Hi! My daughter has been accepted to all of the above and plans on studying psychology and going on to graduate school. We live in Turkey, she is a US citizen but has never lived in the US. We are so confused, can anyone comment on the psychology department of the colleges above and any insight about college life would be greatly appreciated. With scholarships they are not too far apart in price tag. Help!
Is Tulane affordable? It’d likely be the best choice.
Penn State has excellent undergrad psychology with four tracks and she could be in Paterno Aspirants meaning she could take Honors classes and try to get into Schreyer (important so that classes are more interactive and personalized, with ability to know professors and join research which matters for grad school).
Psychology at UCSB is all very large lecture classes and lots of standardized testing so save it for grad school where it’s true excellence lies.
Don’t know enough about Syracuse.
Hi, thanks so much for your thoughts. Tulane is affordable with a 15,000/year scholarship she was awarded. We were thrilled about that! NOLA is such a great city but Santa Barbara is very tempting because of the environment. I should check into the psych dept in more detail but sounds like shell have more opportunity for research and connection with roofs at Tulane.
Yes. Psychology at UCSB is huge, even in the Jr/Sr years. Check the class sizes.
My recommendation would be Tulane or Penn State.
@Intentionalzen My husband was a psych major at UCSB and had no problem finding undergrad research opportunities (specifically in counseling), and had wonderful professors! The upper division classes weren’t large like the lower division classes. I would have her look at the course offerings of the schools because I know the psych major at UCSB has changed and is more science driven than before, which may or may not be of interest to her. We absolutely loved our time at UCSB— very tough to beat in terms of environment and location. Their location attracts some incredible professors and I can’t speak highly enough of my time there (I was a USC transfer student). Good luck to your daughter!
Thanks!
Thanks Bay area recruiter, sounds like as a big school it is what you make of it. If you put yourself out there you can get a great experience. Also a good point to look into the curriculum and check the classes. She isn’t sure whether she wanted to go more towards neuroscience or straight up psychology so looking closely at the classes will be helpful. Good point that Santa Barbara attract great professors.
My son is at Penn State and absolutely loves it, of course it would be easy for me to have them in the same place but she is free to decide where she thinks she will thrive. I think well visit and talk to the Psych department at Tulane and UCSB.
note that 2 years ago UCSB got rid of the traditional BA is psychology and replaced it with a more science-oriented BS degree. So have your D look at what they offer and make sure it is what she wants. I don’t know about the other schools but one thing UCSB has over most other CA schools is that the students live there in a real college town, rather than being primarily commuters or being dispersed in a larger city.
edit: noticed @BayAreaRecruiter already mentioned the new science orientation
Thank you Mike Mac