CSU vs UC transfer - opinions needed

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm an anthropology major, completing my general ed and prereqs at a community college and transferring to a 4 year in Fall 2011. I have a 3.98 GPA (all A's and ONE B from a college PE course I took in high school that I can't get taken off my transcript - ugh), but I am only thinking about applying to SFSU - it's nearby and I love the campus, plus I like their selection of anthro classes and it's also the only school I could find that offers a Holistic Health minor. My friends are telling me that my GPA is high enough to get me into a good UC, like SC or maybe even Berkeley, so I should consider applying for and attending "better" schools. But the thing is, I just don't want to spend the money that comes with attending a UC, at least not for undergrad studies. I'm in a crappy situation where my parents make too much money for me to get any financial aid, yet not enough to afford to send me to an expensive UC without making some serious financial sacrifices. So I'd like to take the CSU route to ease the financial situation for them, and for a few other reasons, like certain programs and classes that SF offers. </p>

<p>Do you think I'm making the wrong decision going to a CSU? Will I really be getting a worse education at a CSU over a UC like my friends make it sound? And does it really make that big of a difference where I do my undergrad studies? I want to eventually get my masters or PhD in anthro, so I figured in the long run it would only really matter where I end up going to grad school. </p>

<p>Thoughts? My friends are all biased towards UCs and look down on CSUs like they're complete crap (but that's because they all have rich parents who can easily send them to any UC they want!), so I thought I could get some other opinions here. Thanks. :)</p>

2

<p>Nobody is going to be able to resolve this for you in a few paragraphs. It is certainly true you can get a good education at a Cal-state school, but since the admission standards are lower than for UCs its going get reflected in who attends, which in turn affects the level of instruction. You can sit around and argue all day how much impact this really has, but its there.</p>

<p>For many liberal-arts majors, the terminal degree is not a Masters. You can probably get one in Anthro somewhere, but to have the best career prospects as far as teaching you really need a PhD. Which, BTW, brings up the issue of the PhD glut, something else you should look into before you spend the next 10+ years of your life getting an Anthro Phd. Anyway, the UC schools don’t even offer a Masters in many majors like this; you can’t apply for a Masters degree in Anthro at a UC. People get them from UCs; if they decide to kick you out of the PhD program then they award you a Masters as a consolation. </p>

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You need to look some more into grad programs because I’m not sure you understand how they are paid for. At the better schools they are free. Not just free, you get paid for doing them. PhD candidates get funding from their department or advisor.</p>