4 UCs and 12 CSUs have civil engineering. One of the CSUs, SFSU, is not impacted at the campus level, and civil engineering is not an impacted major there. Some of the other CSUs have relatively low levels of impaction.
Florida high school grads can’t all go to UF and have to settle for FSU or UCF. And some in Virginia can’t go to UVA. Some might actually prefer William and Mary or VaTech.
Even worse, some states don’t offer their students an elite public and those student have to either go OOS or to a private school.
Californians have a ton of options at affordable prices. To answer the original question, I don’t think they have a right to feel bitter that their kids are shut out of the UC system (or only have the choice of Merced or Riverside), but many will still feel that way. They have lots of options.
Yes, and many instate kids in Virginia end up going to GMU or VCU or ODU or community college, etc. if they don’t get into the perceived top instate choices. Or pursue merit or privates , depending on interest elsewhere and family income.
^^And they like it!
I have spent a bit of time thinking about the CSU-UC dynamics this past week and have an idea.
Expand research & PhD opportunities at the CSU level. This is the single significant difference between the CSU and UC systems and drives down-stream prestige, demand, impaction issues.
How to do this is to S H A R E. Yes, create inter-university research team. Partner schools or programs based on geography, disciplines and resources. Students would benefit, CSUs would get huge bumps in world recognition based on research and PhD results, and the state overall would be a greater magnet for those that want to pursue MS and PhDs.
Thoughts?
The students who think that UCSC/UCR/UCM are “beneath” them are likely to think that any CSU other than maybe CPSLO is “beneath” them as well.
@SFBayRecruiter absolutely. I left my CSU because I wanted the research, the phDs, and everything UCs have to offer that CSUs don’t. Nothing to do with prestige, just wanted more than the one size fits all CSU model.
Any student who thinks that any UC is “below them” probably doesn’t have the maturity, character and leadership qualities that acceptance to the UC system represents.
However, it does seem that many California applicants have lists of UCs that include all but UCSC/UCR/UCM. These applicants are the ones with higher risk of being “shut out of the UC system”.
Then this would be a case where they get what they deserve
Our D applied to the three UCs that are closest to us (UCB, UCSC, UCD) and two CSUs (SFState & Monterrey). Our decision was based on proximity and programs.
I do understand the Merced difficulty. I don’t think it’s being entitled to be disappointed about a location. Our kids want to be excited about where they are going to college. Merced isn’t the best location. So we can probably get off our high horse and not be derogatory towards kids/parents feeling disappointed about their choices. However, in time, the Merced campus will develop and kids will want to attend. On the other hand, I don’t know why any informed applicant wouldn’t apply to UCSC and Riverside unless they didn’t have the desired major. These are really strong public options!
" I don’t think it’s being entitled to be disappointed about a location. Our kids want to be excited about where they are going to college. Merced isn’t the best location."
Bringing the Florida comparison back to encourage perspective, though… UF is in Gainesville. Never been there? Of course you haven’t because other than UF, the teaching hospital (associated with UF) and any other UF related industry it’s a tiny armpit of a town populated by hicks. It’s not close to any major cities or any beaches. It’s sweltering for 9 months out of the year because it’s inland too far to get any sea breeze or moderating effect from the ocean or gulf. If UF weren’t located there it’s tough to imagine anyone being tempted to live there.
And that’s the state flagship.
But plenty of kids are excited to go there because it’s about the school, which does have some great things which draw them, not about the location which most would otherwise avoid like the plague.
So…comparing to Florida it would be like Cal or UCLA being at Merced. Our state flagships aren’t in Merced. I don’t think the comparison holds an ounce of Florida humidity.
Hey now! ^#(^
Our jorts wearing hicks add a little je ne sais quoi to our local culture in Hog Town. :-bd
I really don’t know anything about the CA location like Merced or Riverside, but Gainesville is a well established college town, with everything you expect from a college town. Some folks love college towns, others don’t, but most UF grads do love their time in Gainesville (even with the jort wearing hicks…).
It takes a LOT of funding to build up graduate school programs (and the associated research). The UC’s would never allow it, as they wouldn’t want to share the funds. For that same reason, the CSU’s would fight tooth and nail against allowing the CC’s to offer BA/BS degrees.
Regarding UC Merced, you look at the stats of the entering freshman (SAT 870-1040; ACT 19-24) and it’s clear you are not getting the best and brightest peer group compared to other UCs. The location, lack of school history, poor athletics are other factors. I can see how say a SDSU would be more appealing.
This thread is about 2 months early…once the UC’s release the 2018-2019 admission data (around the start of July?), things will start getting interesting…
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/fall-enrollment-glance
I’m not sure if this mentality applies to all, but most of my peers and I when we were selecting colleges chose places where we’d like to “end up”. So Merced is out. No one chooses riverside either.
Edit: the exceptions here would be the “college towns”—but in terms of the UCs the only college towns im thinking of are close to nice places.
Several kids I know purposely chose IC Riverside because it’s supposedly easier to get into their relatively new medical school if you attended their UG and got good grades. Some kids who love outdoors would like UCSC.
Those kids are in for a rude awakening when they find out that there will be no such bump into UCR’s new med school.