My daughter is having a hard time deciding which college to attend for psychology: Cal Poly SLO, UCSB, UCSC, Santa Clara or Chapman University. We’ve toured all the campuses, but still in debate.
I know SLO is a top pick for engineering majors and I’ve read some students would drop a UC for their learn by doing philosophy, and there seems to be good ROI from SLO, but does this apply to psychology major also? It looks like they have a very small department for this major and maybe even limited offerings as they are a STEM focused school? Prestige wise, it seems to rank a lot lower than her other options for this major. What made you/your student decide to pick SLO over UCs for psychology?
Daughter only declared psychology because of an introductory class she took at a CC that she finds interesting and wanted to learn more, but I don’t think she plans to get a masters degree for clinical practice. She is only thinking a psychology undergrad degree as a stepping stone for law school at this point, but that may change. She’s more of a humanities student and not strong in math or science, so was thinking about a BA path or less science heavy (looks like only UCSC offers this), which SLO and others does not seem to offer. But in terms of location, class size, housing and value, SLO beats the others.
I’m hoping we could make a decision soon so we can release a spot for others. Thanks in advance for the input and advice!
UCSB is not a BA degree. It is a BS and it is Psychological & Brain Sciences. It will be more on the STEM side as well.
I have a Psychology degree from UCSB back when the degree was a BA and straight Psychology. Even back then it was VERY heavy in Brain Behavior thus the reason it has moved to Brain Sciences and a BS. I actually did not like it at all but was too deep in to switch majors and risk not graduating in 4 years.
I’ve read on CC that rankings are at least partially determined by the graduate schools at universities and their doctoral research, which Cal Poly really doesn’t have like a UCSB. Though Cal Poly does have Masters program, but it’s virtually an undergrad-only school.
So, department rankings aren’t always what their cracked up to be. BTW, Psychology at SLO is considered the most, or one of the most competitive majors to get into at SLO.
So regarding costs, are Santa Clara and Chapman not serious contenders? They might be better options in terms of flexibility if she wants to change majors but if Law school is a future possibility, affordability is definitely a consideration.
If she is not sure about pursuing Psychology, SLO is probably not the best option since the students are blocked into major classes immediately.
You should look over all the schools curriculums and check out how easy it is to change majors.
She received a very generous scholarship to some of the private options, however, nothing close to in-state pricing. But with public universities, I worry she won’t graduate in 4 years and having to pay an extra year. She now has NYU on her acceptance list too which she is very excited about (wanted to go east coast), but the COA is a few times more than SLO! =(
Personally, I think private colleges prey upon the fear that students at public school might not graduate in four years. In reality, the vast majority of students (who don’t change their major) graduate in 4 years. Many graduate a quarter early.
Looking at my kids’ friends who took more than four years to graduate, many were pre-med who intentionally took fewer classes per quarter. It was intentional on their part.
You need to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Did psychology majors, at the schools you are considering, have a difficult time getting classes?
D21 attends SLO and should graduate in 4 years or likely less than 4 years, barring any unforseen circumstances. But she also has taken 8 AM and 6-8 PM classes. And missed on a few of the most popular professors.
What we appreciate is the hands on experience starting immediately freshman year. She’s gotten a volunteer research position and also a local job in her hopefuly future profession. She’s not the exception among her peers. SLO students and grads are VERY employable.
Then on that school - delve into the curriculum. Does it match my interests? Is there enough faculty? I say this because you can see what classes are offered but you want to ensure they actually are offered at least yearly - because some won’t be - so you want to check out past catalogues too.
I don’t think for a general psych degree it will matter where you go - so go where you want.
But as others have pointed out - some will be general, some will offer sub areas, etc. So once you pick your fave school - you want to see - will that school work for me curriculum wise.
for psychology, she does need to have a good background in statistics (algebra based, not calculus based!)
Depending on what interests her, see if she can minor in labor relations, in women’s/gender studies, in HR, in UX/informatics…
