What college to choose? SDSU/CCP/ASU/UofA/UCM or CC?

Hi, I was accepted to:

San Diego State University (Business)
Cal Poly Pomona (Business)
Barrett, The Honors College at ASU (Business Law)
University of Arizona (Business)
UC Merced (Psychology)

*I’m from Los Angeles and am receiving no financial aid from any school, except $12,000 from both Arizona schools. If you had to choose from this list which school and why would you attend? I am thinking of switching to be a Psychology if that makes any difference.

OR I can go to community college and then try to transfer- what are your thoughts about that?

Can you and your parents afford all of the schools without excessive debt (“excessive” meaning parent loans or parent cosigned loans)?

@ucbalumnus Yes, or at least that is what my parents are telling me…

In terms of prestige and ease of getting a job after college which college do you believe is the best? Which would be most respected by graduate schools?

ASU with Barrett’s Honor College.

@Gumbymom That was my original choice, but all I have been hearing is about how it is a “party” school and I’m worried that reputation will hurt me down the road. What are your thoughts? Why would you say ASU with Barrett is the best choice?

Any school can be a party school. My younger son is attending SDSU which has a party school reputation (although not ranked as a party school for many years) and has had no issue with the it’s so called reputation. Barrett’s will have a group of higher academic achieving students, so the party rep may not be as prevalent as on the general campus. It is your choice to join in or not, but it should have no bearing on you getting your degree from a respected university.
Also since you plan to switch majors, there should be more options at ASU. If you were still considering business, I would of course recommend SDSU.

@Gumbymom Thank you! So do you think ASU without Barrett is not worth it? (If I decide to go to community college and then transfer.)

I think Barrett gives you that extra edge over just going to ASU without Honors. Also why are considering a transfer? If you are not interested in attending ASU, SDSU is an excellent option or even CPP (although not known for Psych). If you take a look at the transfer threads this year, there are transfer applicants getting rejected from many of the UC’s and competitive Cal states with 3.8 GPA’s or higher. You should consider all options, but don’t sell yourself short and not consider the other schools on your list. It seems your parents have the financial means to pay for any of these schools and I think starting as Freshman at a 4 year university now would be a better choice. Who knows, you many decide to do a Psych major with a Business minor?