Thank you so much. Just trying my best. 
What if you went to UW and didn’t like it, came home… What would happen? CC->UC, right?
I’m more in favor of UCSC but you sound torn.
Are you usually not very self confident, tend to underestimate yourself (ie., you worry a lot, feel you’re struggling, are sure you’re going to get a B, but end up with an A- or A)? Or are you pretty realistic (ie., if you think you’re going to struggle on a test, you do struggle and get a B-)?
Regardless of self confidence, let’s imagine you DO struggle:
Which university has the better support services? Do they offer free tutoring? Walk-in tutoring? Review sessions? How many students in the breakout “discussion sections” or “recitations”?
I don’t think UW would have admitted you if they didn’t think you could succeed, but it’s true many of your classmates there will have taken AP Bio/AP Chem.
What majors could you potentially be interested in at UCSC? UW? – if your Plan A doesn’t work out?
Talk with your parents about what they really like at UW (and where the money’s coming from, hopefully not a loan, but if it’s a parents loan then your answer is easy, you pick UCSC!)
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@wayza: My older son had the same choices a few years ago and chose UW-Seattle, mainly because UW has a broader range of majors than many of the UC’s and many renown programs. Like UC Berkeley and UCLA (son did not get into these schools), being in the PAC 12 sports conference, UW also has a great student spirit. My son is a sports fan. UW operates on a Bell Curve to weed out students in competitive majors such as health sciences, engineering, computer science and business. UW does not give out letter grades and instead gives out numeric grades, i.e. an A = 4.0; 3.9; A- = 3.8;3.7; 3.6; 3.5; B+ = 3.4; 3.3; 3.2; B = 3.1; 3.0; 2.9… Son started out pre-engineering, but to get into the engineering school, approximately a 3.7 GPG was needed. He was getting B’s (2.9 - 3.1) in his engineering math and physics classes and decided to switch to business. For him, the business prerequisites were much easier despite a 3.7 GPA to get into Foster Business School. He graduated from UW over 2 years ago and now works for a Big 4 accounting firm and is a licensed CPA. He also chose UW because he felt the school would be academically challenging and it is highly ranked globally (a top 30 school, including graduate programs, in the world). Fortunately, I am able to pay for the out of state tuition.
Overall, UW is a large school with an enrollment > 45K students, including graduate students. A large school may not be suitable for everyone. Some prefer smaller class sizes. However, UW offers many opportunities such as internships, research, etc. to help students succeed.
If you are considering changing your residency, it will be a tough uphill climb. I know you have to at least live in WA all year round. Other favorable factors might be no financial support from parents?, relinquish your CA driver’s license?, etc. My son was able to live in WA all year round because he had summer internship in each of 3 summers but no WA residency.
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Forgot to add that son was admitted to UW’s Foster School of Business and graduated from there. In the end, it was worth paying the out of state tuition since he was able to secure a coveted job.
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But how do you know he could not have gotten a similar job going elsewhere?
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That is a great question. Outside of UC Berkeley, UCLA for Bus. Econ., of all the other UC’s, only UCR and UCI have business schools. UCD, UCSC and UCSD offer some form of bus. or management econ. UCSB has the accounting econ. My son tells me that the Big 4 accounting firms primarily target 5 schools in the West Coast. These targeted schools are UW-Seattle; UC Berkeley; UCSB; UCLA and USC. These targeted schools mean the Big 4 firms hire disproportionately more from these schools than the remaining schools in the West Coast. This was also true when I worked for the Big 8 firm, Price Waterhouse, decades ago. By attending UW-Seattle, his chances of a Big 4 offer was higher than if he had attended a UC other than UCB, UCLA or UCSB. This does not mean that a student cannot secure a Big 4 offer if the person attended a school outside the mentioned 5. The chances are higher for a Big 4 job offer if the student attends one of the 5 mentioned schools.
The main point is that UW-Seattle has a comprehensive range of majors and my son not getting into engineering, was able to get into UW’s Foster School as a backup plan. If he had not got into Foster, UW suggested that economics can be a backup plan.
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That’s fair and there’s no question the higher pedigree schools win on average. Obviously for accounting you need an accounting program. My nephew went to UNLV. I kniw they placed big 4 in Denver and SF.
With initiative anyone can win I believe. But they need initiative.
These 5 targeted schools, including UW, have top notch accounting or undergraduate business programs as evidenced by highly competitive standards for admissions to these programs. Many smart kids get into these programs.This is one reason why the Big 4 target these schools. Prestige is another.
I agree it takes initiative for a student to get a Big 4 position, but there are other factors too, which would be way beyond the scope of this threat.
A few years ago, when I was dropping my other son off at USC (a targeted school for obvious reasons), on the campus at the start of the school year, I noticed a guy in the Beta Alpha Psi (an accounting honor society) booth soliciting new members. I made some small talk with him and found out that he was a senior and did not have a job offer at that time from a Big 4 or next tier of firms. Like my son at UW, many seniors get their offers through the summer internship prior to senior year of graduation. This internship is very competitive. I felt bad for this kid because he was a Beta Alpha Psi officer and appeared to have everything right going for him. Maybe he did not have initiative or some other intangibles. However, he was going to interview that Fall and hope for the best.
Like UW, USC is a target school, which the Big 4 and many other high profile companies (like Amazon, Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase, Citi) recruit from. The point is that attending a target school such as UW increases one chances of getting a good job. For obvious reasons, this would apply to Stanford or CalTech for engineering, science or computer science jobs. This is not to denigrate the other schools.
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@wayza : the final point is that if attending UW-Seattle does not create a financial burden or hardship on your parents, you might want to attend UW. Consider the job opportunities and prospects when you get a degree from UW versus UCSC. Whether they majored in business, engineering, computer science, etc., many of my son’s UW friends got good jobs. He had a few friends at UCSC and they had a harder time finding jobs. I know UCSC is not far from Silicon Valley but the school competes with many other schools in the Bay Area to place students. Good luck on your decision.
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That may be ok for a student who is willing to do other less selective or non-selective majors if they get weeded out of their first choice major, but may not be too great for a student not directly admitted to the desired highly selective major who does not want to do any of the less selective or non-selective majors there.
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OP seems to be aiming for neuroscience as a major. The major-related BA/BS level job prospects for this major (and other biology majors) are poor. College Scorecard reports that graduates in this major who received federal financial aid had median pay levels of $24,035 from Washington and $33,459 from UCSC. The outcomes of engineering, CS, or business graduates probably are not relevant.
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These points are all valid. Even going in as a neuroscience major at UCSC, OP has to get the grades to fulfill his aspiration for PA school. I am not sure how competitive it is to get into PA. However, my USC son has a couple of friends in health sciences with GPA’s around 3.7+ at UCSC and are having difficulty getting into a decent PT/OT school. I don’t know how difficult grading is at UCSC. Maybe there are just too many students in health sciences trying to get into post graduate programs and decisions may come down to competitiveness and reputation of the undergraduate program. As mentioned UW is well known in the sciences and biological sciences and a Bell curve to weed out students. If a student does well at UW, that student should be able to get into post graduate schools in the health profession. But have a backup plan if things do not work out, I.e., Bell Curve.
Also true OP wants to do PA, but still need to make the grades. OP also appears to want to be flexible and have a backup plan. OP needs to be flexible if things don’t work out and my point is UW has a broad and comprehensive list of major’s as backup. BTW, UW also has a PA program, which is accredited, in its high ranked medical school.
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However, a large percentage of majors at Washington are capacity constrained, meaning competitive admission (though the level of competition varies). This is not a good thing for flexibility. (People complain about this kind of thing at UCs and CSUs, so why pay more to go out of state to find the same thing?)
http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/degree-overview/majors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/
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That may be true, but some are willing to pay for out of state tuition at more prestigious institutions and others are not willing. Similar to attending a private school in CA vs. a CA public school. These are choices people make and finance is an important factor.
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That’s awesome! I’m so glad to hear that your son went in with the intent of challenging himself and found success at UW. I hope to also overachieve and work as hard as I can to succeed there!
Students taking neuro/biology-related majors at UCSC will probably have more opportunities to do research in neighboring UCs because they’re more accessible, so that makes sense. A lot of UCs are top-ranked for their research too. I do feel like it’s more expensive to live in California however, and I don’t know how if these stats account for pre-med/health students going into RN, NP, PA, and MD school, or purely freshly-graduated bio majors.
I plan to prepare in the summer for the biology courses as well take Early Fall Start to get a taste for the school before diving into my first Bell Curve course. I’m a 4.0 student, but I tend to underestimate myself and need to work on having a more consistent work schedule. After having committed, I will focus on entering my college life with a clearer head and healthier mindset (as I’ve been quite pessimistic and self-doubtful the past few weeks).
If Neuroscience doesn’t work out or if I find that the courses aren’t what I’m looking for, I’ll likely pursue courses in Psychology, Public Health, or Political Science, as I am highly interested in learning about both patient-care and law. I will hash out the specifics of each in the following weeks and definitely a bit more after AP season is over.
I’ve also heard of the UW PA program and plan to apply if the PA path goes as planned.
Thank you for your thoughtful responses. I will definitely keep your points in my thoughts to make sure I am adequately if not over prepared for my next few years of study! Good day to you!
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Thank you for sharing your son’s and family’s personal experience with UW! It’s very reassuring to hear that someone made a similar decision and ended up succeeding in his academic and career life. It’s unfortunate that your son was unable to get residency, and from what many others have told me, it seems to be quite difficult unless I am able to get a job to financially support myself.
But regardless, belated congrats to your son! I decided to commit to UW yesterday and am beyond excited to work hard to excel there. 
I hope that self-studying some biology and taking Early Fall Start in the summer will help me to better prepare for those hard intro courses!
Again, thanks so much for your thoughtful reply as many people online have only told me horror stories and I tend to overthink, haha. Good day to you!
Thank you for your response! Some of your points were quite insightful and I really appreciate that (esp given how much I love learning and exploring the human psyche, haha).
I’m actually quite confident in myself, but I do tend to be indecisive sometimes and overthink/do a lot of research before making major decisions. I also do tend to underestimate myself academically, because I was told that it is better to have low expectations and high hopes in order to not be disappointed (“secret to happiness”). It never occurred to me that this kind of mindset could have repercussions in my academic confidence, though maybe that’s something I should also reflect on.
I committed to UW yesterday and I’m quite relieved to have made the decision as well as excited to attend!
If not Neuroscience, then (I’m currently considering/doing research on) Psychology, Public Health, or Political Science. I’m highly interested in both patient care and global legal systems as well as human welfare, so I will definitely explore relevant courses in my first and perhaps second year given that it allows me to be on track for completing general ed + major pre recs.
I believe they offer office hours with TAs and sometimes professors (though I’ve also been told that UW professors are more research > learning-oriented, so it might be a good idea to get more involved in research if I want to get to know my professors), FIGs to get to know your classmates + be assigned a grad student as a mentor, and some mental health services. I will definitely do more research on what you mentioned with free/walk-in office hours/tutoring, review sessions, how their classes are structured exactly in terms of lecture vs review, and smaller breakout group discussions based on the departments I’m interested in!
Again, thank you for your kind words and specific insights!
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Thank you for letting me know this!
It was only through this thread that I heard how difficult residency actually is since I’d only read up on the basic requirements after asking about it in the UW Admittance Week sessions. It makes sense that they wouldn’t be able to go too into the specifics of in-state residency if they are WA residents already. I will debate my options and consider how viable of an option residency is.