<p>Are the Cal State universities any good? What are they like?</p>
<p>hows social and academic life there?</p>
<p>Some are better know than others ie: San Francisco State, Humboldt State, Cal State LA...depends on whether you want a big city environ or more remote.</p>
<p>Cal Maritime is part of the Cal State System and is considered one of the top State Maritime Colleges.</p>
<p>Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Pomona are notable. I'd say they're roughly at the level of UC Irvine / Santa Barbara / Davis, but don't quite qualify since they don't grant PhDs.</p>
<p>"Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Pomona are notable. I'd say they're roughly at the level of UC Irvine / Santa Barbara / Davis, but don't quite qualify since they don't grant PhDs."
Pomona is actually pretty mediocre. Some people confuse it with SLO, but they definitely are not on the same level. SLO is very good.</p>
<p>What's your major? The Cal States have some good programs, but it depends on the school.</p>
<p>I'm planning on majoring either in journalism or psychology. Does the Cal States have any good programs for those majors? I also like big cities. Are any of the Cal States in Southern CA?</p>
<p>San Diego State is the 2nd best CSU after Cal Poly SLO. SDSU also is in the best city out of all the CSU's, and has the biggest party and frat scene. As well as the best athletics.</p>
<p>bittersweetie, the Cal States in So. Cal are CSU Long Beach, Fullerton, Pomona, Northridge, Los Angeles and Dominguez Hills in the L.A./Orange Co. area and San Marcos and San Diego State in the San Diego area so there are plenty to choose from. The only one I would stay clear of is Dominguez Hills, which is probably the weakest school in the CSU system.</p>
<p>are they really bad universities though...like way below the UC's?</p>
<p>They aren't on par with the UCs, which have more prestige and tend to have better academics. Some would say that Cal Poly SLO is on par with UC Irvine, etc. (and I agree), but the former isn't authorized to grant PhDs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
According to U.S. News & World Report's 2007 America's Best Colleges report, Cal Poly is ranked the top public university in the Western United States for schools whose highest degree is a master's. The College of Engineering was also ranked the second best public undergraduate school. Specific engineering programs were ranked 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in electrical, industrial & manufacturing, computer, and aerospace engineering, respectively, for public schools whose highest degree is a bachelor's or master's in the U.S.[6][7]</p>
<p>In a 2006 poll conducted by the leading architecture and engineering journal DesignIntelligence, Cal Poly was voted the number three architecture school in the nation. The landscape architecture program was ranked in the top ten.</p>
<p>Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning graduate program ranked highly in the Planetizen 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So it really depends on what you want to major in and whether you can get into the schools in question, plus which ones you find fit you.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California</a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_University%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_University</a></p>
<p>Also, use collegeboard.com to look up statistics on the universities. Some of the Cal States' stats are very, very low.</p>
<p>San Diego State however offers doctorates..but it's a great place for undergrad work.</p>
<p>Only in 16 areas, though.</p>
<p>All I know is that Humboldt State is very strong in the sciences, particularly marine sciences.</p>
<p>CSU long beach also has many distinctions.</p>
<p>[ul]
[li]Ranked 3rd best public masters university in the west by U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges Guide", for 2005, 2006 and 2007.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Ranked 3rd best value public college in the nation by The Princeton Review.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Ranked #1 campus in the nation amongst Master's level universities for producing students who go on to earn Doctoral degrees in the Sciences.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Has the largest publicly funded art school west of the mississippi.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]It's College of Health and Human Services offers one of the largest Nurse Practitioner programs in the United States.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Its interdisciplinary degree program in International Studies is the only major of its kind in the CSU system.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Its College of Business Administration is among the 10 largest undergraduate business programs in the country.</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]</p>
<p>Sources:
<a href="http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/projects/freshmen/csulb/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/projects/freshmen/csulb/index.html</a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSULB%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSULB</a>
<a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1univmas_w_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1univmas_w_brief.php</a>
<a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/generalinfo.asp?listing=1023738<ID=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/generalinfo.asp?listing=1023738<ID=1</a></p>
<p>Since when does large equate with quality???????????????</p>
<p>Just thought I would throw that one in there...</p>
<p>Also, I forgot to mention one more thing: </p>
<p>CSULB's undergraduate engineering program is a top 50 program in the nation.</p>
<p>Another difference between the UCs and the Cal States is that more of the Cal States offer business degrees. At the UC's (except Berkeley) you get a degree in economics. Likewise, accounting. They are very good in accounting. Just about everyone out of the accounting department at Cal Poly gets a job on graduation. I was in accounting classes at the local JC with a UC Davis economics graduate. He had to go back to school to get his accounting degree because he couldn't get a job with the econ degree from UC Davis. Nursing and teaching are also offered at the Cal States, but not at the UC's. In general, Cal States are more career oriented.</p>
<p>That's right. I have worked with quite a few UC graduates with a econ, psych., etc. social sciences type of degree and are in a dead end career-wise. I also know many cal state graduates who have become very successful with their business/accounting degrees (accredited business programs). The key is getting pertinent work experience, even if you have to start at the bottom. Once you have some solid experience, your business/accounting degree from an AACSB accredited business program at a CSU really kicks in and gives you a boost for your career. </p>
<p>It seems as if some UC students focus too much on prestige at first and suffer the consequences later. There's one UCSD graduate I know who needs to start all over again at a CSU because she's stuck in her career without a much needed accounting degree.</p>