<p>Out of curiosity, are there any CSUs that are more difficult to get into than UCs? I think my counselor told me something about SDSU and some other CSUs being harder to get into than the lower-tier UCs, possibly some mid-tier.</p>
<p>I believe Cal Poly is pretty difficult to get into if you're going into engineering, architecture, agriculture, etc.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO is not difficult to get into - a 3.8+ weighted GPA and a 2000 SAT would make it a safety or a safe match at the least. It's still harder (and better) than UCR or UCM, but as a generalization, UC >>>> CSU.</p>
<p>i think the only two hard csu to get into are cal poly slo and sdsu. easy uc would probably be ucr and ucm.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO has roughly the same admission requirements as UCDavis, Santa Barbara, and Irvine do. SDSU is a bit more selective than UCM and UCR, but not the middle UC's. It could be that Long Beach is also harder to get into than UCM, but I'm haven't examined the numbers.</p>
<p>UCs were created to cater to the top 4-5% of the incoming californian frshman, and csu's were created to cater to the top 15-20% ish range of students.</p>
<p>theres a few ways to look at it:
CSU's are cheaper than UC's
UC's "generally" provide a better education/have more prestige
But if you want to be one of the top/better students instead of an average joe, then going to a CSU might be the best course of action</p>
<p>"But if you want to be one of the top/better students instead of an average joe, then going to a CSU might be the best course of action"</p>
<p>By that I assume you mean those that want to go to grad school. In that case, I don't know if that's entirely true. UC's are still the better route for grad school compared to CSU's, which generally focus more on undergraduate studies. </p>
<p>Alternatively, if you need to graduate within 4 years and pursue a career thereafter, can't afford a private college and want to get a degree in something like accounting for example (which UC's don't offer), then a CSU is probably a better choice. All this is not as cut and dry as some people make it. It really depends on one's situation.</p>
<p>uc's offer phd and are more research. csu's only offer up to masters and teach skills. (such as ucs have ta's and csu's have professors.)</p>
<p>Cal Poly is about at the level of UCSB/UCD/UCI for undergrad, and SDSU is more in between middle and lower (UCR/UCM/UCSC) tier UCs. Overall, UCs tend to have better academics / more prestige / etc.</p>
<p>In addition, I'd heard that the CSUs are supposed to serve the top third of high school graduates.</p>
<p>yes, cal poly is for the most part is as difficult to get into as some UCs HOWEVER, unlike the UCs you can do ED for cal poly and its near impossible not to get in. i know some people in my high school who got into cal poly with low 3.0s. thus i would say its easier to get into than any UC because there are ways around the system.</p>
<p>Other people have answered your question well, I think. I just always remind students to think about their goals & the particular program sought, if known. It tends to be that for certain more practically oriented programs that stress applied knowledge, or performance oriented programs such as the arts, CSU's can be the better way to go, depending on the program sought. OTOH, because of that, & because of CA budget cuts, those can be "impacted majors" and also very competitive for admission. SDSU has a different GPA standard depending on whether your residence is within their region; that info is on their website.</p>