<p>Hello,
It seems ppl in my competitive school are all thinking in a one pathway –> UCs. If one doesn’t make it in, they should go to a community college. They seem to think the CSUs are worthless and should not even be considered. I want to hear your voices. What does the CSUs that make them better than other universities like the UCs?</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Love? I think, with the possible exception of SLO, they are tolerated by people who can’t afford other options or can’t get into a UC but want to leave home.</p>
<p>Anyone else? Current CSUers or alumni?</p>
<p>One of my best friends left Caltech after three years to go to CSU Long Beach to study journalism. He spent a lot of time investigating SoCal journalism programs (he didn’t want to move), and picked Long Beach, which he said had excellent journalism teachers and a very good campus paper.</p>
<p>Don’t ever confuse a college’s reputation with educational outcomes (but you know that). After three years at Tech, my friend simply didn’t care about name brands.</p>
<p>He is now a very successful political columnist who works out of his family room, where he plays with his cats, reads news on the Internet, and pounds out about 1,000 words a day. He drives his Porsche Carrera to lunch, and vacations wherever he wants. He’s kind of my hero.</p>
<p>CSUs are more structured with a career path in mind for when you graduate from college. UC’s focus more on preparing you for graduate school. Some CSUs are better than others. You can get a fairly good education at a very low cost (in state) at a CSU.</p>
<p>I go to sonoma state, but plan on transferring after this year (I’m a sophomore). The school is far too small for me.</p>
<p>Personally, I think that CSUs are great. I mean, there are 23 other state universities besides the UCs. And honestly, established CSUs like SLO could easily compete with UCR and UCM, if not dominate, academically.</p>
<p>I go to Chico State, which many of you may know has a lower than average reputation as far as academics are concerned. I only went here because I made several mistakes and ended up here after being accepted to one other CSU.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I was fairly bitter about coming here. After two years of going to this school, I am now extremly glad I didnt go to a lower-tier UC over this school. </p>
<p>In the short time i have been here on campus, I have been on the Water Polo team, become President of the Student Democrats, a DJ at the local radio station and have gotten a pretty cool internship. Next fall semester I will get an all-expense paid internship in Washington DC. By the time I graduate will have a double major with hopefully a fairly high GPA.</p>
<p>The point of all this? College is what you make of it. While I realize I go to a school that has a reputation for partying, Chico State has provided me with tons of opportunities, both academic and social. </p>
<p>Mainly this is because it is in a fairly small school(for a public) in a fairly small town. Look beyond the numbers and you may be surprised.</p>
<p>CSU’s get a bad rep cause they are competing with the UC’s. Although the schools themselves may not be highly ranked, they have exceptional programs. I know for a fact that long beach has an exceptional bio program, and fullerton is great for business. SLO is probably on par with top UC’s, and it has exceptional architecture/engineering programs.</p>
<p>SDSU is a great CSU. Besides UCSB and UCLA, I would choose SDSU over the rest of the UC’s.</p>
<p>I sure as hell wouldn’t go to a UC school or any school on the west cost for that matter.</p>
<p>CSUs aren’t bad at all. I will probably be going to a UC, but if for some reason I didn’t get in, I would be perfectly fine with going to a CSU.</p>
<p>Only thing that ****es me off about them, with the exception of Cal Poly, none of the others look at ECs.</p>
<p>The CSUs that my high school and CC fed to were largely considered a graduated form of community college. Both are actually really good for certain departments, but because they’re kind of the fall back schools for most people in the area, they’re perceived as being just ok. They’re basically where people go when they want to be fairly guaranteed for admission and where they know they’ll be able to get a 4 year degree (unlike at a CC, where you have to apply again later and there are more distractions). </p>
<p>Also, as was mentioned, they focus on more practical skills as opposed to the theoretical perspective that the UCs take. This can be good if you feel like you need a lot of specific job training, but you can get that at a UC through internships anyway.</p>