He’s admitted into all of these. He got a 36 on his ACT, has a 4.7 gpa, plays tennis, drums, well balanced, disciplined and relaxed, and wants to study Psychology. We’ve seen all these schools personally and are from Chicago. UCSC would be our last choice for remoteness of town, difficult to travel, reputation of school. Welcome all advice and thoughts. We have to send a check somewhere in six days!!!
Please let him choose.
I disagree, why the heck would he do that? What’s his reasoning? There’s no way I would pay out of state tuition for UCSC.
Congrats on the choices! A question though: wouldn’t he be paying out of state tuition? In my opinion, UCSC is cool but probably not worth that much money. What’s his reasoning for wanting to go to Santa Clara? Did he get into honors at any of these schools?
We ultimately will let him make the final decision. My negatives: It is lower ranked than any of the others, harder to get to by far, and I don’t see how he would travel to internships etc if I look down the road a couple years. We just did the drive up to San Francisco and it was not fun. The campus seemed deserted and he is a social kid but not a huge partier. We are already ok with out of state tuition – UCSC and Boulder are the only two that gave him merit scholarship. Also he did get waitlisted at UCB, but after the tour I think he won’t accept if he gets off wiatlist. We are really not feeling great about his decision and I was just looking for some reasons to feel excited for him. Thanks for any and all comments!!
Santa Cruz. Not Santa Clara.
Yes, makes no sense to me, unless proximity to the beach is important. I wouldn’t call it remote. It’s about an hour from the San Jose Airport.
I would just talk it through and try to persuade him to attend UCLA. UCLA will look a lot better on future job applications.
What were his thoughts on UCLA?
Re: Internships. There are many SC residents that commute over the hill to Silicon Valley. And there are high tech businesses in Santa Cruz and nearby Scotts Valley and Los Gatos too. BTW these areas are really beautiful and picturesque.
@sushiritto Oops, confused with SCU for a second.
@rocamom The merit scholarship makes his choice easier to understand, though it’s up to you how significant you think it is. I also agree that UCLA is definitely top notch academically, so he must’ve really disliked it to turn it down… right?
Thanks for the helpful thoughts on the internships. But oh that drive up 17!!! He thought UCLA was too big, and that he’s probably not up to the competition, which is also why he thought he would turn down Berkeley if he gets off waitlist. Santa Barbara made a great impression on all of us, but once we got home he thought it was too much of a soCal vibe for him. I talk to students everywhere we go to get a candid view from them and all said they loved it there. Also my son said he did not want to pay sticker price for a CA school, bless him. SC is the only one that gave us any money. Son said he would love to go to school in a redwood forest, and near the ocean also. He loved the place, even tho we did not get a formal tour, just walked and drove around ourselves. It’s not my choice, I know, but honestly if I lived on campus I would be checking myself for ticks and Lyme disease every 5 minutes. And slugs?
Another factor we haven’t brought up with him is future help from alumni and career center. Would imagine UCSC also has the smallest network!
He probably has AP credits so he may only be there 3 years or he can double major. It really is a beautiful campus. If he determines in November that he should have chosen otherwise, he could reapply, assuming he will have 90 quarter credits that include his APs by the end of spring for junior standing by Fall 2018. This of course would take some really good planning to avoid taking upper division courses for example.
We have bugs at UCLA too. And traffic!
How about weather? Does he like colder foggier weather similar to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach? Granted, it’s not winter in Chicago, but it’s all relative.
Sounds as if he likes the vibe at Santa Cruz, which is definitely different than Westwood or Santa Barbara. How about CO as an alternative?
“But oh that drive up 17!!!”
It will depend upon the time of day, and occasionally the weather. In rush hour it is horrid. In off peak hours it is not so bad. On the rare occasions that I have been in Santa Cruz I always schedule my flights home to avoid bad traffic times. I have never run into fog in Santa Cruz, but I have heard that very rarely it can be an issue.
Your son is going to need to take the classes, do the homework, live in the dorms, take the tests, and so on. So he needs to be comfortable with the choice.
This is why students should go on the formal tour, and sit in on a class or two if possible. If there are accepted student days, also visiting for those is a good idea. He doesn’t really have a feeling for the type of student there if he didn’t do any of those things.
You don’t need to drive to the silicon valley for an internship related to psychology. You can do that work where ever there are people.
Having spent time at all of these campuses and knowing people who went to the CA universities over the years, I completely understand why UCSC would be appealing. It’s a very unique campus. Every time I’m there it feels like I am on vacation in the mountains. It has great faculty and has a certain vibe. It’s better than most public universities across the country and only seems less prestigious because we have a lot of great UCs in CA. I can understand someone not being into UCLA – heck, when I was in high school I could not see myself going to UCLA. Too large, and for some people it just doesn’t feel comfortable. My son goes to Santa Barbara and has liked it, but I don’t think the scene there is for all. I agree that it’s difficult to drive to Santa Cruz, but being off the beaten path has its own appeal.I imagine students at Santa Cruz are inspired to question accepted norms. Go Banana Slugs.
Are cost and debt significant factors, and are they significantly different between the various schools?
I’m personally not a fan of the Santa Cruz campus, but I can see why others love it. If your son thinks it’s the place for him, let him go there. It’s still a good school.
If he feels strong-armed to go to a place he doesn’t like, such as UCLA, he’s not going to do well there.
I assume you mean San Francisco for USF. Why not there? It’s a private school and he’ll get a better environment since UC OOS and private tuition is basically the same. UCSC is objectively beautiful based on nature (I have never met a person who said otherwise), but in most cases public schools aren’t worth the money out-of-state.
If he wants to go to UCSC that bad, he could go to USF for undergrad and then UCSC for grad school. SC is not that far away from SF either, I know plenty of people who travel up and down from those two destinations frequently.