As the title says, I am a resident of upstate NY and have been here my entire life. The closest I’ve been to CA is Phoenix. I am currently finishing up my first year at a local CC in NYS. I’m looking to transfer ASAP, and have already been accepted to one of the better SUNYs, but I’m having second thoughts…
CA seems like the coolest place to live, specifically so cal. Nice weather, beaches, interesting people, beautiful state. The problem is, I know nothing about colleges in California other than the most reputable UC’s. (UCLA, UCSF.)
I guess I’m just here to get some ideas for colleges that I should look into. I’m ipen to public or private, let me know what you guys think.
I am an accounting major, and my college GPA as of now is 3.49. My SAT score was 1190 (out of 1600). I know that it is probably too late to apply to colleges for the fall of 2017, but maybe the next spring semester?
Please give me some suggestions, as I am very unfamiliar with the colleges and the areas there. Thanks!!
You are aware about the costs?
The UC’s are $55K to $60K per year. The CSU’s are $40K per year.
These are the California public schools that are paid for by California state taxpayers. There is no financial aid for OOS residents, so you would be full pay. The privates may offer money to OOS residents but scholarships are generally reserved for Freshman applicants.
Read this post to get some ideas about California.
Yes, I am aware of the costs. I also read that thread. I am hoping to attain a list of possible colleges that would match my stats. A few reach colleges would be good too. I literally know like 1 college in so. cal.
There are nine UC campuses (not including the grad school of UCSF). UC’s are more of the “research”/theory institutions. CSU’s are more of the hands-on, practical institutions (This includes schools like the Cal Polys, SDSU, CSULB, etc.). There are 23 campuses. If you want to see if your credits will transfer, then you need to use Assist for each system. These schools are picky about what they will allow to give credit.
Then, there are the privates. Very expensive but they also have more scholarship monies than the publics. These include schools like USC, USD, Caltech, Chapman, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, etc.
It all depends on your major and what “fits” and suits your needs and your personality.
For UC’s and CSU’s, they only accept Junior level transfers so 60 semester/90 quarter units. SAT/HS GPA not considered. To transfer it is very important to have all major prep done and a good GPA. Since you are OOS, you would have to try to match your courses to the required courses needed for transfer. You could try www.assist.org which gives you courses at the California CC’s that are required for transfer.
Privates such as USC, Occidental, Santa Clara, Univ of Pacific will accept Sophomore level transfers but you need to check each school’s website for transfer requirements.
For accounting, you might want to check out Loyola Marymount (LMU) or Chapman both which are private.
The beaches in so-cal area really pretty particularly around San Diego BUT the water is never comfortably warm like it is somewhere on the east coast like the Jersey Shore.
Also, the same stereo-typically relaxed so-cal people are also really superficial and judgemental.
Disclaimer: I love socal. I lived around San Diego for the first 10 years I lived in the US but it’s not a magic paradise
Besides the UCs/CSUs you’ve got the ones @Gumbymom was talking about and there’s also Whittier College, University of the Redlands, St Mary’s of CA, and that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
In regards to SoCal being friendly or otherwise, I think it really depends on the area. My in-laws visit from FL to where I live, and they always comment on how friendly everyone is.
Now, to OP’s question, use a search tool like Naviance to tell you about all the schools in CA that offer your major and fit your stats and price range. People can tell you about some, but it won’t be exhaustive, and might leave out the perfect school for you. Good luck.
Oh, and not all of CA is created equal. I’ve heard of people coming out to a SoCal school hoping to be near LA and the beaches, only to find out they are 1.5 - 2 hours from both, especially when you factor in traffic. Use your maps!
"a good student can get a nice merit aid package from a lot of the private schools. "
not true for TRANSFER students.
Most Merit aid is reserved for Freshman applicants.
Merit aid is EXTREMELY rare for transfer students and when available, is reserved for those with tip-top GPA’s and standardized test scores.
Also, many private colleges in Calif require your HS transcripts as well as your standardized test scores.
The ONLY private U in Calif that takes a lot of transfer students [approx 1000/yr] is USC.
Whoops that’s right they’re a transfer student. I believe St Mary’s of CA offers generous merit packages for transfer students though. UOP has some too. In any case, OOS transfers will probably pay huge tuition at UCs. Higher than privates.
Car culture in Southern California. It means that you can’t do much or go many places without a car. LA is very spread out and it can take 1-2 hours to get across one side of the LA basin to the other. Going most anywhere for an outging will mean an hour or more on the freeways. Public transportation is not good and considered ‘low class’ (as in too poor to own a car).
OH got it. It’s true. Anytime I go down myself I drive down, and anytime my family goes down we rent a car. When I lived there I was a young’n so I didn’t really think about it.
