<p>Hi all, </p>
<p>I'm applying to both UC's (university of california schools) and CSU's (california state universities). </p>
<p>I know UC's are held at a more 'prestigious' level but I wanted to know the pros and cons of going to either type of school (Why csu might be better than UC or vice versa). </p>
<p>I plan on attending college with plans of going to med school(yes im sure). </p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>One major pro of the CSUs is that they are cheaper. Estimated costs for CA residents per year at a UC is 33k while for a CSU it is about 23k. Over 4 years with bits of skewing here or there the savings could be between 30k-50k depending on campuses and what not. Of course, there is Financial Aid and Grants to take into account as well so you could take this all with a grain of salt if you’d like.</p>
<p>UCs were designed as major Ph.D.-granting research centers. CSU’s were designed to provide education through the undergraduate or Master’s level for state residents. Did you know that a law was recently passed allowing community colleges to grant 4-year degrees? The lines for all three have blurred with time.</p>
<p>If you are interested in possibly pursuing an MD/PhD, you may wish to look into a UC. If you are looking to get a low cost, high GPA undergraduate experience in a wonderful school to undergird an MD, then practice medicine, a CSU may be a better bet. I do not know how well each will prepare you for your MCATs, etc.</p>
<p>I had a girlfriend do her undergrad at SDSU and completed her medical school training at UCSD.</p>
<p>My oldest graduated from SDSU in 2012, my middle graduated from UCLA in June (2014) and my youngest is a sophomore at UC Berkeley. Although it is definitely true that the tuition at SDSU was half of that at UCLA or Berkeley, in our experience, the UC’s were much more generous with financial aid, so it was actually cheaper for my UC kids than my SDSU kid. All 3 were happy with where they ended up. My advice to my kids, while they were applying, was not “fall in love” with a school, until they are accepted. Once you are accepted I would go to the admitted students days and ask a lot of specific questions. </p>