UC or Cal state

<p>i said a lot of it is hype, not all of it. but i live in berkeley so its a matter of convenience more than anything else.</p>

<p>exactly my point</p>

<p>Prestige of your undergraduate degree typically matters very little. More attention is paid to whether or not you challenged yourself while you were an undergraduate. I've had friends who've gone to top law schools (i.e. Harvard, Yale) and been amongst fellow students with degrees from College of the Ozarks and North Central Texas State and the like. Save your thirst for prestige for grad/prof school where it matters. CSU typically has an easier curriculum which will allow you to get better grades and have more time to pursue extracurricular activities. So I guess it just depends on what your long term goals are.</p>

<p>Prestige of your school DOES matter in business. Why do you think the top investment banks, consulting firms and hedge funds recruit solely at top schools such as the Ivies? Its because they know they will find high quality students at those institutions. If the op wants to get into the business field i'd definitely advise Davis. Econ is theoritcal and CSU's are more hands on but in most business jobs you laern 95 percent of what you do during training. Companies want smart motivated people, so they will recruit at higher ranked / better regarded schools. However, if you want to do accounting/engineering CSU's are a great choice.In those professions you learn a skill so it doesn't matter if you graduate from Harvard or CSULA, your going to be doing the same crap.</p>

<p>It really depends on the CSU and UC. For example, many students at cal poly chose their school over UCDavis, SB, Irvine, etc. Fewer chose it over UCB and UCLA. Let me give some reasons why i went to cal poly over davis:</p>

<p>-better students at cal poly (When i was accepted at least, it's pretty even now)
-More interaction with faculty
-Senior project
-Better location
-Half the tuition</p>

<p>Oh my bad tycoon.</p>

<p>Are you in engineering? Their hands-on philosophy attracts many students. If I didn't plan on going to graduate school, I would have applied to Cal Poly SLO to take advantage of their practical education.</p>

<p>"Save your thirst for prestige for grad/prof school where it matters."</p>

<p>Actually, I don't agree with what you were saying. If you want to get into a prestigious graduate or professional school, the UCs are EXTREMELY PREFERABLE to CSUs.</p>

<p>Someone didn't agree with me. I'm off to cry now.</p>

<p>just look at the endowment numbers I provided... who do you think it is that creates these huge endowments non alumnus????</p>

<p>I heard that it is rare to find a good (not a top, but average) lawyer who went to a CSU for undergrad. Motst of them come from UCs. Just my .02 cents.</p>

<p>Honestly, CSUs cannot even be called UNIVERSITIES. Look at their libraries.</p>

<p>I just got back from SDSU for the first year, and if you want to do buisness in the area go there. The pogram is not respected enough since it comes from a state school (who gives a **** about states, right?) Also it needs to be mentioned the fact the state gives the CSU systems so much less money that effects them. The UC system has a lock on most of the money for colleges which makes it harder for state schools. The upper state schools can be very good, most of them I wouldn't bother with. But SDSU, Cal Poly SLO, and SJSU to name a few are all very good if you plan on staying local. Why is it assumed here that if you go to a state school your an idiot by so many here? Success in high schoo is nothing compared to success in college. Id much rather do well at a state school than just get by at a UC. It all depends on your major really. SDSU engineering is decent, but I would just like to go to UCLA for a variety or reason so I am going to a jc for a year, but i still respect especially the buisness pogram at SDSU.</p>

<p>Nikkei, no one has suggested that it is ideal to go to a CSU opposed to a UC for someone who plans on becoming a lawyer, although many take that path and do well with it.</p>

<p>These things are just pieces of the pie--it's different for everyone, and the systems can't really be compared--apples and oranges.</p>

<p>HoboFromDowntown, they recruit from those schools for 2 reasons, one being ALUMNI, two becuase it is easier to go to Harvard and just pick random students than go to a cal state and find one of the smaller percentage of brilliant and perfectly capable students to hire. Cost and time affect recruiting abilities. It is just better to advertise yourself with a more prestigious degree, but dont count out cal states, i know people with degrees from csu san marcos that work at mid tier investments banks THAT THEY CREATED. so they are managing partners that are making great money with stanford and other random top tier schools working for them</p>

<p>southpasadena has just presented us with an example of the exception...
not the rule.</p>

<p>It all depends what the individual wants to do and can do. Alot of my friends went to SDSU when they could've gone to UCs for several reasons...Some wanted to save money, some of their parents just wouldn't let them go out of town/state, a few wanted to be nurses who felt that going to SDSU wouldn't hinder them achieving that, etc. </p>

<p>And from first hand experience, I could've went to CSULB and SDSU straight out of high school (even over UCI and UCD). In fact, I still chose them as potential transfer universities from CC. But why?</p>

<p>CSULB has an Industrial Design program which NONE of the UCs have. SJSU and SFSU have ID as well, but I wanted to stay somewhere closer to home. SDSU was simply close to home and I could have saved tons of money...It has a wide range of programs (appealing to me personally) that none of the UCs have either.</p>

<p>So why did I choose UCI, even after I once said I'd choose CSULB and SDSU over it? Certainly not for the prestige of the university. If I cared so much about that then I would've waited another year at CC and applied to UCLA and Berkeley as a junior (I'm a soph transfer). I just saw UCI as a great opportunity for me because they're opening a new concentration that I absolutely love...And at that I'll the only female participating out of 12 candidates a year. I also want to go to grad school and have no doubt that the UC system would better prepare me for that.</p>

<p>We all have our own reasons.</p>

<p>I have no problem with people who want to go to UCs or CSUs. It's their decision. But I do feel that some people make poorer decisions than others. Such as going to a state school because they don't want to 'work harder' is a stupid excuse to not attend a UC. I have no respect for those types of people who want the 'easy' way out.</p>

<p>CSUs I feel are the best in situations where students only want a Bachelor's degree and can feel content with that for the rest of their lives. Students at UCs have that option, but as research institutions they are better aimed for those wanting to attend grad school OR don't want to leave grad school out as an option in their future. I also know that there are some exceptions...I believe that in most cases a UC student would have the upper hand at getting a certain job in a certain field compared to a CSU student. And any CSU student still has the opportunity to apply to grad school if they wanted to.</p>

<p>ok funnyguy, you obviously come here just to bother people and disagree with them. We are trying to break something down for you, and all you have to post is stuff like "CSUs SUCK!"</p>

<p>....i give up and i suggest the same for others.</p>

<p>and regarding the UC vs CSU thing, it does matter. Its stupid to say it doesn't matter because an undergraduate degree from Berkeley will bring respect for a lifetime, unlike a degree from a less popular CSU. And this matters for graduate school because the UC student will TYPICALLY have an easier time finding a good job that will prepare them for graduate school, which is exactly what graduate schools want:preparation.</p>

<p>I'm still down for CSUs, just mentioning that there is a difference for undergrad.</p>

<p>But there are PLENTY of CSU students who are just as, if not more focused than the average UCLA or Berkeley student, so theres no need to generalize the average CSU student as 'lazy,retarded,unfocused,etc'</p>

<p>...and i agree with aerolite.</p>

<p>But there are PLENTY of CSU students who are just as, if not more focused than the average UCLA or Berkeley student, so theres no need to generalize the average CSU student as 'lazy,retarded,unfocused,etc'</p>

<p>but earlier you generalized community college students as slackers and who have it easy, did you not? so basically, you are just as guilty of sweeping generalizations as the people who think "people who pick CSU over UC are retarded" are.</p>