Wow! I’m in the EXACT same position as you. I’m debating between SJSU or UCR, or transfer in between to a UC or a private college.
Yup, SJSU is known for having students and grads that get jobs right after graduation very easily. How far do you live from SJSU? They have a 30-mile radius rule for on-campus housing. If you graduated from a high school that’s more than 30 miles away, then dorming is mandatory. You can still dorm if you want, but since you’ve lived in the Bay Area, I get what you mean about not having the whole college experience.
Yup, I also agree with what you’re saying about UCR. I definitely get what you mean. I’m from SoCal and I live about an hour and half away from UCR, so I’m quite worried that I won’t immerse myself into the full college experience even if I were to dorm. I’ve always lived here, but I did go on a road trip to the Bay Area last Friday until yesterday night. I was pretty impressed by SJSU and all the surrounding cities. But UCR’s not a bad school, and traffic congestion really doesn’t even exist in Riverside. I’ve lived in LA, like 10 mins away from DTLA, so yes, I always drive in traffic.
For your questions:
- It depends on which school you want to transfer to. If your goal is a UC, then you need 60 semester units and must be an incoming junior. So in other words, yes you have to be at SJSU or UCR for 2 years and then you can transfer to whatever school you got accepted to for Fall 2019. If your goal is a private college, many of them have you complete at the bare minimum 30 units by the end of your spring term. So, if you have 30 units completed your first year, you can fill out the spring application and then go to your new school for Fall 2018. Some privates have you complete at least 30-50 units. It really just depends on the school and their transfer requirements. I suggest you make a list of schools you want to transfer to. If you really need more specific answers, call the advisors or counselors for that specific school and ask what they’re looking for in transfer students.
- As far as GPA goes, the higher, the better. College GPA only goes up to 4.0, and college classes are significantly harder than high school classes, so a 3.8 is actually really really good for any school. Not sure what the minimum transfer GPA is for UC's, but I'm assuming with a 3.5+, you can at least get into UCSC, UCI, and UCSB.
-Well, as for the college experience, I believe it’s entirely what you make out of it. I’m not even in college yet, but I have a lot of older friends who tell me they’ve commuted and still had a good experience. I’ve also had college students who transferred in between their years, which is why I’m able to say all this. So it’s not entirely impossible for you to transfer to another college while staying at SJSU or UCR. However, UCR runs on a quarter system, so if you find yourself unable to keep up with the course load and intensity of certain classes, you’re kind of screwed. Stay on track and get a good college GPA. That is the main key. People will tell you go to a community college and transfer because they give you priority, but I understand if that’s not what you want. I have family friends and other people who have recently transferred to UC’s while attending a CSU/another UC, so yes, it is possible. Just harder and more expensive. I was thinking of going to a CC first , but I have schools that have accepted me and I’m going to take full advantage of that.
-Not sure which UC’s have a better engineering program than SJSU. SJSU’s engineering program is ABET accredited, which means that you’re basically learning the same material and curriculum as any other ABET accredited school. For example, UCR also has a good engineering program, but both UCR and SJSU’s engineering department is ABET accredited. So, in other words, what you take in class and what you learn will be the same. This is what I’ve personally heard from my college friends who are majoring in engineering. One goes to Cal Poly Pomona, one goes to UCR.
-Yeah, you could try doing that. Apply to both Cal States and UC’s, and see which schools accept you. I’ve seen a handful of threads here about CSU > UC transfers, but not a lot of UC > UC transfers. So it’s possible, like I mentioned. But you don’t have priority amongst all of the CC transfers since CC’s don’t give you a bachelor’s degree, and with UCR or SJSU, you’re still going to get a bachelor’s since it is a 4-year college.
- As for that statement, college is what YOU make out of it. I recently talked to a current SJSU student, and he is graduating next semester as a junior. So technically, he only attended SJSU for 3 & 1/2 due to his buildup of AP credits. He also has interned at several places which gave him a job offer, so yes, I guess you can say SJSU students do get jobs easily depending on your major and what type of job you're looking for. Some jobs do require you to have a Master's, so in that case, you're going to need to go to grad school while you're employed. It really just depends on what type of job experience you have in college, as well as your usage of the school's resources. Go to career fairs, go to the career center, and ask people. This is why mostly everybody will tell you to meet as many people as possible the first 2 years of your college life. It's important to make connections and have friends that can guide you through job interview processes, and you can ask them how they got a certain job and how to better your chances of getting hired. Stuff like that.
- The final decision is up to you. I haven't committed yet, and I'm still going to need time to decide whether I want to go to SJSU or UCR, or go to one and transfer. Think about what you really want. If financial issues aren't something you have to deal with, then going to UCR is not a bad idea either. If you want to save money, then SJSU is probably better in terms of tuition. If you're leaning more towards UCR, visit the school before you SIR and see how you feel about it. You will know which college you want to attend by visiting, from what I have heard. Choose what's best for you and your plans. Nobody else needs to know.
- I don't really have any websites that I can link you, but you can try to search UC > UC transfers on this forum to see if people have recently done that. I haven't personally seen a UC > UC transfer, but I bet it is possible. I've seen more CSU > UC transfers on this forum. and I've also seen CSU/UC > private transfers as well. It's really just up to you. Think about what you want in a college. You still have a couple of weeks to commit, but I highly suggest you visit UCR first to see how you like it.
Feel free to private message me for anything else. This was a super long post, but I guess I needed to tell you what I know from my previous/current knowledge, and from older college people who have given me the same advice I just gave you.