<p>Okay, well, I didn't apply to any UC's because my parents were very stingy about helping me out with college. I wanted to apply to at least 5 universities and give UCLA/UC Berkeley a shot, but I didn't have the money to pay for the applications. </p>
<p>My girlfriend for years had been wanting me to apply to her small, private liberal arts university out of state (University of Evansville). I didn't have to pay for the application fee, it was waived, and they gave me about $15,000 in scholarships. However, the price of the university a year is $40,000. I get about 7500 in loans from FA and the rest I have to pay myself out of pocket in my own personal loans.</p>
<p>I can't say that it holds much prestige or that I really know much about it. I applied as a physics major and it seems like a good program that focuses on preparing students for graduate school. Mostly because of its price I'll have a lot of opportunities there to do research and such. There's only about 3000 students who attend UE and I like that it's not so crowded. At least I can tell from their website they do send students to other private universities for grad school like Harvard, Yale, etc. For physics, I think their best student was able to make it in Cornell in recent times. My objective is to try very hard to get into MIT, but I know that no one from UE has gone there in the last 90 years. At UE, I'll only have 6-8 classmates in physics as a junior or senior (I'm a transfer student).</p>
<p>Now, the other universities I applied to were Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Fresno, and CSU Northridge. I am going to decline my admission to CSU Fresno and CSU Northridge. Honestly, I under-estimated my chances and really regret not applying to UC's. Out of these three CSU's though, CPP would be the best. Now the ball game is different here because I am an applied math/statistics major there. The campus itself is beautiful and it's in a decent location. I have no idea about the quality of the faculty, but I haven't seen any alumni go anywhere besides one person. If I am going to attend here in California, I wonder if this school would give me a good shot at UC Berkeley for graduate school? Or if they even know about CPP. I don't think it has much of a reputation. My physics professor went there for undergrad and then to UCLA for graduate school. </p>
<p>So, here is the meat of the problem: I want to go to graduate school. UE although it costs more, I think offers more research opportunity and is focused on theory. CPP has a more technical, hands on kind of approach. I am leaning towards UE, but I am not sure if the approach to education each has matters much. I just want to know which one ould be best for me to succeed in graduate school. But I also gotta keep the cost in mind and if spending that much a year out of my own pocket is a good investment. I'll have to take out around 50K in personal loans for UE and maybe around 20K for CPP (total)?</p>
<p>I think it would be better to go to Cal Poly Pomona and save 30k.</p>
<p>However, I do not know anyone doing physics, but I know most of my friends in the sciences have been able to get involved in some research thus far, or will be this summer (sophomores).</p>
<p>This is not even a question. Go to Cal Poly Pomona. UE isn’t a bad school, but it’s not going to set anyone’s heart aflutter, either - if there’s any value in paying for a “name,” Evansville doesn’t have that kind of a name.</p>
<p>Can you even borrow enough for Evansville? Big loans for college generally have to be either through your parents (PLUS) or co-signed by someone with a solid credit history. The average college student won’t be lent that kind of money because there’s absolutely no collateral for a college degree.</p>
<p>For undergrad, I think you should attend a California Community College (that has a history of transferring students to UCLA or Berkeley), then transfer to one of these schools, UCLA, Berkeley, USC
From there you can go to grad school like Stanford, Cal Tech, UCLA, Berkeley for a fully funded Ph.D program
If you go to one of the CSUs, your chance for grad school with big name schools such as Stanford or Cal Tech is low</p>
<p>compaq10, you didn’t read anything the OP wrote, because… yeah, he’s transferring from a community college now and didn’t apply to the UCs. Water under the bridge.</p>
<p>I would be able to because my parents would cosign a loan with me to do it. I made the decision to stay in California 'cause I guess it wouldn’t make much of a difference if I went there than if I went here in the end other than having a few personal issues. </p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s help. I hope I can get into a good grad school with some hard work from here.</p>
<p>Choose Cal Poly. They are a bit bigger and therefore have a more thorough upper division physics curriculum. This is important for getting into graduate school as is getting involved in research. I am a physics professor at http:[Illinois</a> Institute of Technology](<a href=“http://www.iit.edu%5DIllinois”>http://www.iit.edu) where I also advise physics majors. While our program is small, we have a graduate program and research faculty so we take pains to give our undergraduates good preparation for graduate school and have had students get into MIT, Cal Tech, UC Berkeley, U Chicago, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Northwestern among others in recent years. </p>
<p>The key to getting into strong graduate programs is to have (1) very good grades, (2) a strong Physics GRE (>70% at least) and (3) a significant research experience.</p>
<p>(2) will be easier if you have full year courses of Classical and Quantum Mechanics as well as E&M. You can get (3) by being active immediately and talk to faculty about getting involved in research. Don’t worry about the kind of research that you do as an undergraduates, no one expects you to continue that in graduate school and it is usually easier for undergraduates to get involved in experimental or computational research.</p>
<p>Finally, when you are looking for a graduate school, not get fixated on the top 10 schools, you can get a very good Ph.D. in physics with a great advisor and career prospects in lower ranked schools. All of my Ph.D. students have gotten post-doctoral positions and several are tenured faculty or senior scientists at national laboratories now. It is more about your research advisor and the kind of research you do.</p>
<p>First of all, don’t choose your undergrad based on the location of your girlfriend.</p>
<p>Second of all, I think the approach matters a little but not much. Honestly, in terms of research experience hands-on is better than theoretical, unless you want to go into theory as a PhD student.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it’s better to save the money and go to Cal Poly Pomona. $50K is too much for undergrad - you may not even be able to borrow that much if your parents are unwilling to cosign private loans for you, since the most you can borrow in federal loans is $27K over four years.</p>
<p>If you go to one of the CSUs, your chance for grad school with big name schools such as Stanford or Cal Tech is low</p>
<p>For anyone else reading this who can possibly be discouraged, this is not even remotely true. Where you go to undergrad won’t necessarily hold you back from a prestigious graduate school. That’s the case even if you start off at your local CC, but is definitely not the case coming from a Cal State. The Cal States are respected public universities.</p>
<p>Yeah, that comment was mildly discouraging because if I worked hard at CPP and didn’t get in anywhere good I figured I might as well just give up pursuing further education after my bachelor’s. </p>
<p>My parents were willing to co-sign, but I know deep down inside I guess the best idea for my financial future would be to attend Cal Poly Pomona. My girlfriend only figured into the equation because we’ve been going together for four years and although we see each other 2 months a year, it is taking its toll on our relationship. She joined many clubs and a sorority, but it does suck to know that I’ll be nearly 3,000 miles away while she’s at formal wishing I could be there for her. I think she understands the importance of education and that I’m trying extremely hard to get into a good graduate school after leaving my CC. Unfortunately, I can barely speak to her about any of the excitement I feel about going to Cal Poly Pomona because she’ll just tear up. I think she’s a bit naive though to think that dropping 50K on 2 years of education is enough if I want to be with her. Also unfortunately, I don’t think being a math major at CPP will be a joke and I’ll probably spend more time studying than with her over Skype or something. </p>
<p>A major problem that will present itself later down the road is the idea of graduate school. We’re going to apply to the same places, but she knows in her heart that if I get into UC Berkeley or UCLA in-state that I’ll want to attend there rather than the school that’s best for her major, the University of Kentucky. I don’t think I have much prospects pursuing a PhD somewhere in Kentucky. Besides, I know Cal Poly Pomona is a decent institution, but I would like for my hard work to pay off and attend somewhere great because of it for graduate school. I don’t want to feel limited for graduate school choices. I didn’t have the money for a UC education, so I know I’ll strive to make the best I could get for now. </p>
<p>I do get that whole reputation thing, though. Everyone I know at my CC looks down on me for wanting to go to CPP instead of a UC. Even then, the people who want to attend the higher UC’s look down on the people who want to attend a mid or lower UC. Honestly, I don’t care about reputation because I am barely able to afford a Cal State education because of this strange way my parents put me in. I don’t qualify for any financial aid other than loans and the rest must be paid somehow else. My EFC was ridiculously high and my parents have their own debts. My dad’s company just went on strike a week ago also. I hate that feeling of being perceived as someone lesser than someone else, though. I would hate to feel that especially if I apply for a job and get turned down because someone with a UC Davis degree just dazzles the hell out of them compared to my Pomona degree.</p>
<p>@xyraymancs: When graduate schools look at your transcript is their entire focus on your physics courses or a combination of math and physics courses?</p>
<p>I can’t switch my major to physics until after my first semester at Cal Poly Pomona. Then again, if it goes well, I was thinking about keeping both. But maybe it would be a good idea just to make the switch and stick with one? Also, do you know anything about how much your upper-division classes are weighted in comparison to your overall performance in your 4 years? </p>
<p>I am very interested in attending Berkeley, so I wonder what pains I would have to take to get to that particular institution. Although, any other place would be a good place too I’m sure. The thing I fear is that I am a bit behind everyone else in terms of research opportunities because I was a transfer student and that they might really only consider what I’ve just been able to do my junior year when I’m just getting started with my upper-divison courses. I think I would only have time to do one summer REU before I apply and hopefully get an internship as a junior. I think Pomona is pretty good about getting internships, although I’m not exactly sure if it’d be a type of internship where I’d do research.</p>
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