Humboldt State University
[ul]Pros[list]
[] One of the few residential campuses in the California State University system. Also one of the few remaining college towns in California.
[] A very intimate and peaceful campus; when I visited I felt a sense of community and I got a very weird feeling that this is where I am meant to be. No words can explain how beautiful it is, very small as well.
[] If I consider graduate school (which is very likely since to become a Statistician a master’s is basically mandatory), I could probably settle for the curve in most of my classes since the student body is not that competitive and the fact that a quarter of entering freshman drop out within the first year. As the saying goes, “a private LAC for the public price.” One of the least impacted CSUs as well.
[] The environment, air quality, and weather are all ideal for me. I want to exercise and have my family visit a comforting place…my little brother has asthma and it has been difficult for him since we live in the Los Angeles county.
[li] Time would go by very slow and I settle into the tempo of Humboldt State easily. This is how I would want it to be.[/li][li]Bonus: I would actually want to live here. The rent and house values here are pretty damn ideal. Also, there is no crime here besides thefts. Humboldt State sent a message to all of its students about a sound like a “gunshot” occurring, which pretty much says that nothing dangerous happens here.[/li]
[/ul]Cons[ul]
[] The distance from the Los Angeles county may not be worth it since its prestige is not very high, unfortunately.
[] Homeless or quirky people aka the literal “you do you” saying and weed/drugs are prevalent. Also a lot of stealing, especially in Eureka. Also, I am pretty sketched out for how the student body will be since nearly anyone can get in as long as they do the a-g requirements.
[] I am planning to become a Statistician, and internships would be tough to deal with unless if I focus on the Biological Sciences/Natural Resources, which I am not completely set on yet.
[] My overall rank is in the top 23 (considering ECs and all, not just academics), and people would be shocked if I chose to go here or I would just be a bad role model. I also do not know if an employer could take a degree from Humboldt State seriously. I put in a lot of work and I have been through a lot and I would hate to see myself have a once in a lifetime undergraduate experience at a college with a very high acceptance rate.
[li] I may become severely depressed since it rains a lot. I love rain but some research suggests that if you do not get enough sunlight one can expect to be depressed.[/li]
San José State University
[/ul]Pros[ul]
[] FBS Division I athletics; this is a huge reason why I applied here. However, it is not known to be a big athletics school, despite of it being in the same level as Cal, UCLA, Fresno State, and San Diego State. By the way, I got denied from all of them except Cal, despite of getting the supplemental questionnaire from UCLA. I doubt I would get into Cal. My academic performance was appalling due to my unique circumstances, but no UCs understand that and I guess they are not holistic after all.
[] Since I want to become a Statistician, I will have no problem of becoming one if I attend here. Silicon Valley, do I really need to explain?
[] It’s in the sleeping giant of the Bay Area, San José. There will be so much to do in the city and the surrounding area. Therefore, I will have the appropriate college experience since there will be so much to do. I always wanted to go to northern California from the Los Angeles county, and San José would be a great start.
[] The diversity is unreal here, besides UCLA, I have never seen a college with better diversity in California, arguably the nation.
[li] San José State offers much more in terms of academics than Humboldt State.[/li][li]Bonus: Public transportation is the best in California, hands down. I truly love public transportation and I hate how in Los Angeles nearly everyone follows the propaganda of having a car and frowning upon. I am not living in Southern California and I am staying far away from it, and San José State would give me a jumpstart.[/li]
[/ul]Cons[list]
[] It is EXPENSIVE here. This is one con that I truly hate about San José State. If I live here for the rest of my life, I will be jealous of other states who pay so little compared to Californians just because they do not have a beach by them.
[] Several people and sources informed me that it takes forever to graduate from here. There is a joke at San José State that goes, “You will spend at the very least 7% of your life here.”
[] The immediate location is not good. I always see on the subreddit of San José State of people dying here each year and it’s the most I have seen out of any university I have applied to. Although it’s mostly the homeless people, it’s still bad.
[] It is large and urban. I initially wanted to go to Humboldt State and then go to graduate school in a state where I would want to live in after some exploring in the United States, but I want FBS Division I athletics and it’s mostly at large urban schools…guess you can’t have everything right? Point is, I would want to experience a rural place and I do not know if I could deal with another urban place…and I would really want to see people again instead of seeing them once a semester, or even a year since San José State has 30K people.
[li] Commuter and no spirit whatsoever from what I heard, I want to be in a place where people are proud of representing their school.[/li]
In summary, I want to go to Humboldt State but I just have no idea what to do because of the people around me would be speechless. But it’s sad that American universities put so much value into numbers. Then again, it’s just undergraduate school and no one really cares since to start off it’s decreasing in value. San José State is a solid California State University and people would be pretty content with my choice, but I have not visited it yet and I do not know if I would like it or not since the cons are pretty much in my face big time. I highly doubt I will get into Cal, I have gotten no hints whatsoever. If I get accepted I can’t turn them down of course. cough 1460 SAT and 3.04 UC GPA but everything else is Ivy material such as 12 APs, unique circumstances, and impressive ECs cough Why I did not do private universities? I just do not like the ideology of them. It sucks that nearly most public universities in the United States are numbers-based. So I was screwed, luckily like I said it’s just undergraduate school and no one just gives a shit.
I just don’t know, please help?