goin to sfsu, can ucsf grad school be an option later on?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Before I ask my question, I just want to say that this forum is so freakin ingenious. It really aids in lessening some of the unknown and stresses of school. I just uncovered it today during one of my manic googling periods and I wish I knew of it's existance while I was applying to college cuz it would have been very helpful. Oh well, what's done is done. </p>

<p>Anyhoo, I just got way off topic there. This is my detailed situation: I'm 17; I live way out of state and applied to University of the Pacific, San Francisco State University, and University of Southern California. </p>

<p>I would have applied to the UC schools but I didn't know that they required SATII tests and it was too late for me to take them in time for the application deadlines. </p>

<p>My high school gpa is a 3.7 (out of 4), my sats score is 1610 (yea, it's really bad, I'm just really stupid with those kinds of tests), and I wasn't really involved in any school programs (tho I did lots of volunteering). Well, I obviously got rejected from USC (the main reason I applied is cuz my cousin went there for grad school and recommended it to me) but I amazingly got accepted to the other two.</p>

<p>My future plans thus far is to be a pharmacist and that's the main reason I applied to UOP(they have an undergrad prepharm advantage program there). Well, they accepted me into the school but not into the prepharm advantage. I decided not to go there cuz it's a private school and really expensive and I didn't see the point in going since they rejected me from the program that was the basis for why I applied to that school.</p>

<p>So, my only option left is SFSU (I love the city and some of my relatives live there). I'm not from California, but I've done my share of research and I know that CSU schools are less prestigous than UC schools. (Why is that by the way?) I've decided to major in biology and minor in chemistry, pysch, or spanish. After I get my bachelors and take all the prepharm required courses, I'd like to apply to the University of California: San Francisco since they have the #1 pharmacy school in the nation there. </p>

<p>The only advantage that I would have is that I'd be a resident of San Francisco when I apply to UCSF and I'm going to try to get involved in the community and undergrad summer programs UCSF offers. Plus, I plan to study my butt off during these next four years to maintain a 3.5 gpa(on the 4 scale) or above. </p>

<p>Finally, my questions to anyone reading this extremely long post is if you think I have a chance(even it's extremely slim) of getting into to the UCSF top grad school if I'm going to the very unprestigous SFSU? If yes or no, then why? And if I do get rejected to UCSF, should I even bother applying to USC pharm school?</p>

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<p>UCSF Pharm School > USC Pharm school, doesn't it?</p>

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<p>yea, UCSF is top ranked in pharm and USC is like in the top ten I think.</p>

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<p>I'm guessing you would apply to both simultaneously, so apply to both in 3 years... If you're a "big fish" at SFSU you definitely have a chance.</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying. I got another question for you: Do you know how Californians perceive SFSU? What is it's insider reputation?</p>

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<p>Well it's definitely one of the better CSU's that more people apply to. To be honest with you, I guess many would consider it a UC-reject school. I think this is because the people that get into the top CSU's (Cal Poly SLO, and Pomona) can normally get into a lower UC (UCR, UCM). Next on the list of CSU's would be Long Beach, SFSU, SDSU... (not really sure about the order of CSU's).</p>

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<p>there was a prior post about the tiering or ranking of the CSU system.
it's a virtual lock that Cal Poly SLO is first, followed by a group that typically includes Cal Poly Pomona, Long Beach State, San Diego State and Chico State. SF State usually is in the next batch along with Sonoma and Fullerton and sometimes San Jose State. This is a very large, and very urban CSU and as i understand it either entirely a commuter school or very close to it. That said, every CSU campus has certain excellent programs.</p>

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<p>Being a San Francisco resident (or a CA resident) won't help you at all when it comes to UCSF admissions. Actually, if you are a CSU student, UCSF actually requires you to submit your high school transcript to certify that you are UC eligible. They also consider UC science courses to be more rigorous than the CSUs, but cannot discriminate overtly against students taking courses at "lesser" institutions because they are a public identity. However, their #1 status gives them the luxury to do whatever they want.</p>

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<p>You need more than a 3.5 from SFSU to get into UCSF. You need to be a top student and dintinguish yourself there.</p>

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<p>I say you need a 4.0 or maybe one B... and do something that will set you apart from others.</p>

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<p>Why are CSUs less prestigeous than UCs? Cali has a very defined public education (college level) system. The UCs are supposed to get the states top 12% of students and the CSUs and CCs get the kids who can't get into UCs. Though the poster who said the top CSUs are about even with the lowest UCs is right.</p>

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<p>wow, my chances at UCSF are looking pretty nonexist, but thanks to all for the honest advice/input. I appreciate it. Ok, your replies prompted other questions: If I did apply to UC schools, do you think that I would have gotten into any of them? Why are CSU schools on such a lower pier than UC schools? What's the difference bewteen them; is it mainly the financial funding and the professors? And finally, what programs are good at SFSU?</p>

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<p>the UC system is the PhD granting research based system. as stated, it is limited to the top 12.5 per cent of graduating seniors in the state. The CSU system is comprised of mostly PhD faculty but is primarily oriented toward teaching and is limited to the top quarter of graduating seniors. those who fall below this level typically have to prove themselves in a community college and then hope to gain admittance.</p>

<p>obviously high school seniors see quality and value, particularly when parents and guidance counselors weigh in. given that a UC campus costs double or more that of a CSU the elite CSUs, notably the two Cal Poly campuses at SLO and Pomona with exceptional applied programs, actually rank higher than the lowest third of UCs (riverside, merced, santa cruz). some SLO people contend that their CSU campus is equal to the midtier UC (davis, irvine, santa barbara) and some data prove it.</p>

<p>SFSU has some strong individual programs such as in cinema and certain areas of the humanities.</p>

<p>finally, there are thousands of students who pass on admit letters to every campus in the UC system--including UCB and UCLA--and instead enroll in a CSU.</p>

<p>as in all cases one should consider "fit." urban or rural? large or small? more social or more academic? more commuter or more residential? more applied or more theoretical? no single UC or CSU can do it all.</p>

<p>take a peek at <a href="http://www.studentsreview.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.studentsreview.com&lt;/a> and you will gain great insights from those who are there!</p>

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<p>You might have gotten into UC Riverside and Merced, but the lack EC's would have really hurt. One UC official gave me a pretty good answer on the main difference between the UC and CSU system. UC's are much more focused on research than the CSU's are.</p>

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<p>you aren't even an undergrad yet. why don't you start college first and then think about it in 3 years. you probably won't even want to do pharmacy then, lol. yeah. do college first. then come back. Don't worry about it now. I might have gone to UOP, but hey, whatever makes you happy ^^ </p>

<p>um. SFSU is a good school I guess. the education isn't top notch or anything. just your average local college. But I predict you'll have A LOT of fun there, i live in the Bay Area and SF is nice if you know where to go. </p>

<p>UC's are waaaaaaaaaaay more theory based, so you probably wouldn't have appreciated that as much. eh. UC's. their nice if you want your own little community and do the whole generic California stuff with all your friends. the weather is nice 300/365 days of the year. so its ok.</p>

<p>not too bad</p>