Why go to a UC and not a CalState? Whats the diff?

<p>no pr0blem dawg. just watch yoself before you wreck yo self homie</p>

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<p>Yeah, I’m mad.</p>

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<p>I’m just trying to be fair to the guy.</p>

<p>Getting back to the original point of this thread. I have never been a student at a UC or a CSU but my elder son, majoring in Geology at CSU Sacramento, is in the Fall term of his second year and I have formed some opinions. I had hoped he would go to a UC but he was frankly a hopeless slacker in high school and with a GPA of 3.0 would not have been competitive for any of the UCs despite getting an 1,800 on the SATs in his Junior year. I did not want him to go to a CCC because that would mean he would be at home with his computer and all his computer games and would not change. I hoped that being away from these distractions, in a dorm, and on a four year college campus would make him more motivated and the only real option for that was Sac State whose service area we are in.</p>

<p>At first he was distracted by new experiences available on a college campus and was not prepared for how much more rigorous college was then high school. However, towards the end of the first semester he began to buckle down and got a 3.2 GPA for the semester. He also worked harder his second semester and became a much more motivated student. So far in his third semester he has become more determined to do well and has even talked about going to graduate school.</p>

<p>I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me but I do not think the CSUs are bad schools; they use the same textbooks as the UCs, have dedicated faculty that strives to maintain academic rigor and have adequate laboratory and library facilities (Sac State has particularly good facilities for Geology majors) . The problem with the CSUs is that they have a lot of bad students by which I mean that the CSUs admit a very large numbers of students with little prospect of ever graduating and the statistics bear this out. Less than 50% of the freshmen enrolling in CSUs ever earn a Bachelor’s degree. Very few of the CSUs have entering freshmen classes where the the average combined CR+M SAT scores even reach 1,000. At Sac State it is about 950 and at Dominguez Hills it is barely above 800. My son with a CR+M score of 1260 is not typical of CSU students anywhere except Cal Poly SLO. </p>

<p>The problems start to occur towards the end of the freshmen year when about half the students come to the realization that they are simply not capable of earning a degree from Sac State and that many will not be back after their freshman year. The result is an academic environment that is definitely not directed towards learning. There is rowdiness and vandalism in the dorms that makes studying difficult. The night before my son’s final exam in Calculus I last spring semester the fire alarm was pulled at 1:00AM and again at 4:00 AM and he was not able to get any sleep that night which probably cost him an A in Calculus. I am pretty sure the vandals that did it were students who should never have been admitted in the first place and knew that they would not be returning to school in the fall. </p>

<p>This is inevitable when you admit large numbers of students who scored in the low 400s on both the CR and Math sections of the SAT. With practically no prospect of earning a degree they become frustrated and bitter and lose all interest in academics. The result is an environment hostile to the type of scholarship that earns a school a good reputation.</p>

<p>I do not know what the solution is. If it were up to me I would require that to be admitted to a CSU as a freshman applicants would have to have achieved a combined CR+M SAT score of at least 1,000 but I do not see that ever happening.</p>

<p>My younger son is a senior in high school and I really do not know what to do. He took the SATs once as a Junior and got scores of M 720, CR 660 and writing of 580. He wants to major in Physics but unfortunately as far as his high school work ethic went he was just like his brother with a UC GPA of 3.05 making him hopelessly uncompetitive for even the lower tier UCs and I see no point in him even applying to a UC. On the other hand, while I think highly of the Geology Department at Sac State I am not impressed with the Physics Department there and think with his Math SAT score he would do better at a UC if he can get motivated. He is taking AP Physics this year, is really excited about it and hopefully he will become a more hard working student. I am now leaning towards having him go to a CCC for two years and transferring to either UC Santa Cruz or UC Riverside. While these two schools are generally grouped along with UC Merced as bottom tier UCs, they actually have excellent international reputations in Physics and Astronomy and probably have better Physics Departments then any UC except Berkeley. I know that I do not want him going to Sac State because no matter how motivated a student he might become, there is no escape from a CSU since it is nearly impossible to transfer out of them, particularly to the UCs.</p>

<p>^that’s what I mean. I’m sure your son is a hardworking student. Its the environment around him that could hinder his education</p>

<p>and I think your other son could have a chance at getting into Riverside</p>

<p>Lemaitre, I’m surprised you haven’t looked into UCSB for your son, they are known for having a beastly physics program, ranked #10 nationally [Rankings</a> - Physics - Graduate Schools - Education - US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings)</p>

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Typical avoider. Why don’t you actually bother helping your kid instead of pointing fingers at the school system?</p>

<p>May be it is all self-selection. people who go to the UC system are different than csu students because after all, it is totally voluntary to go to a UC or CSU. Maybe UC and CSU offer the same education.</p>

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<p>lol umad :x</p>

<p>Cool story. Sac State has a great geology program, even Hayward State does! I don’t think the younger son is ready for UCSB though. UCSC does have an awesome Astronomy and Physics program! Due to that, Cabrillo College also has a great physics department that offers an AA and AS plus the best Astronomy program over any of the other CCC’s that also offers an AS in Astronomy including the transfer option to UCSC. Cabrillo College is a cool CCC with a nice view and good professors overall plus the Capitola area is chill and by the coast.</p>

<p>Why do you google all these things, kmazza, then pass the information off as your own knowledge?</p>

<p>Don’t you find that to be an arduous task?</p>

<p>Absolutely not, I already know tons of useless information haha. For example, Cabrillo use to also have a fantastic full Archaeological Technician program but it went away recently which may be difficult to Google. My other favorite program at Cabrillo just happens to be Astronomy and realize saying it is one of the best is still my opinion. Besides the decent location, Cabrillo is one of the few Astronomy programs that offers a 4 unit sequence in Astrophotography where a student is granted permission to check out cameras along with the guiding and tracking equipment. I am aware of this because that is what I need to do next to become a knowledgeable and authorized operator for exhibition of a Planetarium show.</p>