<p>First off I need to thank all of the posters of CC, the good, the bad, and the ugly for helping me in my college endeavor. I have always been reading the posts but now it is time to jump in as well!</p>
<p>Just yesterday i receive my acceptance letter to CSU long beach's president's scholarship. It is given to valedictorians, i believe some 60/500 are accepted.
These are the benefits:</p>
<pre><code> * Full payment of in-state tuition and general student fees
* Highest priority registration
* Paid housing in campus residence halls
* Sponsored meal plan (for National Merit scholars only)
* Automatic acceptance to the University Honors Program
* Personalized academic advising
* Exclusive access to the Presidents Scholars Center, including computer lab and study lounge
* Opportunity for international study abroad programs
* Special recognition at commencement with the Presidents Scholar medallion
* Four-year degree completion option
* Campus student parking privileges
* Annual book allowance
</code></pre>
<p>This is for a full four year dealy, as long as the student maintains a certain GPA and fulfills some activities for the university. I have heard that the scholars are treated like kings by the university and receive many benefits. So i would be able to work closely with professors and be able to get into a good grad school without a debt.</p>
<p>Though if i went to Cal (I went to CalDay and It is a pretty rocking school), with the grace of God i would probably get into a good grad school anyway, and with some initiate would i be able to work with profs and be able to take advantage of the opportunities at Cal. I should receive in state tuition yet i haven't recieved financial aid since I am Canadian</p>
<p>So i guess the situation rests on the fallacies in the two situations presented above. It's a decisions between the school i want to go to (Cal) and the school i should go to (CSULB). </p>
<p>Even though Csulb doesn't have much of a reputation ( in fact i don't know if i can find them in the USNWR rankings), they claim that their scholars end up in top-notch grad schools.</p>
<p>I am not sure how many peeps have experience with this program and can verify its worth.
I am sure that Cal provides some academic advising and opportunities for me to stand out from my fellow peers like LB does.</p>
<p>CSUs are not research universities. Research universities like the the UCs are superior to CSUs in basically every aspect. Money is no object, what superior education is worth more than money difference</p>
<p>If the money isn't an obstacle, then go to Cal if you liked it up there. It is a better school academically no matter how many perks they throw at you down in Long Beach. However, if you loved Long Beach just as much as Cal, or if you would have to borrow the entirety of your undergraduate college costs in order to go to Cal, then pick Long Beach. One note: Long Beach is still making the transition from commuter campus to traditional college atmosphere so the campus does not have the same feel as a school like Cal. Good Luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Well Lb does have a giant pyramid and the medallion they will give me might be made out of gold...</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the input, I will most likely being going to Berkeley. I want to contact the financial aid office and see if they can help me out; maybe i can find a Canadian Fafsa or something. Is it better to email or phone, does anyone have any experience with this?</p>
<p>I think the people here are a little (understandably) biased. If you will be charged out-of-state tuition which you cannot afford it may very well not be worth it to go to Berkeley. </p>
<p>I would suggest posting in the parent's forum. They seem to have a lot of good advice for these types of situations.</p>
<p>This is an old thread but in the hope this helps someone let me give you a real world perspective from someone who hires graduates of college and who went to “name” schools UCLA, USC, UC Berkley</p>
<p>Always choose a Presidential Scholarship over the so called big name schools. As employers in various disciplines we just passed on several hundred applications to hire a couple of presidential scholars-similar to other employers I know. A president scholar at almost any school is a better choice than a graduate from any big name school. Sorry its just the real world experience we have had over 25 years of doing this. The big universities are set up for graduates and, lecture classes are huge, undergrads are just a number and the real teaching is done mainly by TAs or teaching assistants with an average age of 25 and very little real world experience. Students come out of these schools wondering why they cant get a job. The big name schools maintain their reputation by having the professors publish-publish or perish-unfortunately its the undergraduates who perish and come out completely unprepared-and as I said I went to several of these big name schools. So ignore the common bad advice given to go with a reputation school because it when you graduate and look for a job. If you are looking at graduate school then it can be different matter.</p>
<p>I can’t give you general advice, because everyone is different. But here’s my own experience: I was having a decent job and didn’t want to lose that job, and thus applied only to schools in So. CA. I was admitted to UCLA, Cal Poly Pomona, UCI, CSU Long Beach, and CSU Fullerton.</p>
<p>I chose CSU Fullerton because it was close to where I lived and where I worked. Everyone thought I was either crazy or stupid or both, turning down offers from more “prestigious” schools. But at the time, cost and time to graduate were my main concerns because I was on my own. My parents, through wanted to, could not support me at all. I graduated in 7 semesters with a GPA of 3.9.</p>
<p>With that GPA, I was accepted to all grad schools I applied to: UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCI, Cal Poly Pomona, and of course CSU Fullerton. I went to UCLA for 1 term, then had a job offer I couldn’t refuse. I dropped out and went to work. Three years later, I have several engineers with MS degree (1 from Cal, 1 from NYU) reporting to me. Noone ever looked down on me because I hadn’t had a “superior education.”</p>