Out of the colleges my daughter got admissions (primarily CSUs, and we applied only public schools in California), she has shortlisted these two colleges. Her 3rd choice is SJSU Data Science, B.S.
UC Merced - Data Science & Analytics, B.A (Invited to apply for honors program, which my daughter did)
Cal Poly Pomona, Biotechnology, B.S.
UCM major is a brand new major that is starting from the year 2024 Fall. Right now, she is leaning towards it. Though she likes Biotechnology too as a major, she heard from 3 of her high school teachers that Cal Poly, Pomona area is shady and she is concerned.
Appreciate anyone with knowledge of these colleges, their surroundings, and these majors chime in to provide your thoughts.
Also, want know campus life as both seems to be commuter colleges, probably CPP more than UCM.
IMO:
If I had to choose for my kids I would have them go to UCM.
CPP has been around a long time. Solid, mid tier school, known in So Cal and basically what you see is what you get. I don’t think it will rise or fall from where it is at. Graduates generally do pretty ok.
UCM on the other hand, it’s a UC campus steadily climbing in ranking and academics. It would also appear (to me anyways) that are trying to buy the best students they can to achieve that goal. Just beat out UCSC and UCR which is surprising. Lots of upside potential. It’s like my friends who went to USC and Northeastern back in the 1990’s are now enjoying their newfound respect for their old alma mater.
Very different majors. What does she see herself doing with a biotechnology degree? Despite the “technology” piece, the CPP major doesn’t seem to have a computational component at all. (There’s a single course in bioinformatics as a possible elective, but that’s as close as it comes to data science.) IMHO, the best reason to go to CPP for a life sciences major is to pursue something ag-adjacent, like the food-sciences piece of the biotech major. (But there’s a whole major in that, if that’s the draw.) I agree that CPP would be more of a commuter-school experience than Merced. (And yes, parts of Pomona are a little sketchy, but most of the area is fine, if you don’t mind suburban sprawl, strip malls, etc.) I think she needs to think more about her academic path. Is she willing to go to grad school? If she wants a career based on a biochem-type degree, that may become necessary.
As I said on your other thread, I think SJSU’s data science program is at least as strong, reputationally, as UCM’s, and possibly with more internship and employment connections in the Bay Area. Plus, extracurricular opportunities at SJSU may be more robust. But UCM gets you in on the ground floor of its growing reputation. I’d see it as a choice between those two unless she really has clarity about preferring the completely-different academic program at CPP.
UCM is growing, but it is in the middle of farmland and takes some getting used to. The housing is newer than the other campuses and they are constantly expanding the campus.
She will have to live in Merced for 4 years and she needs to get used to the fog days. There are climate-induced hazards that may or may not affect her. Fog, mixed with fertilizers, can cause some hay-fever issues. It occurs in the low-lying farmland areas. I was stuck in it, one day at our hotel, and had to wait before continuing our trip.
CPP is very much a commuter school but you can access anything from that school. It’s a busy campus between several freeways, so she’ll have access to various communities. Are you from the LA County area? She’ll need a car there.
She will know immediately if she can live there for 4 years.
VISIT, VISIT, VISIT whatever school she is seriously considering. She will be very unhappy if she doesn’t like the area where she will be living. You will waste a lot of money and tears if she is miserable.
(Our daughter got into Yale. The minute she stepped onto that campus, she knew she couldn’t live there for 4 years. It saved us a LOT of money and time.)
If your daughter gets into SLO or SDSU, her choices will be tougher. After she visits, she will know where she can live, study and graduate!
My daughter chose CPP Biotechnology.
We attended CPP admitted students Openhouse on April 13th
She applied for honors program at UC Merced after they invited her to apply for it, and she got admitted into Data Science & Analytics honors program. It came after she accepted CPP, but even if she knew earlier, she would have gone with CPP.
She spoke to a few students that are at UC Merced. Did her own research, spoke to some people, and decided to go for Biotechnology major.