which rival it.

True, but very few can get into UCLA or Berkeley anyway.

But there are ten other schools in the Top 50 publics in CA, and only 1 in TX.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want to game the system move to North Dakota or Wyoming

OK but then your grad school plans go to hell

?

using the Cal State system. That's considered way below the U.C. system

“Way below” is an exaggeration. All of the UCs are pretty hard to get into now. In some fields it might even make more sense to go to a CSU.

A lot of middle class/upper middle class students in CA who get shut out of the UCs tend to go to places like U of Arizona or ASU, U of Oregon, etc. For better students they aren't that much more expensive, and will give much more of a traditional college experience than the CSUs. Don't underestimate the "Car sticker" factor too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA for sure due to the amount and diversity of options.

+1 VA's system is unrivaled

Nope, CA is better. More choices. Yes, the state is bigger, but that's why there are more choices.

The California colleges are better than the VA colleges. Just UCLA and Berkeley alone knock UVA out of the water. And then there's the others in CA which rival it.

True, but very few can get into UCLA or Berkeley anyway.

+1 for states with good schools that "regular" students can actually get into, I'd say VA is hard to beat. Indiana has Purdue and IU. UF and FSU are getting to the point of being inaccessible, but there's still UCF and USF that are pretty good. Alabama has Bama and Auburn. Michigan has UMich and MSU (UMich is an easier admit for Michigan residents). Wisconsin and Minnesota can go to each other's state schools for in state costs. The options below UMN and UW aren't super prestigious, but there are at least a lot of options. Ohio has OSU and Miami, which is a unique option. Plus Ohio U and UCincy are not too bad of options.

CA has some out of this world state Us, no doubt...but when they aren't accessible/realistic for the vast, vast majority of the high school population, what good is that? Plus, if you can afford to move to the nicer parts of California, seems weird to do that just for in state when you could save money by living in a cheaper state and save the money so your kid could have instate AND out of state/private options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indiana for Indiana or Purdue.

+1

Great business program at IU and great engineering at Purdue. Or we'd head to Texas for UT-Austin.

Your kid isn’t getting into UT Austin instate unless they’re in the top 3% of the class, and the average DCUM would clutch their pearls at the idea of sending their kid to a high school where that would be more likely.

There are over a dozen state Us in Texas, but if you move there for one school you’re going to be really disappointed.

Not true. It's top 6%.

https://news.utexas.edu/2021/09/21/automatic-admissions-threshold-remains-at-6-for-ut-austin/

Whatever, not a huge difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indiana for Indiana or Purdue.

+1

Great business program at IU and great engineering at Purdue. Or we'd head to Texas for UT-Austin.

Your kid isn’t getting into UT Austin instate unless they’re in the top 3% of the class, and the average DCUM would clutch their pearls at the idea of sending their kid to a high school where that would be more likely.

There are over a dozen state Us in Texas, but if you move there for one school you’re going to be really disappointed.

Not true. It's top 6%.

https://news.utexas.edu/2021/09/21/automatic-admissions-threshold-remains-at-6-for-ut-austin/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indiana for Indiana or Purdue.

+1

Great business program at IU and great engineering at Purdue. Or we'd head to Texas for UT-Austin.

Lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA for sure due to the amount and diversity of options.

+1 VA's system is unrivaled

Nope, CA is better. More choices. Yes, the state is bigger, but that's why there are more choices.

The California colleges are better than the VA colleges. Just UCLA and Berkeley alone knock UVA out of the water. And then there's the others in CA which rival it.

True, but very few can get into UCLA or Berkeley anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indiana for Indiana or Purdue.

+1

Great business program at IU and great engineering at Purdue. Or we'd head to Texas for UT-Austin.

Your kid isn’t getting into UT Austin instate unless they’re in the top 3% of the class, and the average DCUM would clutch their pearls at the idea of sending their kid to a high school where that would be more likely.

There are over a dozen state Us in Texas, but if you move there for one school you’re going to be really disappointed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA for sure due to the amount and diversity of options.

+1 VA's system is unrivaled

Nope, CA is better. More choices. Yes, the state is bigger, but that's why there are more choices.

California has 39 million residents, Virginia has 8.5 million. California has more options, but proportionally, they are very similar.

yes, but there are still more options to choose *from*.

Anonymous wrote:Indiana for Indiana or Purdue.

+1

Great business program at IU and great engineering at Purdue. Or we'd head to Texas for UT-Austin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA for sure due to the amount and diversity of options.

+1 VA's system is unrivaled

Nope, CA is better. More choices. Yes, the state is bigger, but that's why there are more choices.

California has 39 million residents, Virginia has 8.5 million. California has more options, but proportionally, they are very similar.