I’m just asking questions here, not trying to put down SDSU!
So my kid wants to do pre-med. She has acceptance into merced (human bio) and riverside (bio) and with acceptance into cal poly pomona (bio) as do many of her friends who are also pre-med focused.
Yet, they still all are waiting for SDSU acceptance and I’m scratching my head why. I don’t mean to belittle SDSU but wouldn’t UCR/UCM be a better fit for a pre-med STEM kid? Is the love for SDSU due to the location or am I missing something.
Your pre-med kid can fulfill the required courses to apply to medical school at just about any four year college in this country, arts conservatories excluded.
Location is definitely a big factor. Have you BEEN to San Diego? The contrast between San Diego and Merced and Riverside–as places to live–is night and day.
My teens tend to choose colleges with nice weather as a big factor. San Diego has that in spades. . .and more.
My younger son is a graduate of SDSU (CS) but his Freshman and Sophomore year roommate was Pre-Med. I wanted to add my niece just graduated from SDSU and plans to apply to PA school. She is currently taking a gap year and was very happy with her experience there.
Reasons for SDSU Love:
Location and wonderful weather
Active and social campus
Academically challenging courses and approachable Professors
Friendly and helpful/collaborative students
Strong Alumni network
Speaking about Pre-Med:
Very good Pre-Health advising center and Pre-Health associated clubs
Yes to the above. Plus SDSU is way closer to fun things for college students. San Diego proper is a town with concerts, arts, museums, food, and the beach, which is a great place to socialize for four years on a budget. Riverside is inland and I cannot speak to the vibe there, but there is a lot of youth in San Diego so a college student will have fun.
SDSU campus is beautiful; there are division 1 sports; it’s not far from the city (much closer to the city than in Riverside or Merced); Merced is in the middle of nowhere (which is appealing for some but not for all); Riverside gets really hot, and can be smoggy (though, that’s really all of the greater Los Angeles area before the mountains).
SDSU is also a great school, academically. A family member says going there was the best decision he could have made. I don’t think overhyped.
Interesting to read all this. My son said there were a lot of sketchy parts of SD and a pretty bad homeless problem. People kept asking him for money. These replies make it sound like a utopia.
Like any big city, there are nice areas and not so nice. It really depends upon where you spend your time. The immediate area around campus is fine but venture more East, then you can get into the sketchier parts. San Diego is a large city with all the same problems like other large cities. Riverside has many sketchy areas immediately near campus so again it is important to visit and decide for yourself. My son and niece never had issues with the homeless near campus but maybe they were lucky.
Just seems like a strong vibe here to put down Riverside etc in order to prop up SDSU. We’ll be checking both out together and I’ll be interested to see how bad it is right off the Riverside campus.
I have no knowledge of the Riverside campus. Just that SDSU is a campus in a town with lots of fun and a short drive to the beach (not rush hour!). Frankly, SDSU is in a town location that I’d personally rank above Berkeley, USC and UCLA. Big enough city, but with a more chill vibe, not so much sprawl, and warmer than NorCal. So that’s where the love comes in.
I am not putting down Riverside or UCR. I really like the campus and I think the school is has some wonderful programs especially for Pre-Med students but the area surrounding the campus is not the best. UCR was in the running for both my son’s but ultimately it was not my decision but theirs.
I agree you have to visit both campuses but Riverside area is more desert-like than SDSU. This discussion thread is Why The Love for SDSU, which the posters have responded. Everyone is allowed to share their opinions. I have visited all the UC campuses and many CSU campuses and I as a parent have found something to like about each school but it comes down to what your student would like.
SDSU is inland from the beach so not on the beach. About a 15 minute drive to the beach from campus.
San Diego is a fun city. I lived at the beach my last year and a half of school—it was a 20 min drive to campus but wow, what a life. I rollerbladed along the boardwalk during sunsets, hung out at the beachside bars on weekends, drove my VW cabriolet around with the top down 10 months of the year.
Academically, I was well prepared and work in my field to this day.
Riverside—another area I know well because my husband’s
Family is from the area. Not the same. Not by a mile. Or a million miles. Not saying there isn’t joy to be had there, but you’re going to have to look a lot harder and lower your standards a bit
My D23 only applied to USC, and was accepted to SDSU, but having lived for 20 years about 10 minutes from the UCLA campus, UCLA and Westwood is located in a very safe area of LA, surrounded by Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Santa Monica.
Coming from NorCal, our HS sees plenty of kids from well off families going to SDSU (especially those in the social crowd). The few who pick UCM/UCR tend to be from first gen/URM families. We had one friend whose D went to UCR and found it problematic from a social perspective as many students were from LA and went home at weekends.
The contrast between San Diego and Merced and Riverside–as places to live–is night and day.