<p>The other day my friend who attends CSULB and I were talking about the pros and cons between UC schools and Cal State Universities.</p>
<p>According to him, CSUs are the way to go because they offer same quality education as a UC at an affordable price. He mentioned many qualities of CSULB, including:</p>
<p>-Large Diversity and Size of Campus
-The People
-Prestige
-Good programs
-Can get you to grad school
-Sports, Clubs, Fraternities
-Food
-Financially Affordable</p>
<p>Then I argued that UCs have better prestige, they have better food, more diversity and he replied "For 24K A Year? I don't think so..."
I mentioned him the prestige of UCI, UCLA and UCB compared to the top CSUs, and he replied by saying "We have kids who attend CSULB and denied UCLA and other schools because of the price"</p>
<p>So, ultimately, we discussed the schools on all aspects and we didn't get to a conclusion if CSU is better than UC or if UC is better than CSU</p>
<p>What are u guys' opinions? Let's discuss it! Maybe we can find out and provide adequate info!</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO I'd say is an equivalent experience to Davis/Irvine/Santa Barbara if research is not a focus.</p>
<p>Then a huge drop. San Diego St/Cal Poly Pomona equivalent to Merced and maybe Riverside. Cal State Fullerton/Long Beach State/ equivalent to maybe Merced.</p>
<p>Equivalent = combination of intelligence of student, quality of faculty, quality of facilities, respect of adcoms. No way to compare geography, size, the fit stuff.</p>
<p>IMO, Fullerton, Long Beach, Pomona, and SLO are very close to the lower-tier UCs in terms of education, but I'm still in favor for the UCs because they generally tend to attract the more academically motivated students.</p>
<p>There are a lot of kids who attend a lot of colleges because of money, that's just reality. But other than Cal Poly in engineering, CSU's are not the equal of UC's. Because entrance requirements are so much lower at CSU's, the peer groups are very different from those at UC's.</p>
<p>Of course there is a big range among UC's, but two have national reputations (Cal and LA). No CSU is known nationally.</p>
<p>Um, no I don't think CSUs rank w UCs. Ya they might be cheaper, but so are CCs. That's bc the quality is not as high. UC profs need at least an MA and usually a PhD, are often published, etc at least at the more prestigous (UCLA, Cal, UCSD). CSUs require a BA and alont of my CC profs teach at CSUs also.. and I can say that my CC does not have a challenging, for lack of a better word, system. Not to say that the teachers are low quality, but thay are not on par with UC profs. </p>
<p>I know ppl that were accepted at UC level, but went to CSU for $$ reasons, and regret the decsion. My friend is transferring out of Cal Poly Pomona bc the Engineering Dept went belly up. Funding at CSUs was cut really bad esp math & sci, but that may be the case at UCs also. </p>
<p>Overall, yes CSUs give a good education, and its what you do with what is available. I mean you can get a really good job with that degree. But compared to a UC (again, the higher ranked ones), then UCs have much better potential right away.</p>
<p>There wouldn't even be a showdown, really. Cal, UCLA, UCSD are nationally recognized research universities with strong graduate and professional schools (medicine, law, business); CSUs are, at best, mediocre state schools compared to the research powerhouse state schools like the top 3 UCs, UW, UT Austin and the big-ten schools. I mean for California residents, the cost difference between a UC and a CSU isn't one that would normally be a deciding factor, so the CSUs unfortunately don't have an edge in that aspect either.</p>
<p>Depends on what you want to do.
Long Beach State is very good for engineering, music and lots of other things
San Diego State is very good for business
Cal Poly is great for engineering
and etc., etc.
Or if you want to be a wheeler dealer in Hollywood, go to Long Beach State and then drop out - like the two Steves did (Spielberg and Martin)</p>