<p>I've been reading a lot of your posts for a while now and decided I would start asking a few questions myself, since college is around the corner for me</p>
<p>Which schools are known to accept more out-of-state students and in your opinion which school is better known for academics/social life/etc?</p>
<p>As you probably already know, USF and SDSU are very different places. </p>
<p>USF is a private, Catholic university with under 5,000 undergraduates. USF admits about 70% of its applicants. About 30% of its students come from out of state.</p>
<p>SDSU is a large public university with close to 30,000 students. Because it is an extremely popular choice here in California, it's admissions rate is about 44%, but it is going down every year. Only about 5% of SDSU students are from out of state because SDSU gives preference to in-state applicants.</p>
<p>However, don't assume that the difference in admissions rates means one is better academically than the other across the board. They both have different pluses and weaknesses, and some of them depend on what the individual student is looking for. </p>
<p>I'd say SDSU is probably best for very independent students who don't need a lot of hand-holding and likes the dynamics of a large university. I'd probably steer a student who is looking for or needs more personal attention towards USF. I'd probably give SDSU the edge for business, education, and communications majors, and USF the edge for political science/pre-law.</p>
<p>If finances are an issue, SDSU is cheaper on paper for an out of state student, but financial aid for out of state students is limited, and will rely heavily on loans. USF can be very generous with merit money, bringing the intial cost in line with SDSU just a bit if you get one.</p>
<p>In terms of social life, one thing to keep in mind that a relatively small percentage of students live on campus at either school. But, both have something of a rep of being party schools. I also think you need to consider the differences between San Diego and San Francisco when you think about social life. San Diego is beautiful and sunny, and kind of laid back. To me, SF has more of an :East coast: hustle and bustle feel. </p>
<p>So, really, if both schools interest you, I would recommend visiting to see the differences for yourself. Some other schools in California you might want to take a look at include: the University of San Diego (different from SDSU), Santa Clara University, Chapman University, Loyola Marymount, University of Redlands.</p>