<p>Based on your comments and generalizations I don’t think you have a good understanding of the two systems and this will make it more difficult to ‘convince your parents’. You have a couple of anecdotal items and have drawn conclusions about the UCs that aren’t accurate. Also, ‘the UCs’ and ‘the CSUs’ in themselves are very broad terms since there’s a lot of variability within the particular system - for example lumping UCSB, UCR, UCM, UCLA, UCSD all in the same bucket. For ‘activism’ I think UCB and UCLA, for example, have their share.</p>
<p>In addition, you don’t really know what you want to major in so your parents might want you to go to the more selective system to keep your options more open.</p>
<p>Further, you state you to be involved in ‘social advocacy’ but yet you want to live in an apartment by yourself because you want ‘isolation’. These don’t seem to go together to me. Regardless of what you think now, try to live in a dorm for at least the first year if you can - especially if you’re interested in on-campus groups of which there are hundreds.</p>
<p>If you want to present an argument to attend a CSU vs. a UC to your parents, get focused and state concrete objective reasons. Some possible examples -
- You want to go to CSU ‘A’ because of its location and specific programs.
- You want a specific program/major that’s offered only at some specific CSUs because “___”.
- You want to save the family or yourself money by living at home and commuting.
- You ‘don’t’ want to go to a specific UC because of its location, doesn’t offer your major, costs too much, etc. </p>
<p>However, before you convince yourself you should only go to a CSU, examine your reasons yourself and make sure you’re being open with yourself.</p>