<p>If it doesn’t work, don’t worry; just shout and I’ll do it for you…</p>
<p>Way to go, now you have a viable option in your hip pocket locked and loaded! Good move on the dorm as we were told they fill quickly. We toured both of them and they passed “muster” nicely, alittle pricey, but the tuition at SBCC is resonable so to me it was a wash with the transfer guarantee. I’m all about having options, too! I am not an expert on the California City Colleges coming from the Midwest, but SBCC was the only one we found that A) had a fairly significant portion of non local students B) had an amazing campus (I think parts of it used to be the old UC Santa Barbara campus) had housing arrangements for the students in dorms as opposed to simply acting as an apartment locater service. I still get their on-line campus newspaper and LOL I actually read it each month. If she goes there make sure she gets hooked in right away with their transfer program and if she’s got a 3.5 at her high school in a college prep curriculum she might qualify for the honors program if I remember correctly. My son found this stop “sweatshirt worthy” and he stills wear it to this day. Town is great, too. We stopped at the local brewery for dinner and the waitress asked my son if he was a student. They got chatting and when he mentioned that he worked in our local “brewhouse” as a prep cook, she brought him an application and told him if he decided to go to school there they “needed” people like him. I try to get to Santa Barbara every couple years, it’s a really special place. The most ironic thing was after we got home, the local newspaper had their “student of the month” feature and the girl who was a senior and a year older than my son at the neighboring high school was headed for SBCC. We just couldn’t believe it, what are the odds? There is a fairly active “transfer” forum on this board that often has students from the “bigger, better city colleges” asking and exchanging information. I found a decent amount of information there when we were exploring that option. By the way, my son finally decided California was to far away from home despite the fact that his aunt is there, so he is not in California. Do go see the SBCC campus (the pics on the website do not do it justice), UCSB and Santa Barbara itself. I’m not generally a fan of community colleges but I think there are a handful in California that “have it right”. Pasadena City College was another one that impressed me. We looked at Occidental, and I suggested stopping at PCC sill thinking about the UCs and transfer options and that organization impressed me also sending their “kids” primarily to UCLA. (no dorms). I’ve heard good things about Santa Monica City College but we didn’t go there (no dorms). Come to think about it there is a city college in northern California, the name escapes me, that has dorms but it was north more toward San Francisco and that was too far north and too far away from my sister for my son. I have a friend whose son is at University of San Diego BTW and loves it. It’s private so it’s expensive, but you might want to check out the website and see what you think. We toured UC San Diego and UC Irvine but my son did not care for either campus, the large size, the urban feel and preferred a more intimate campus (like SDSU is) but if you have some bucks to throw at it, your daughter might like University of San Diego as an option.</p>
<p>Oh one last tidbit I learned. Make sure any admissions office you apply too understands that you are in the process of moving to California and that you will be a resident (as will your daughter by viture of the situation). I found California to be fairly liberal about how they classifed students with special circumstances so ask, ask, ask if she would qualify for resident tuition even though you won’t have lived in California for a complete year…and make sure that your daughter changes her driver’s license, opens a bank account in her name even if she just keeps $20 in it and registers to vote and check up on the various residency requirements.</p>
<p>Yeah I told her about it and she was happy. She still wants to go to SDSU but this is a viable option if the gods are angry at me or something. I really appreciate all your help and I had a great time today researching everything. I wish I could live there and go to that school. LOL.</p>
<p>I am so happy I found this forum. It makes me feel more normal to know I am not a freak parent.</p>
<p>I did tell the school that we are moving. even gave them the address but she would have to graduate from a california high school to get residency rates.</p>
<p>Oh well thats what 529 plans are for.</p>
<p>Can’t wait until this month is over. we will know what school by March 1st and be well on the way to spring and our move.</p>
<p>The San Diego area Community Colleges don’t have a similar “private dorm” setup like the ones in Isla Vista which are used by both UCSB and SBCC students. A lot of students from Grossmont (that’s the CC closest to SDSU) live in the SDSU area, including in the fraternities, but I’m not aware of any common dorms suitable for freshmen. </p>
<p>Don’t give up on SDSU, by the way. They send out acceptances to the academic superstars early, but everyone else has to wait. Four years ago SDSU was the last school my son heard from.</p>
<p>GratefulDeb: I am so glad you have found a workable option. I know nothing about CA, but I do have good things to say about community colleges. </p>
<p>I hope your daughter’s stomach is healing.</p>
<p>Mesa College</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sandiegomesacollege.net/about-mesa/index.cfm[/url]”>http://www.sandiegomesacollege.net/about-mesa/index.cfm</a></p>
<p>is the community college closest to SDSU. The website talks about the transfer rate to SDSU and UCSD. I don’t know about dorms.</p>
<p>We have a friend at SBCC who is VERY happy.</p>
<p>If your daughter’s goal is to transfer to a UC, the best method to transfer in is through community college, not through a cal state. The UC’s allot space for the CC transfers.</p>
<p>Deb- you likely have private messages waiting for you if you can find your inbox ;)</p>
<p>Cuesta College is a community college in San Luis Obispo which seems to attract a lot of kids who did not get into Cal Poly SLo, but still want to be in that college town area.</p>
<p>Deb, I’m glad the CC folks were able to help you. Good luck to your daughter and keep us posted!</p>
<p>Deb,</p>
<p>I sent you a PM with some info but I’ll restate some of it - </p>
<p>SDSU sends out admission notifications through March so try not to stress too much yet. SDSU is, I believe, the most popular of the CalStates so I’m sure it takes them a while to wade through all the applications.</p>
<p>I see from your post that she’s also applied to CalState San Marcos. This is good. CSUSM is one of the newest CalStates so they don’t have nearly as many applicants and I’d expect it’d be easier to get into. But, they have a lot of new buildings, new dorms, and will be served by the new Sprinter light rail train that will go between Escondido and Oceanside when it starts in a few weeks. CSUSM is about a 40 minute drive north from SDSU and is about 20 minutes from the beach. It has some students who live on-campus in dorms so there’s some ‘campus-life’ experience to be had. It doesn’t have the large number of students that SDSU has though and doesn’t have the well established sports programs of SDSU so the experience will be different.</p>
<p>California has a well-defined mechanism for those who want to go to a CalState or UC but either don’t have the stats right out of HS to make it in or who can’t afford a CSU/UC school right away or who for any reason just doesn’t want to start at a CSU/UC right away. They have the option to attend a community college for a couple of years and then transfer to either a CSU or UC. California’s CCs are very inexpensive and with the transfer possiblility can be a good option. In order to transfer one must maintain a certain CC GPA and have taken the appropriate courses so one must check with the CC GC to ensure they’re pursuing the right track.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that at the CSUs and UCs with on-campus dorms, most of them don’t allow staying in the dorms for 4 years unless maybe one is an RA or in certain special programs (Regents scholar, etc.). For example, at UCSD students typically can only stay in on-campus dorms for 2 years then must move off-campus. At UCLA it’s now 3 years and at least a few years ago at UCB it was only one year. I don’t know what it is at SDSU or CSUSM but I’d expect SDSU to be less than 4 years due to its popularity. Besides, it seems that most students ‘want’ to move off-campus after a couple of years. These students typically live in the surrounding areas and have and are often seeking roommates. This means that if your D ends up deciding to go the CC transfer route, she has the possibility at least of living in an off-campus location with another student even if the student is attending a different school. So for example, if she attended Grossmont college (a CC), Mesa college (a CC), etc. she could still live in the SDSU area with other students albeit not in the dorms. She could still attend SDSU events, etc.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned, the whole ‘friends’ scene typically changes post HS. It’s common that after HS the friends really all embark on different paths - heading to different colleges, moving to different areas, heading straight into various jobs, some getting married and having babies right away, etc. Your D will likely end up having more in common with the people at whatever college she ends up at than with her old friends from HS. </p>
<p>San Diego is a great area IMO (that’s why I’m here) and I think she’ll enjoy it and do fine. PM me if you want any more detailed info on the San Diego area - I might be able to help with some of it.</p>
<p>Stress is often caused when people feel trapped - when they feel they have no viable options. In this case I think your D has a number of viable options so it’s a matter of educating one’s self and understanding those options and hopefully the stress level will reduce once she (and you) realize that she’ll be fine regardless. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>