UC/CSU Specialization Breakdown

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm not really informed on which UC's and CSU's are good/mediocre in so I've come for aid. Can I get a short breakdown of what fields/majors (doesn't need to be specific if you don't want to, just a generalization) each campus is known for, or whether they are the-jack-of-all-trade schools?</p>

<p>Something just help me get the idea. Such as I know UCLA has an extreme film department, Davis is great in bio/medical and Irvine is staunch engineering.</p>

<p>All and any help would be grateful.</p>

2

<p>I hear UC-Riverside is good for creative writing.</p>

3

<p>As for UCI: It has very strong humanities, chemistry and bio programs. All of its programs are quite good, however.</p>

<p>^btw, I think UCI has been ranked second in the country for creative writing.</p>

4

<p>Is there some field you are interested in? You are asking about 32 schools - 23 CSUs and 9 undergraduate UCs - so it would help if you mentioned any geographic preferences or interest areas to give post-ers a place to start.</p>

5

<p>UC Irvine is very good in creative writing. UCB is excellent for engineering. UCSD is good for bio/bioengineering(anything bio related).</p>

6

<p>Whoops.</p>

<p>I would like to stay in the SoCal area (So UCSB and CP:SLO as the cutoffs northward.)</p>

<p>My current plans have me looking toward Computer Science as my major. So getting a breakdown of good/2nd-tier CSU/UC's that have an ok computer science field would be great. I'm also significantly interested in the medical field, business, english/writing. I'm actually all over the place, but those are the top 4 I guess.</p>

7

<p>Here's the info on the strong programs at the UC's (I'll say more about CSU's when I have more time):</p>

<p>Don't know anything about UC-Merced</p>

<p>UC-Berkeley: Sciences, Business, Engineering, Humanities (English, History, Political Science), Mathematics, Computer Science, Music
Popular Majors: Computer Engineering, English, Political Science</p>

<p>UC-Davis: Agricultural and Food Sciences
Popular Majors: Biology, Economics, Psychology</p>

<p>UC-Irvine: No clue what it's strong in
Popular Majors: Biology, Computer Science, Economics</p>

<p>UCLA: strong in almost everything
Popular Majors: Biology, Political Science, Psychology</p>

<p>UC-Riverside: Premedical Sciences, Biology/Biological Sciences, Business Administration, Psychology
Popular Majors: Biology/Biological Sciences, Business Administration And Management, Psychology</p>

<p>UC-San Diego: Premedical Sciences (Biological Sciences, Chemistry), Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hard Sciences (don't go here for liberal arts)
Popular Majors: Economics, Microbiology, Political Science</p>

<p>UC-Santa Barbara: Physics, Hard Sciences, Nanotechnology, Marine Science, Biological Sciences, Material Sciences
Popular Majors: Biology/Biological Sciences, Economics, Psychology</p>

<p>UC-Santa Cruz: Hard Sciences, Biology, Astrophysics, Engineering, Marine Biology
Popular Majors: Art/Art Studies, Business/Commerce, English Language and Literature/Letters</p>

8

<p>CSU's that I know next to nothing about</p>

<p>Cal Poly Pomona: No clue what it's strong in
Popular Majors: Business Administration and Management, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Electrical Engineering</p>

<p>CSU - Chico: No clue
Popular Majors: Business Administration, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Psychology</p>

<p>CSU - Fresno: No clue
Popular Majors: Health Services/Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences</p>

<p>CSU - Bakersfield:
Popular Majors: Business, Psychology, Liberal Arts and Sciences</p>

<p>CSU - Los Anglees:
Popular Majors: Business, Criminal Justice, Psychology</p>

<p>CSU-Sacramento:
Popular Majors: Business, Criminal Justice, Nursing</p>

<p>San Diego State:
Popular Majors: Business, Psychology, Liberal Arts and Sciences</p>

<p>San Francisco State:
Popular Majors: Business, Psychology, Film/Cinema Studies</p>

<p>San Jose State:
Popular Majors: Art/Art Studies, Business, Electrical Engineering</p>

<p>Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo:
Popular Majors: Agricultural Business/Management, Business, Mechanical Engineering</p>

<p>I'll post the other CSU's that I know a lot about later</p>

9

<p>ALL UC's are strong across the board. Of course, nearly every department at Cal is top-10, nationally; many are top 5.</p>

<p>Even UC campuses known for bio-sci, have great humanities-social sciences. For example, SD has a high-ranked linguistics program, and cognitive psychology.</p>

<p>In addition to Pierre's comment, SLO also has a great architecture program. Long Beach is also good in biz.</p>

10

<p>Here are the rest of the CSU's as promised</p>

<p>CSU - Stanislaus: Nursing, Business, Psychology, Social Work, Criminal Justice, Biology
Popular Majors: Business, Psychology, Liberal Arts and Sciences</p>

<p>CSU - East Bay: Business, Nursing, Education</p>

<p>CSU - Long Beach:
Popular Majors: Psychology, Corrections and Criminal Justice, Management Information Systems</p>

<p>CSU - San Bernardino:
Popular Majors: Business, Psychology, Liberal Arts And Sciences:</p>

<p>Humboldt State:
Popular Majors: Liberal Arts and Sciences, Social Sciences, Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management</p>

<p>Sonoma State: Hutchins School Of Liberal Studies (Interdisciplinary Majors), Education, Psychology, Business, Health Care, Sciences, Environmental Management and Design
Popular Majors: Business/Commerce, Psychology, Liberal Arts and Sciences</p>

11

<p>Obviously all of the UC's are very strong (except for Merced)</p>

<p>In addition, the 2 best CSU's (in my opinion) are Sonoma State and CSU - Stanislaus</p>

12

<p>To the original poster, check out Cal Poly Pomona if you want to stay in SCal.</p>

<p>pierre what are you basing your opinion on?</p>

<p>The 2 best CSUs for engineering are (by a long shot) Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona. Cal Poly SLO's architecture school rivals Berkeley. SJSU is right behind the 2 Cal Polys in engineering.</p>

<p>Top-notch CSUs are Cal State Chico and SJSU.</p>

<p>UC Merced is very new so doesn't have a long track record, but there's nothing to indicate that it's not a strong school.</p>

13

<p>vballmom, I've just heard more about Stanislaus and Sonoma, you may have heard differently</p>

<p>and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that UC-Merced isn't strong but that I just don't know enough about it to persuade anybody to apply there</p>

14

<p>(Scratch post #2; obviously I got Riverside and Irvine mixed up.)</p>

15

<p>San Diego State ranks second in the country in undergraduate applications (behind UCLA). They rank first in the country in research among universities with 14 or fewer doctoral programs. SDSU’s six-year graduation rate – the standard measure used by universities – increased 23 percentage points in the past seven years. The SAT scores of incoming full-time freshmen are up 60 points.</p>

16

<p>Cal Poly Pomona - Good engineering, architecture, & agriculture/vet program.
CSUF - Good business but not engineering. Go somewhere else for engineering.</p>

17

<p>All the programs are undergoing budget cuts and may have reduced enrollment next year. The criteria they are talking about is that local applicants i.e. Central Coast for Cal Poly will be given preference.
If you are looking at these schools you need to have your grades/stats way up there, apply early (like Nov. 1 not Nov. 29) and apply to a range of schools.
Be prepared that if you attend, it may be more difficult to get classes, you may be in a forced triple, etc.</p>