<p>I know that California cities have museums. But can you really compare any museum in LA, or even SF, to the Met, MoMa, or Smithsonian? California has essentially only been the way it is for a little over 50 years- not nearly long enough to accumulate a significant numer of cultural insitutions.</p>
<p>Describing a place as being not bad is far different than being stimulating or interesting...</p>
<p>Okay. Boo California.</p>
<p>Sweet Home Alabama!</p>
<p>So, now a prescense of museums defines interesting? I don't know what you're interested in...but I haven't (and really don't want to have) been in a museum in quite a while.</p>
<p>BTW - I live near berk. and I tell you...everyone I know dislikes LA. Worst place in the state. SD and the Bay Area have much better climates and atmosphere.</p>
<p>Duh Sparton..didn't you know?</p>
<p>California is like, totally boring. All we have is plastic surgery and sunless tanner. OMG.</p>
<p>And the "OC", of course... :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Katie, are you sure that your private school isn't for "special" people? "California has essentially only been the way it is for a little over 50 years" Really? So before 1955 California was just a mass of blowing dust and debris, unpopulated, with animals running wild and hairy naked people using crude tools to hunt wildebeests?</p>
<p>hahahahah....ha...hahahahah...</p>
<p>I have an e-crush on GentlemanandScholar.</p>
<p>I went to an E. Coast college (and Stanford for grad school) after growing up in CA. I can see both sides. While I did indeed find out that we are a bit short on culture, and I learned that to be at the top of many fields a stint in NYC is a must, proof of the pudding is that I again live in CA. I do wish I could afford an E. Coast 2nd home though.......</p>
<p>I go to a UC. UC Irvine to be exact. I only applied to UC schools cause I knew they were good and that they were cheap. That's why people stay in California and why you hear so much about them, they're cheap and of course California is huge so there is a large proportion of Californians on this board. California is unique because it would probably be very rare in other states that people would pick another public school that wasn't the "flagship" school of the state. For instance, I know a lot of people who didn't go to Berkeley but instead went to UCI or UCSD etc for various reasons and it's not unheard of. The strength of the system overall (with Berkeley and UCLA leading the way) is just too good to turn down.</p>
<p>Plus the weather's nice.</p>
<p>If you haven't been to San Francisco, don't judge California's culture. LA is the most artificial place in California you can go, and it's still one of the most famous cities in the world. We have our share of ghettos, just like the East coast. Not quite as many, but enough to bring some culture.</p>
<p>My sister in law was rank #1 in her high school with a 4.4 GPA. She appiled to UCLA, UCB, & UPENN. Her friend got into UPENN and major in business while she turn down UPENN to attend UCLA. She told me that she wanted to become a doctor since 3rd grade so UCLA was the best choice for that. She told me that she needed 2 years of internship at UCLA medical center to become a doctor. UCLA offered a free ride for housing and tutition in scholarships. She only had to pay $6,000/year for food plan. Everything worked out for her! She is happy to become a Bruin. </p>
<p>If you have a 3.0 gpa or higher, you are guaranteen free money (Cal Grant scholarship) from the state. A 3.5 gpa or higher, you get even more scholarship money. </p>
<p>An interesting fact *
If the President of the United States was hurt or had heart attack (West of the Mississippi) , they would fly him to UCLA medical center for treatment. </p>
<p>"UC's are the best bang for your buck" -Princeton Review site</p>
<p>University of California is ranked #1 in public education for colleges/universities in Newsweek.....</p>
<p>Social Scene:
You won't be bored. There's so much to do in these schools. Fun, fun, fun except UCSD where students there study for hours.</p>
<p>Location:
Of the 9 UC's, 7 of them(San Diego, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Irvine, Frisco, Davis etc) are located near the beach or in driving distance (10-25mins).
Good weather (70 degrees on a normal day while it's windy)</p>
<p>Culture:
All the UC's are diverse. Hispanics, Asians, Whites, Indians, African-Americans, etc. UC,Irvine is the only university in the US where whites considered themselves a "miniority"</p>
<p>Education:
All the UC's are strong in the biomedical, science, medicine, engineering, research fields. UC's also has it's own graduate school (University of California, San Francisco) where you can become a pharamacist and make a starting salary of $100,000 a year. </p>
<p>Job Outlook in California:
-Teachers avg. starting salary is high in California. A high school teacher teaching 10th grade English makes about $70,000 a year and $3,000+ if he teaches summer school.
-Pharamacists make $90,000 right off the bat here in California.
-and many more.... I'm just generalizing......I forgot the rest....</p>
<p>Based from my experience as a resident in California-
a quick descrip for each campus </p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz - most beautiful campus in the US a few years ago on AOL rankings; you see deers in the middle of the redwood campus. It's like forest.
UCLA - 15 mins from Hollywood, USC, Santa Monica Beach
UC Berkeley - near Frisco, San Francsico is a cool place
UC Davis - has rich argiculture field, 15 mins from Sacramento, state capital
UC Irvine - the "OC" Orange County; visit Laguana Beach if you have time
UC Santa Barbara - big party school; nice beach
UC San Diego - big beach; near Mexico. Most of the student body are considered hard-working academic types of people<br>
UC Riverside - most boring UC campus out of the 9 but you can go hiking and sking in the mountains. It's near the desert valley. </p>
<p>UCLA, UC Berkeley, & UC San Diego are the hardest UC campuses to get into. You need like over a 4.2 GPA, 1500+SATs, a lot of community service hours, and be involved in school. Their admit rate is around 15%-20% with over 4.2's gpa.....</p>
<p>go here to get more info on the UC Campuses <a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/welcome.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/welcome.html</a></p>
<p>that's all I have for now .....</p>
<p>"If you have a 3.0 gpa or higher, you are guaranteen free money (Cal Grant scholarship) from the state."</p>
<p>only if your family income is under certain thresholds (depending on how many people are in the family). not everyone with a 3.0+ gpa gets a cal grant.</p>
<p>"-Teachers avg. starting salary is high in California. A high school teacher teaching 10th grade English makes about $70,000 a year and $3,000+ if he teaches summer school."</p>
<p>no, check out LA unified. most starting salaries for teachers are around the high $30,000s to low $40,000s, even when they're desperately in need of teachers (which also means they don't have enough money). even at more affluent areas, the starting salary for high school teachers isn't $70,000, and neither is the average salary for regular high school teachers. a high school teacher making around $70,000 either teaches a richer district (where it's tougher to get a job) or has been in the teaching profession for a while.</p>
<p>"You need like over a 4.2 GPA, 1500+SATs, a lot of community service hours, and be involved in school. Their admit rate is around 15%-20% with over 4.2's gpa....."</p>
<p>you don't necessarily NEED any of those. true GPA averages are above 4.0, but that's weighted, and SAT averages are around mid-1300s. and community service hours are not a pre-req to get into a UC. admit rates are in the mid 20% range for the most competitive schools (berkeley and UCLA) and the chances are better in the lesser competitive schools. </p>
<p>i understand the goodwill of your post but i feel like there's some misleading information in it.</p>
<p>There are actually a lot of full ride scholarships at UCs, if you have the grades and SATs to merit one. UCSD pays 4 years tuition, everything included, for certain undecided/engineering students as long as they maintain a certain GPA at the school. I'm sure there are others, but CALgrants and Regent's scholarships still reduce the $20k/year tuition.</p>
<p>And yes, at kfc4u--the average GPA at UCSD is 4.01 (sorry guys, I'm a big UCSD fan)...Berkeley/LA are 4.19, according to the UC guidebook I got from my GC. SAT averages are 1350 for Berk/LA, 1300 for UCSD and then the rest hover around 1200.</p>
<p>Michigan accepts 50% of applicants? WOW! But look at its top 10% ratio.</p>
<p>California has rich cultural history. its just not that boring white new england history. we have plenty of centuries old hacienda's, missions, and churches. Plenty of good, spanish, native american, and mexican culture.</p>
<p>Isn't UC free for in-state students?? If so, that would explain why in-state students wud go crazy for Berkeley of LA</p>
<p>/Edit
Free tuition, still have to pay for boarding+food etc.</p>
<p>i_lose: SAT average of 1350 is nothing to brag about. My high school has 1480 SAT average.
mrxalleycat: Ok so the people make more money in CA. That is solely the result of inflation. You don't mention how much more expensive housing,food, necessities are. You you take into account inflation, they are making minimally more money than people in their profession in other areas of the country.</p>
<p>Confidential, in the old days, UC was free for in-state tuition. </p>
<p>But it hasn't been free for years. Here is the Berkeley per-semester fee structure (so multiply by 2 to get the annual cost). </p>
<p>Here are some figures for UCLA, including room/board. </p>
<p>Wow, 1480 sat avg? I'm guessing by your composition that the Sat II Writing average is much lower...</p>