CPP, UCR, or CSULB

Pre-Vet & Veterinary Medicine
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hello guys. i’m in emotional turmoil right now. i got waitlisted at my dream school (ucsd) and now i am having trouble choosing from one of my backups. i will be majoring in biochemistry while i complete by pre vet prereqs. i will be touring cpp, csulb, and ucr next month, but as of now i don’t know where to go.

csulb is kind of in the back burner, im considering it less than the other two, but i would like to know more about it anyway. i like how its close to the beach.

cpp has great resources for animal science, but like i said i will be doing biochemistry. its also a very stem focused school which i like.

ucr has great research opportunities. i’m not sure much about pre vet but i would also like to know more. it is also very stem focused.

i also want to know about the general campus experience. out of these three, which would be the best?

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Riverside is going to be the least commuter-heavy, of the three. CPP has great programs, but we definitely see students who struggle to find the kind of social experience they hoped for on campus. (Less so if there’s a clear social sub-structure, like an athletic team or a smaller, more close-knit academic program. Not sure biochem would be one of the more social-incubator type majors, though.)

The medical sciences track within biochem at UCR might be good for what you want. The SIMS (Students In Math & Science) Living Learning Community is worth a look too.

All worthy schools, but if UCSD was your dream school, I would think that UCR would come closer to that ideal than CPP or Long Beach. If you were choosing a more hands-on specialty program at CPP, like Animal Science or even Biotechnology, then I would see that as more of a draw… but for a more pure-academic biochem major, I’d lean Riverside. It still has a fair number of commuter students, but not much more so than UCSD… and there’s still “critical mass” of residential life, with 75% of first-year students living on campus (vs only 24% at CPP and 38% at CSULB).

CPP does have an Animal Science Minor - but is this a draw for you? It’s mostly basic science vet school prereqs that you’d have to take anywhere, but it includes three specialty classes (Food Animal Production; Companion, Laboratory, and Exotic Animal Care; and Fundamentals of Animal Nutrition) that Riverside and Long Beach presumably don’t have. Those three classes could move the needle for some students, while leaving others cold, so YMMV.

Also, UC waitlists aren’t just a “soft rejection” the way they are at some schools; an offer from UCSD is still possible. Certainly, put it out of your mind for now and get excited about the school you choose, but also make sure you’re on top of checking email. (I have known students who missed or almost missed UC waitlist offers with short response windows!)

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I think you need to visit and talk to kids. Walk the surrounds. Long Beach is different area wise/even weather wise vs Pomona and Riverside. You’ll likely know. I’d choose Long Beach but that’s me. I just prefer the surrounds more. I’m not you

Here’s another thought and I don’t know gpa (uw) and budget.

There’s still GREAT schools taking apps. How about a U of Arizona, so you get that great residential flagship, but in the desert instead of ocean. There’s other great flagships too still taking apps. That’s your UCSD sub.

Here’s a secret - there’s no dream schools.

None. Zilch. Zip.

All have bad profs, roomies, food, large classes, poor scheduling or inability to get required classes…what have you.

It’s too bad so many get that idea of a dream school. It’s a farce. There are likely many schools where you can be happy. If you decide you don’t like any of the three mentioned, find another. There’s time.

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thank you so much! i will be touring them next month but i imagine the tours wont go too in depth academically. this helps a lot

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this was very helpful! thank you so much!

the animal science minor does seem interesting. however i am concerned that it will delay my graduation.

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I would worry less about academics. You can see courses and descriptions on line.

I’d be more concerned with how you feel on campus, in the area. Where feels like home ?

You need to do well in school to get into vet school. You will be somewhere four years, day after day.

So find out where you’ll be most comfortable. Stop kids on campus. Ask questions.

If you want an academic meeting, contact the department and ask to meet a prof.

Ps - you know how i said if you don’t like any of the three, find another. I mentioned U of A which is a pure sub fo UCSD. It’s on the top 50 (top 40 in fact) PhD feeder list for both Bio and Chem - not as high as UCSD - but that’s a sign of strength. So if you have a great GPA, U of A would be similar in cost to UC. Just another option - it needn’t be that school - but another that might work that’s a flagship vs a commuter/regional. They have animal science too.

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Have you considered housing? All three of these schools have high off campus housing costs and it can be difficult to get on campus housing even as a freshman. Long Beach will be most expensive off campus and Riverside most affordable. If you want to be a veterinarian you should choose the undergrad school which will maximize your chances for grad school. Maximizing GPA will likely be easiest at CSULB. Did you apply to UCD? That’s the top UC for Vet School and will have the most opportunities for hands on experience and internships as an undergrad.

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i see. yeah long beach isn’t really on my radar anymore. it’s mostly between ucr and cpp. i didn’t apply to davis due to personal reasons, but i will in four years.

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Out of the three, I only toured CPP and UCR. I would pick CPP over UCR because:

  • Cal Polly hands on learning approach
  • CSU is more focus on undergraduate
  • $10K cheaper per year
  • Reasonable driving distance from LA and OC
  • Good restaurant choice in surrounding area
  • CPP is commuter school, but UCR is considered “suitcase school” (people go back home for the weekend)

Good Luck

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If cost is a factor, keep in mind that CSUs can raise their tuition 6% each year, but the UCs currently have a tuition guarantee. You’ll pay the same amount all four years.

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hello everyone. so i was waitlisted at ucsd and it was my dream school. right now i am pretty close to committing to ucr but im uncertain. i feel like i would be missing out on what ucsd has to offer. i am also considering cpp and csulb. i will be majoring in biochemistry and am interested in a master’s or phd after my bachelors. as for my career, i am interested in biotech or genetics research. i received the same amount of loans for all.

please compare these schools. or make me fall in love with ucr. thank you!

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I think staying on the UCSD waitlist in case there’s significant movement is the right call in any case. Last year they apparently offered spots to over 1/3 of the waitlisted students. And their biochem program is very highly regarded.

I don’t have well-informed opinions about the rest, except to say that if you’re looking at PhD programs, you’re going to want to check the undergrad research opportunities at each school and see which faculty are actively publishing. My unfounded hunch would be UC Riverside has a bit of an edge.

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You do need to choose a non-UCSD school to commit to, since wait-list normally means rejection.

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Biochem - you can be anywhere.

There is no dream school - UCSD has large classes, likely bad roomies, profs, food - like everywhere.

You have great possibilities.

How much in loans - you don’t want loans.

Any possibilities without loans?

Any of the three mentioned are fine schools.

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This ^

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Let me add some quick color to my response: yes, you can study biochem at any of these schools. But if you’re serious about your proposed career path, a) UCSD would have been close to ideal, and CA schools seem to have way more waitlist action than a lot of other highly selective schools. Committing to a different place and eating the deposit if you get into one of the UCs off the waitlist is a fairly standard procedure.

I grilled a friend of mine who is a professor at Stanford about grad school admissions, etc. a while back. She emphasized that lab experience was crucial, that working with faculty who are publishing is important. Grades also, obviously, and test scores – but she placed a lot of emphasis on assessing whether or not students truly understood what it took to do bench science, which is not the sort of thing you’d know just from looking at their grades.

This friend actually used to teach at UCSD and she also mentioned that there’s a lot of competition among undergrads for spots in labs, and that in her field at least, she tended to give those spots to the strongest, most persistent students, as those were the ones she judged to have the best chance of succeeding in independent research.

Just the way most h/s seniors who think they want to go to med school ultimately pursue a different pathway, I think most students who start out thinking about PhDs migrate away from that track – appropriately so. But researching as much as you can about these schools and figuring out if there’s a lab in which you might want to try working – or a research agenda that seems appealing – is important.

Another thing to consider is summer research fellowships. I am concerned that the funding environment is changing rapidly for undergraduate research but it at least used to be possible to go work for a summer in a different location, and this was one way that kids from smaller schools could get lab experience. This might also be something to start researching.

Good luck!

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csulb is kind of in the back burner, im considering it less than the other two, but i would like to know more about it anyway. i like how its close to the beach.

Wherever you choose to attend, you need to be happy with the environment for 4 years. I know that Long Beach is on the backburner, for you, but I really think you should seriously consider it.

Our niece attends Long Beach and is about to graduate. She loves it there. She didn’t get into her first choices but when she visited Long Beach, she could see herself living there. She’s had a great experience.

Our son got into USC, UCLA and the rest of the UCs, Caltech, basically, his choice of schools. When we visited USC one day, we we’re coming back home, towards San Diego, and he said “hey, do you want to stop by Long Beach. (His best friend was going to Long Beach for engineering. His best friend didn’t get into the same schools.) I said, “sure it’s on the way home”.

The tours had ended by the time we got there in early afternoon, but the admissions office gave us a map and told us we could tour on our own.

We were both very impressed with their engineering program. We were able to meet with the “secretary” of the department for computer science and engineering and she asked my son where he had received acceptances. She immediately said, you know you can meet with the chair of the department; he’s available to meet with incoming students.

We waited about 10 minutes in the department office. There were a lot of students there, and you could tell that the students were comfortable walking in to meet with their professors; the department the chair met with us.
He asked my son about his record. I was impressed that he took that kind of time. By then, the administrative assistant had had our son’s file uploaded and the chair took a moment to review it, and said that he would like to have our son attend Long Beach as he described the program.

At the time, Long Beach had students to work on site; apparently one of the local engineering firms leased a huge building on campus because they wanted students to work on site. They preferred engineering students, but anyone with an interest in working for the firm would be considered. I really liked that and so did my son.

For us, the inland area of Riverside would not be my first choice because I personally would want to get to the ocean easily. But I’ve grown up in a beach city, and that’s me. If you really need to see the water, or be near a beach to regroup, after a tough day, then you may want to reconsider Long Beach.

Here’s the thing, if you plan on being in school, long-term, and go to Vet school, you’re going to want to have good experiences in undergrad, and in a place where you can think. If the beach is important to you, I strongly believe that you need to follow where you’re comfortable, so that you can produce great work and grades.

Our daughter attended Davis, You’re going to love it for Vet School.

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I just took a look at the class sizes at UCR, CPP, and CSULB via section I-3 of their 23-24 Common Data Sets:

In looking at class sizes, you may find that you prefer one school over another.

Class Size UC-Riverside Cal Poly Pomona Cal State Long Beach
2-9 5.3% 9.3% 6.7%
10-19 21.9% 14.3% 18.5%
20-29 30.6% 26.3% 34.4%
30-39 4.6% 26.2% 24.1%
40-49 3.9% 8.5% 8.5%
50-99 16.9% 12.3% 3.9%
100+ 16.9% 3.1% 4.3%
  • All three are between 23.7-27.2% in terms of classes with fewer than 20 students

Percentage of classes with fewer than 30 students:

  • CSULB, 59.6%; UCR, 57.7%; CPP, 50.0%

Percentage of classes with 50+ students:

  • CSULB, 8.2%; CPP, 15.3%; UCR, 33.8%

Percentage of classes with 100+ students:

  • CPP, 3.1%; CSULB, 4.3%; UCR, 16.9%
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