so.cal colleges

[amietron]

other than the UCs, which schools stand out?



<!--EDIT|amietron|Oct 20 2002, 02:16 PM-->

[Craig]

Off the top of my head ...
CalTech, Harvey Mudd, USC, Pepperdine, Cal-Poly, Santa Clara University, SJSU

Relevance may vary, since I'm not planning on living in California again for various reasons (not being able to afford a decent house, taxes, etc.) having a California degree won't be as valuable.

I honestly feel in 8/10 times in Northern California many employers would rather hire somebody from say, ITT-Tech Fremont than they would from MIT.



<!--EDIT|Craig|Oct 21 2002, 04:39 AM-->

[angel nympho]

USC, Cal state schools, Loyola Marymount, Biola, Pepperdine, SD State, Chapman, any of the Clarmont colleges... there's actually quite a few.

[amietron]

ever heard of fitzer? pomona college?

jess really wants to go to chapman, and she wants me to go there, too.

my brother's tutor says i shouldn't "settle" for second tier schools. if a school is a school, what's the difference? she just says first tier is better. =\



<!--EDIT|amietron|Oct 20 2002, 02:46 PM-->

[Craig]

Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 10:41 PM
ever heard of fitzer? pomona college?
I haven't heard of Fitzer, I have heard of Pomona. When I said CalPoly, I didn't mean the one in Pomona, I meant the other one which I probably can't spell correctly off the top of my head.

Btw, my perspective is what somebody outside of California may recognize.

[amietron]

Originally posted by Craig@Oct 20 2002, 02:45 PM
Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 10:41 PM
ever heard of fitzer? pomona college?
I haven't heard of Fitzer, I have heard of Pomona. When I said CalPoly, I didn't mean the one in Pomona, I meant the other one which I probably can't spell correctly off the top of my head.

Btw, my perspective is what somebody outside of California may recognize.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. it's said to be one of the most, if not the most competitive of the cal state schools. good engineering program or something, right?

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by Craig@Oct 20 2002, 10:45 PM
Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 10:41 PM
ever heard of fitzer? pomona college?
I haven't heard of Fitzer, I have heard of Pomona. When I said CalPoly, I didn't mean the one in Pomona, I meant the other one which I probably can't spell correctly off the top of my head.

Btw, my perspective is what somebody outside of California may recognize.
It's Pitzer that you're talking about I think. And that's what I meant by *Claremont colleges* There's actually a few of them grouped together. They share a catalogue of classes, so you can attend one and take classes from all the others. Kind of isolated, but they're good schools.


The claremont colleges include Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, Scripps, and Pitzer.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 10:48 PM
Originally posted by Craig@Oct 20 2002, 02:45 PM
Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 10:41 PM
ever heard of fitzer? pomona college?
I haven't heard of Fitzer, I have heard of Pomona. When I said CalPoly, I didn't mean the one in Pomona, I meant the other one which I probably can't spell correctly off the top of my head.

Btw, my perspective is what somebody outside of California may recognize.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. it's said to be one of the most, if not the most competitive of the cal state schools. good engineering program or something, right?
There's a Cal Poly Pomona, too.

[kasia]

Originally posted by Craig@Oct 20 2002, 10:27 PM
Off the top of my head ...
CalTech, Harvey Mudd, USC, Pepperdine, Cal-Poly, Santa Clara University, SJSU

Mileage may vary, since I'm not planning on living in California again for various reasons (not being able to afford a decent house, taxes, etc.) having a California degree won't be as valuable.

I honestly feel in 8/10 times in Northern California many employers would rather hire somebody from say, ITT-Tech Fremont than they would from MIT.
santa clara's up north :)

[amietron]

Originally posted by kasia@Oct 20 2002, 04:11 PM
Originally posted by Craig@Oct 20 2002, 10:27 PM
Off the top of my head ...
CalTech, Harvey Mudd, USC, Pepperdine, Cal-Poly, Santa Clara University, SJSU

Mileage may vary, since I'm not planning on living in California again for various reasons (not being able to afford a decent house, taxes, etc.) having a California degree won't be as valuable.

I honestly feel in 8/10 times in Northern California many employers would rather hire somebody from say, ITT-Tech Fremont than they would from MIT.
santa clara's up north :)
so is san jose state.. heh.

[Craig]

Originally posted by amietron@Oct 21 2002, 12:38 AM
Originally posted by kasia@Oct 20 2002, 04:11 PM
Originally posted by Craig@Oct 20 2002, 10:27 PM
Off the top of my head ...
CalTech, Harvey Mudd, USC, Pepperdine, Cal-Poly, Santa Clara University, SJSU

Mileage may vary, since I'm not planning on living in California again for various reasons (not being able to afford a decent house, taxes, etc.) having a California degree won't be as valuable.

I honestly feel in 8/10 times in Northern California many employers would rather hire somebody from say, ITT-Tech Fremont than they would from MIT.
santa clara's up north :)
so is san jose state.. heh.
Whoops, temporarily forgot the "so" part. Well, what matters more is name recognition later on. The HR person going through dozens of resumes isn't going to take time to really examine your background, but likely make too many assumptions. Ditto with the hiring manager(s) and other potential interviews.

As long as I mentioned the Northern schools, let's not forget Stanford. One of my classmates from high school did his undergraduate at Stanford and when I was living up there he had told me that many of his university classmates were getting their Masters degree at Santa Clara. That's especially surprising since at the time, Stanford had some program where they were televising lectures at workplaces in Silicon Valley that was fairly easy to get into (relatively speaking). The usual let your employer pay out of the a*s type program.

I don't think name should be taken into too much consideration as long as the school doesn't have a bad reputation. You will likely run into many people that didn't go to such name colleges and often they resent people that did.

Btw, I don't think "San Jose State" is a good school, but that it does "stand out".

[karizma]

>> this thread was kinda helpful =)...im thinking of going the engineer route and going to cal poly pomona but *shrugs*...but the plan as of now is to goto a city college for 2 years and transfer to like UCLA on the guaranteed admission program type thing =/...we'll see?

[amietron]

Originally posted by karizma@Oct 20 2002, 05:24 PM
>> this thread was kinda helpful =)...im thinking of going the engineer route and going to cal poly pomona but *shrugs*...but the plan as of now is to goto a city college for 2 years and transfer to like UCLA on the guaranteed admission program type thing =/...we'll see?
isn't it harder to get into the UCs as a transfer student from a different university rather than through that junior college-UC program? cus i have a few friends who are in it because they didn't get into CAL (UC Berkeley) and it's the only school they wanted to go to.

i'm not pulling four-threes or 1600 SAT scores. i know for a fact that i won't ever get into UCLA. ='( i still sport my UCLA sweatshirt, though. cus you know, it'll always be an "i wish" school. junior college is a no go for me. i've ruled it not an option. narrf. what am i gonna do?

at girl scouts, they were jokingly saying that i should just find a guy and get married. bwahaha. like to PT. =) muhehe. why is this crap so confusing and stressful? i hate it.

my plan = apply everywhere and go to wherever i get accepted. :cry:

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by amietron@Oct 21 2002, 02:55 AM
Originally posted by karizma@Oct 20 2002, 05:24 PM
>> this thread was kinda helpful =)...im thinking of going the engineer route and going to cal poly pomona but *shrugs*...but the plan as of now is to goto a city college for 2 years and transfer to like UCLA on the guaranteed admission program type thing =/...we'll see?
isn't it harder to get into the UCs as a transfer student from a different university rather than through that junior college-UC program? cus i have a few friends who are in it because they didn't get into CAL (UC Berkeley) and it's the only school they wanted to go to.

i'm not pulling four-threes or 1600 SAT scores. i know for a fact that i won't ever get into UCLA. ='( i still sport my UCLA sweatshirt, though. cus you know, it'll always be an "i wish" school. junior college is a no go for me. i've ruled it not an option. narrf. what am i gonna do?

at girl scouts, they were jokingly saying that i should just find a guy and get married. bwahaha. like to PT. =) muhehe. why is this crap so confusing and stressful? i hate it.

my plan = apply everywhere and go to wherever i get accepted. :cry:
I ruled out JC as an option, too. But here I am... at SMC. The number 1 transfer school, though. If I do well here, I can pretty much transfer anywhere. Assuming I have prior contact with the school I want to go to and all that.

[bigwong235]

Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 02:48 PM
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. it's said to be one of the most, if not the most competitive of the cal state schools. good engineering program or something, right?
yeah i think the engineering program there is pretty good there, and same w/the architecture program.

[Arex]

Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 07:55 PM
Originally posted by karizma@Oct 20 2002, 05:24 PM
>> this thread was kinda helpful =)...im thinking of going the engineer route and going to cal poly pomona but *shrugs*...but the plan as of now is to goto a city college for 2 years and transfer to like UCLA on the guaranteed admission program type thing =/...we'll see?
isn't it harder to get into the UCs as a transfer student from a different university rather than through that junior college-UC program? cus i have a few friends who are in it because they didn't get into CAL (UC Berkeley) and it's the only school they wanted to go to.

i'm not pulling four-threes or 1600 SAT scores. i know for a fact that i won't ever get into UCLA. ='( i still sport my UCLA sweatshirt, though. cus you know, it'll always be an "i wish" school. junior college is a no go for me. i've ruled it not an option. narrf. what am i gonna do?

at girl scouts, they were jokingly saying that i should just find a guy and get married. bwahaha. like to PT. =) muhehe. why is this crap so confusing and stressful? i hate it.

my plan = apply everywhere and go to wherever i get accepted. :cry:
I think it's true about transferring into a UC from another non-JC college or university.

Why've you ruled out a JC? By going the JC route, you give yourself a second opportunity to kick ass and get yourself into a school that you otherwise could not have straight outta high school. On top of that, you save yourself two years worth of tuition/reg fees. That's up to $50k saved if you were going to go the private school route.


Alex

[amietron]

Originally posted by Arex@Oct 23 2002, 11:39 AM
Originally posted by amietron@Oct 20 2002, 07:55 PM
Originally posted by karizma@Oct 20 2002, 05:24 PM
>> this thread was kinda helpful =)...im thinking of going the engineer route and going to cal poly pomona but *shrugs*...but the plan as of now is to goto a city college for 2 years and transfer to like UCLA on the guaranteed admission program type thing =/...we'll see?
isn't it harder to get into the UCs as a transfer student from a different university rather than through that junior college-UC program? cus i have a few friends who are in it because they didn't get into CAL (UC Berkeley) and it's the only school they wanted to go to.

i'm not pulling four-threes or 1600 SAT scores. i know for a fact that i won't ever get into UCLA. ='( i still sport my UCLA sweatshirt, though. cus you know, it'll always be an "i wish" school. junior college is a no go for me. i've ruled it not an option. narrf. what am i gonna do?

at girl scouts, they were jokingly saying that i should just find a guy and get married. bwahaha. like to PT. =) muhehe. why is this crap so confusing and stressful? i hate it.

my plan = apply everywhere and go to wherever i get accepted. :cry:
I think it's true about transferring into a UC from another non-JC college or university.

Why've you ruled out a JC? By going the JC route, you give yourself a second opportunity to kick ass and get yourself into a school that you otherwise could not have straight outta high school. On top of that, you save yourself two years worth of tuition/reg fees. That's up to $50k saved if you were going to go the private school route.


Alex
there is no way in hell that i'm going to live in this household for more than the time that i'm required to. i don't think they'd pay for me go to a jc away from home.

money isn't everything. i know $50k is a lot, but is it worth missing out on the whole "college experience"?

[Craig]

Originally posted by amietron@Oct 25 2002, 11:26 PM
there is no way in hell that i'm going to live in this household for more than the time that i'm required to. i don't think they'd pay for me go to a jc away from home.

money isn't everything. i know $50k is a lot, but is it worth missing out on the whole "college experience"?
Ahh, such filial piety.

Depends on exactly what you are trying to get out of college. I agree that's it's preferable to go to a 4-year institute for most of your education. Not that the instruction is going to be better, as it's likely to be worse and you'll learn less. However, it's a much better place to develop many personal relationships that will last a lifetime and potentially help you along your career path. I am currently regretting not taking up any of my friends offers of help in the work arena when the economy was better.

Money is quite a bit if you don't have it and have had to work hard for it throughout your life. I think my school bill (tuition, classes and fees only) for my BS degree was like $10-12K total in the mid-to-late 90s. $50K is quite a bit of money, and I believe you can buy a nice condo with that money in many of the pricey areas of the country.

[amietron]

i want it all. if i'm gonna get cake, i'm damn well gonna eat it, too.

[karizma]

ok so we've been over this before kinda...but im thinking of going to UCSD...im wondering if you guys think its a good school...i know youre probably going to ask me...good school FOR WHAT? im thinking of majoring in journalism....how bout UCLA? keep in mind im planning to transfer from a JC to either of these schools....any help would be much appreciated =)...

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by karizma@Nov 25 2002, 02:35 AM
ok so we've been over this before kinda...but im thinking of going to UCSD...im wondering if you guys think its a good school...i know youre probably going to ask me...good school FOR WHAT? im thinking of majoring in journalism....how bout UCLA? keep in mind im planning to transfer from a JC to either of these schools....any help would be much appreciated =)...
It's a good school. I'm majoring journalism/communications, too. UCLA and USC would be best for that. Hell, if you wanna go to a JC that has a FUCKING AWESOME transfer rate to either of those schools, you should come down to SMC with me!!!

SMC is the top rated transfer school to LA-area UC and Cal-State schools, and USC, too.

[Hiroshi2]

One of my friends said i should really consider San Diego State--is it really that good of a school? I'm thinking of majoring in architecture/urban planning or possibly political science.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by Hiroshi2@Nov 25 2002, 03:37 AM
One of my friends said i should really consider San Diego State--is it really that good of a school? I'm thinking of majoring in architecture/urban planning or possibly political science.
Don't do it!

At least not if you can go somewhere better. SD state is a notorious party school with half-ass credibility around So Cali.

[kwalan]

gah, no more college bashing especially if you're not in college yet. my school (ucsb) is a renowned party school. so what? people are graduating here and able to find work like any other graduates from other colleges (which at the moment, is pretty shitty for some liberal arts majors). but it's not so much the college itself, but a combination of how well you do academically, your work experience (internships, etc) and what positive experiences you got out of college.

a degree is just proof you endured 4 years of the college experience and learned how to learn. you don't come out of college knowing exactly what to do in your new job... they train ya.

anyway, ucsd is a fine school (albeit hilly for my skateboarding preferences :P). regarding journalism, someone is damn well free to correct me but I think the eleanor roosevelt college in sd is catered to a degree in journalism. most of my sd friends are bioengr or math/cs-type majors in warren though.

i've heard of people transferring from SDSU to some rather renowned graduate schools. but if your GPA/SAT scores are significantly higher than the average of the incoming class at SDSU, consider SDSU as a "safety" school in case your reach schools reject you. i gotta admit, college admission procedures have gotten fruitier and more random in recent years so it's getting tougher to say whether you'll get in anywhere for sure.

work your ass off, and the rewards will be there.

never hurts to apply to several schools. it's a better idea to so you get more choices in march/april.

[amietron]

I'm applying to the following in Southern CA:
x Long Beach State
x San Diego State

_ UC Irvine
? UCLA
? UCSD

_ USC
_ Loyola Marymount
_ Claremont McKenna
_ Pepperdine

x = done
? = maybe
_ = will do

[jo-sun]

I went to UCSD for two years before transferring to and graduating from SDSU. Initially I was an engineering major because straight out of high school I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do. But as time went on I saw that a business degree was for me so I had to transfer. Since I could not afford private school, or get decent financial aid, and I wanted to stay in SD it had to be State.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to have made the switch. I was very unhappy at UCSD. As for a college environment I was very disappointed. I just found the place cold and unfriendly – not to mention the classes were huge! My biology class had 400 students. State on the other hand was much more the college experience that I had hoped for. It’s not the party school that people make it out to be unless you’re in the Greek system and the school has a good reputation, particularly the graduate programs. As for long-term success, it’s up to the individual. How you perform in your career after school will determine much more than what school you went to. I have many friends who went to the various local schools and I’d say that none of the graduates from one school are more successful than another.

I would recommend that you visit the schools in person and talk to the students. It’s a huge decision so you should be as knowledgeable as possible.

Good luck!

[ChinaLama]

Originally posted by amietron@Nov 26 2002, 05:18 AM

_ Claremont McKenna

i got an ex-classmate who goes to Claremont. He recently got a 179/180 on the LSAT. He's also the kid who got a 1550 on the SAT without studying. :(

[kimiko]

what about southwestern college?

a lot of the professors i have had teach at ucsd and/or sdsu and then commute to swc...the classes are small and the instructors are pretty funny...

ive sat in a few classes at ucsd and they dont even compare...which is why im transfering to sdsu no matter what people say :P the last place id want to live would be in la jolla...besides there arent any taco shops in la jolla that could ever come close to the ones by swc :lol:

[angel nympho]

You know what. Just apply everywhere. Half the schools I wanted to go to when I was applying don't appeal to me AT ALL anymore. And TONS of schools I didn't even think to apply to are looking mighty good to me now.

[Hiroshi2]

Yeah that's what i've decided to do. You think I could get into a pretty good 4-year uni with, say, a 3.0 GPA? It used to be 3.4, but it's falling......

[lethal]

Depends on your SAT/ACT scores and other factors too.

[karizma]

eesh i was planning on going to ucsd...but after seeing that one post im not too sure anymore =P. id hate to take a class with like 200 other people =/.

[Commando_turned_MD]

Originally posted by amietron@Nov 25 2002, 09:18 PM
I'm applying to the following in Southern CA:
x Long Beach State
x San Diego State

_ UC Irvine
? UCLA
? UCSD

_ USC
_ Loyola Marymount
_ Claremont McKenna
_ Pepperdine

x = done
? = maybe
_ = will do
Here is a revise list :D

USC
USC


Maybe UCLA.......J/K :D
UCI
Pepperdine
Long Beach State
San Deigo State

[Commando_turned_MD]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Nov 24 2002, 06:43 PM
USC would be best for that.
Yup :D

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by Hiroshi2@Dec 1 2002, 05:08 AM
Yeah that's what i've decided to do. You think I could get into a pretty good 4-year uni with, say, a 3.0 GPA? It used to be 3.4, but it's falling......
I had a 4.0 and a 1490 and didn't get in anywhere but UC fuckin' I and Cal State Long Beach... Tho CSULB offered me money to go there... I didn't even get into UCSB.

[Commando_turned_MD]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 1 2002, 01:31 PM
I had a 4.0 and a 1490 and didn't get in anywhere but UC fuckin' I and Cal State Long Beach... Tho CSULB offered me money to go there... I didn't even get into UCSB.
Gosh..................that really suck...
I had an above average GPA (3.5+) in HS and barely score a 1300 on the SAT and receive admission to all the school I applied.....

USC-----1st choice
UCLA----2nd Choice
UCI------3rd Choice
CSULB---4th choice
UCSD-----back-up
UCSB-----back-up

Are the UC schools still requiring SAT or ACT?
Maybe that could be a factor...If so, an underqualified student has taken your slot.......... :(

[Arex]

Goddamn! When I got into UCLA in 1994, I had a 3.67 weighted and a 1310 SAT. There must be some crazy grade/test score inflation going on these days. Either that or kids are smarter now or people were dumber then...=P

Alex

[lethal]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 1 2002, 04:31 PM
I had a 4.0 and a 1490 and didn't get in anywhere but UC fuckin' I and Cal State Long Beach... Tho CSULB offered me money to go there... I didn't even get into UCSB.
Shit! Have UC admissions gotten that hard these days? I had like a 3.5 and a 1460 and got into every UC from out of state in 1995.

Damn AN, you were just born a few years too late...either that or something's screwey...

[iris]

No, she got screwed. I probably applied just a couple years ahead of AN and I got denied from UCB and UCSD even though I got into Stanford and UCLA (Film, Theater, Television Division). Cali schools are way tough now. The increase of youths going to college just makes it harder for everyone.

UCLA (FTT Division) is awesome for media. But if you're looking at journalism outside CA, Amie, Northwestern University and the University of Missouri - Columbia (Mizzou) are number one and two in the nation. Mizzou is relatively cheap and the campus is gorgeous. Or else try a D.C. or NYC school if you're thinking of doing broadcast or print journalism. More opportunities for job and internships later.

[deez nuts]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 1 2002, 04:31 PM
I had a 4.0 and a 1490 and didn't get in anywhere but UC fuckin' I and Cal State Long Beach... Tho CSULB offered me money to go there... I didn't even get into UCSB.
Whoa I'm glad I'm done with all this college application process.

That's insane.

[iris]

whoops, Karizma is the one going to journalism.

I looked at applying to Pomona also Amie and I think it's a good school, but what do you want to study?

[kwalan]

(The link to quote isn't working for me, gah)


angel wrote: I had a 4.0 and a 1490 and didn't get in anywhere but UC fuckin' I and Cal State Long Beach... Tho CSULB offered me money to go there... I didn't even get into UCSB.

Wow that's crazy. What major did you declare? I had a 3.4 (3.7 weighted), 1260 with some miniscule hooks i suppose and I got into CS engineering. With that GPA/SAT score, I know for sure if you appealed you would've got in. Same would go for other schools as well.

[amietron]

I want to major in Political Science and either Journalism or Asian American Studies. For the UCs, Poli Sci was first choice and AA studies was second. Before, I was torn between Psychology, English and Journalism, as my second major, but someone told me that Journalism was a more diverse major than English.. and there seems to be more scholarships for Journalism majors.

[angel nympho]

Kwalan -- I majored Communications. Yeah, I didn't appeal anywhere. It was a pride thing... I didn't want to beg my way into a school that didn't want me in the first place. Stupid pride, I should have just appealed. Life would be better.

amietron -- Yeah, but journalism majors often have to do more work when they apply. That's why I picked communication instead of journalism. They're essentially the same kind of thing.

[AznYam]

whatever u do, don't go to UCSD. I go there now as an electrical engineering major and it is depressing just to see how depressed the atmosphere is. It feels like all the regret of not getting into UCLA has accumulated in one big dark cloud that constantly haunts the campus.

The people here are unfriendly, the courses are not easy, and we get associated with SDSU's bad rep.

If you get into a better school like UCLA don't go to UCSD just because you want to get a higher GPA to get into a better grad school b/c classes here are not cake.

[Arex]

Everyone I know that went to UCSD was glad to have gone...

Alex

[amichan170]

Check out my school, Loyola Marymount. It's has a great film program and an ever changing English dept. (which offers one of kind courses that enhance creative writing).

I'm currently a sophomore at LMU (with junior status) majoring in English. I plan to go into journalism (not sure what type yet, but leaning towards print). Some suggestions to all those who plan to go into journalism:

-Start early! get things published, the more the better (you'll need writing samples "clips")

-Apply for internships as soon as possible, the more experience the better.

-Join Journalist's Associations such as AAJA (http://www.aaja.org), Asian american journalism associations, and be active

-Attend journalism conventions...and network with other people.

It's a competitive world out there, believe me...I've only just started!

Good Luck to everyone! :rolleyes: