My daughter has been accepted to Cal State Long Beach and Chico. We are still waiting on San Diego State. She has also been accepted to University of Arizona and Arizona State. Both Arizona schools gave her lots of merit aid, but it would still be much cheaper to attend a Cal State. We live in Southern California, and want the best college experience for her. She is undecided on a major, but would like to pursue the health care field. Thoughts and advice on college life at these campuses??
@dana37 I am interested to see what feedback you get with this question, as my daughter is pretty much in the same boat as yours. She got accepted to LB and Chico, waiting to hear from SDSU. We are from So Cal as well. Her DREAM would be SDSU, because her sister goes there and the two of them want to be together…but that school is so hard to get in to these days. Good luck to your daughter!
I am only going to address the California schools. Being Undeclared with an interest in Healthcare field could effect her decision on which campus. Interest in the Healthcare field could emcompass many majors. If she is leaning towards Nursing, then SDSU would not be a good option since they do not accept internal change of majors into Nursing. She would have to either complete her 4 year degree at SDSU then do a Post Bac Nursing program or transfer after 2 years into another Nursing program. CSULB and Chico state are highly impacted for Nursing and getting the Nursing pre-req courses may be problematic since Pre-Nursing direct admits usually get priority.
If she is interested in PT/OT and wants to pursue Kinesiology, again very impacted major at SDSU and CSULB so it could be an issue to switch majors from Undeclared.
If she is interested in Public Health, Clinical Labortory Science etc… these majors may be easier changes later once she makes her major/career decision.
Academics will be good at all three schools. The only glaring difference I see is Chico State as the outlier in location (small town vs large cities) so definitely a different vibe socially. Also being at SDSU or CSULB she would have more options volunteering/internship in the Healthcare field vs at Chico since Hospitals/Clinics are far more plentiful.
That are all good schools. The best choice depends a bit on what you mean by ‘best college experience’. SDSU and Chico are a lot more residential than LB - to me )but not to all), residential is a critical element of the college experience. SD is a much larger school (30k+) than Chico and is part of a large urban area. Chico is something like 17k students and is locate in a classic college town that’s somewhat isolated from any major population center - and the beach. Those 2 will provide a good education but a very different experience. LB is s good school, similar in size to SDSU but most students commute which can make the place feel deserted at off times. Spend some time on all 3 campuses - i am sure one will quickly rise to the top.
I think Chico is the most residential as it is the most isolated. Next would be SDSU which is a good mix of residential and commuter and then CSULB which is more commuter than residential (my opinion). One thing to consider about Chico is how long it takes to get home for the holidays. Sacramento airport is 80+ miles away and then an hour flight home to southern California.
I’m in the same situation my daughter is waiting on San Diego State. She’s undecided between, Chico, CSULB and UC Santa Cruz. She wants the full college experience and not so much of a commuter school.
@zevia your daughter can certainly get a good education and the full ‘college experience’ at any of those schools. IMHO, she will have to work harder for it at LB because a larger chunk of the student body is is distributed around the area, Virtually anyone who lives within a half mile of SD, Chico or UCSC is a student there… that’s not true at LB. That said, the student experience at all of them is very different. Spend some time (several hours) on all of the campuses when school is in session. Take the tour but, then hang out and talk to some students.about the social scene and academics. Eat a meal on/near campus - when you leave, you’ll get a good sense of the campus vibe. Listen to your gut (and your daughter’s) one will speak to you as her next home.
Good luck.
@NCalRent thank you.
We’re from NorCal and my son is graduating from Chico this Spring. My daughter just toured CSULB as she is considering accepting their offer in pre-nursing.
Both campuses are very different. I think Chico is a better college town feel and students can literally walk bike and skateboard into the downtown area. The campus has been around longer and has a nice mix of older buildings with character and newer ones (the new dorm towers are very nice).
LB was nice though my daughter was disappointed that the dorms for the most part do not have air conditioning (may not be much of an issue because of its proximity to the coast but we dont know).
Chico is an ag town and there is of course no beach. There is however a creek that runs through campus which is nice (in fact there is a lot of natural landscaping an old growth trees throughout) and if hiking fishing and camping is your thing there is plenty of that (Bidwell Park is huge and has a nice river, and there are a few national parks like Shasta and Lassen not far away).
As a parent I can say a student can find something about both these campuses to really like.