<p>What is the difference between a UC and a CSU? I asked my college counselor and he said that they are both universities.</p>
<p>I could run down a list of pros and cons, and I’ve no doubt others here will do that for you, but in short, a UC is just much, much better than a CSU, particularly if you plan on a graduate program or beyond.</p>
<p>UCs generally have more prestige than CSUs. However, that is not always the case since I doubt many people would consider UC Merced more prestigious than Cal Poly SLO.</p>
<p>UCs tend to be more theory based while CSUs deal more with the applications. Though both of the institutions include both theory and applications.</p>
<p>CSUs cost less and offer some majors that are not offered at UCs.</p>
<p>UCs are the best bet if you want to continue on to grad school.</p>
<p>I would assert that public consensus sees Cal Poly SLO’s academic stature/prestige (especially engineering, agriculture, architecture) as comparable, at the minimum, to that of all mid-tier UCs (UCSB, UCI, UCD). Obviously, the comparison to UC Merced, Riverside, and Merced is moot. </p>
<p>Although I would agree with GTarrant that prestige wise, the remaining CSUs’ reputations lag behind UCs’ markedly.</p>
<p>As for pursuing graduate studies, I can’t speak for rest of CSU, but I can share my experience at Cal Poly. I did my undergrad at Cal Poly engineering school and went onto Harvard Business School for my graduate work.</p>
<p>Not sure if this is going to matter to your decision on attending either a UC or a Cal State but here are the differences I know of aside from what has already been posted:</p>
<p>UC is a research based university. I learned about this at an UC orientation last year. This means that UC professors are required to have a book or books published under their names in order to teach here and must actively engage in a research in their respective fields. They are supposed to churn out an original research every year or however long…I forgot.</p>
<p>The highest degree Cal States are able to award are Masters whereas UCs can award up to PhDs.</p>
<p>CSU’s offer undergrad, Master programs, and a few Ed.D, but no PhD (except SDSU).</p>
<p>UC’s offer undergrad, Masters, Ed.D, and many PhD’s.</p>
<p>Also Cal states are limited to one library. I believe UCLA has about 14.</p>
<p>Why are CSUs limited to one library while UCLA has 14? Some of the CSUs have nearly as many students as UCLA has. Is it a measure to keep costs of operating CSUs as low as possible or is it the result of the UCs being research institutions where faculty and students need access to a wide range of reference material while CSU faculty and students do not do research or have PhD programs and therefore have minimal needs for reference materials?</p>
<p>Cal States
pros:
low cost(3-7k/year)
not very rigid</p>
<p>cons:
with the exception of Cal Poly SLO they hold no reputation oiutside of the state of californis and often hold little reputation outside of their surrounding areas
highly impacted</p>
<p>Cal States
pros:
relatively low cost(11k/year before FA)
acclaimed internationally(excluding UCR, UCM and UCSC)
high amount of resources available
not impacted on the whole
more intelligent peers</p>
<p>my take: the only CSU’s worth considering are CP SLO(where my father went), SDSU, CSULB, Chico SU, CP Pomona, SJSC and possible CSUF(there might be one or two others that are OK but I’m mostly familiar with socal)</p>
<p>cons:
increased rigor
often not as party friendly(excludes UCLA, UCSB and UCSC which are good party schools)</p>
<p>the top UCs are UCB, UCLA, and UCSD. The mid tiered UCs are UCI, UCSB and UCD. the lowest of the UCs are UCR, UCSC, and UCM. For employment purposes, employers view UCB and UCLA as exceptional, UCSD and the midtiered UCs as good and the low tiered UCs as acceptable.</p>
<p>I would actually tend to disagree with you on UCSC’s international acclaim, international prestige they might lack- but ucsc is at the forefront of a few different fields of research. Granted I didn’t even apply there last year when I was filling out applications, oh and you may want to relabel your second cal states to UC.</p>
<p>good run down none the less.</p>
<p>annnnd i’ve heard this from 2 ppl so far but UC’s only offer the BA and PhD. unless there’s some sort of combined MA/Phd program for x-major at x-college. if ur goal is just the MA u prolly have to attend a CSU eventually.</p>
<p>also, if u wanna get into job field ASAP, a CSU will work best with your intentions because USUALLY the curriculum isn’t too heavy on the theory and has a greater focus for hands on craaaap.</p>
<p>can’t relabel, 10 minute time limit… that’s what I get for copy/pasting… That said, the intent is understood.</p>
<p>FYI I know for a fact that there are a few MA/MS programs at UCs. MBAs for example… depends on the program and the school.</p>
<p>here’s a list from UCI:
<a href=“http://www.grad.uci.edu/academic/degrees_offered.htm[/url]”>http://www.grad.uci.edu/academic/degrees_offered.htm</a></p>
<p>I think the UCs structure their graduate programs with the expectation that the student’s ultimate objective is the PhD. They will award a Masters degree, if applied for, to a graduate student who is working towards a PhD who has successfully completed a certain amount of their Doctoral studies but the Masters degree does not have a seperate curriculum from the PhD program and is not intended to lead to a profession credential.</p>
<p>The CSUs can not offer the PhD so their expectation is that their graduate students are working towards a terminal Masters degree intended to prepare them for immediate employment in particular occupations. My elder son is a sophomore at Sacramento State majoring in Geology. Sac State offers an M.S. in Geology because, while in years past the BS was the typical credential for entry level jobs as professional geologists, more recently many employers, particularly oil companies and the U.S. Government, have shown a strong preference for an MS in Geology to fill entry level jobs for professional geologists. There is actually very little demand for PhD geologists in industry and government and it was interesting to note that the attachment to the above post by Xelink that UC Irvine, a UC, does not offer a graduate program in Geology while Sac State, a CSU, does have a graduate program in Geology.</p>
<p>A BS in Geology is still ‘entry level’ for the private industry but the government has always had a hierarchy which makes sense when you understand why and how. Also less than 1-2% of students even make it to PhD level. I don’t know why it’s so misunderstood but the primary purpose of a government issued bachelors degree is to be/become educated enough to take the state exam. Before one is granted a license to be able to stamp government paperwork they have to go through at least 5 -10 years of experience and character building. The first steps after one gets a bachelors degree is to take the In-Training exam. If you are a Engineer you take the EIT; if are a Surveyor, the LSIT, and for Geology the GIT exam.
A Professional Geologist has a government issued PG license and takes YEARS of knowledge and experience to be able to pass. A person with a BA/BS would never qualify as a Professional Geologist since you need at least 5 years and thousands of hours of supervised experience or would still be considered an apprentice. These kind of issues can be found in Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) and Business and Professions Codes. Grad study and unlicensed Geology work does NOT qualify in the eyes of the Board who grant the PG license.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, nearly all of my professors hold doctorates from ivy league institutions, and most of them have also taught in the ivy league, to give you an idea of the calibur UC professors</p>
<p>I can attest to that too; its quite impressive the credentials of some of these UC professors. This qtr alone, one has his PhD from Berkley another PhD from Cornell, along with some experience that is quite substantial in itself.</p>
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<p>Get a doctorate from an ivy, teach at a UC. Get a doctorate from a UC, teach at a community college.</p>
<p>That’s how it looks from my perspective anyway.</p>
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<p>WHAT? God, please, no one listen to this. </p>
<p>There is a huge misconception around here with some of these schools and how they’re viewed in the professional career environment. There is no “top tier,” “mid tier,” ect, with any of the universities in the UC system. That is all speculation. Nationally, they are all tier 1 ranked schools. Yes, CAL, UCLA have a higher discriminating admissions standard for their students and are GREAT schools, BUT it does not translate into YOU going to CAL/UCLA and bumping another job candidate that went to, for example, UCSC–or one of those “mid tier” schools.</p>
<p>agreed, that’s just somethings bears/bruins like to think. Means nothing in reality</p>