As a junior as UC Santa Barbara and having friends at many Cal State schools, I can say with confidence that the UC system is definitely more rigorous and requires much more of it’s student than most Cal State schools. UCSB faculty continuously wins Nobel Prizes, we were just named one of the 12 hottest schools in the United States and just sold patents to fight disease in Africa. Plus the admission requirements should tell you a little sumthin’ sumthin’ too. Hmmmm

Albeit, we do party, we ALSO have an academic reputation which is growing year after year. I think that’s a lot more than CSULB, SDSU or CSU Chico can say --- and let’s not even get started with Cal State L.A….

i think it all just comes down to your major. sac state and davis have a huge rivalry when it comes to football and davis always throws the "they're a state school therefore they suck" card.

however, in my major, graphic design, a degree from sac state, cal poly, even chico state, are ranked higher than an "art media" degree from davis. (I have heard some nasty stories of davis grads coming to look for design work in sacto and getting turned down... hard.)

But i mean if you want to be a doctor or cow farmer or whatever... go to davis. :p

And to whoever posted the comment about taking 4 years at a UC and longer at a CSU... i got out in 4 years. ::shrugs::

LOL ChiDeltJen! I love Sac State - It's all about the Green and Gold (and chickens hehe).

I've also heard that Sac State's Criminal Justice, Business and Teacher Education programs aren't to shabby either.

Did someone say something about Sac State? woopwoop... seeya at Grand Slam Jen, hopefully...

You know I think it depends on your major quite a bit. I mean just because it's a UC doens't automatically make it a better school than a state school IMO. SFSU has one of the best broadcasting departments around, and Cal Poly has a general academic reputation that rivals any UC school (probably BETTER than UCR or UCI) I'm a believer that you can get a good education no matter where you go as long as you put the effort in, no matter what school you go to they're not just going to hand you a degee for doing nothing.

O.K. Coming from someone who goes to a Cal State school & has a sister who goes to a UCI, this is what I see as differences.

My classes are smaller so my professor can actually learn my name & face. I have a one on one rapport with them & can actually go to them when confused about the class or with questions.
At my sisters school, she's lucky if she gets to speak with the professors. Mostly, she'll get their assistants for everything yet the Professor gets the credit for teaching the class.

From an education perspective, I started in UC Riverside and then transferred to CSU Northridge when I changed my major and CSUN was the only school in CA that had my major...

When I was in UCR, the GE classes were HUGE...like 500-700 students!! Each class also had a 1-hour class with a T.A. who provided the assignments and reviewed the lecture material for the week and could answer our questions more personally...now mind you, UCR only had 7000 students when I went there in 1986...it's population has grown to over 25,000 students since then!!

When I transferred to CSUN, I still had GE's to finish in addition to my major classes. My largest class ever was 80 students. The professors could identify with us and the classes seemed more personable....when I transferred to CSUN, there were 30,000 students there!!! (in 1988).

From a Bachelor's student perspective, really, there's no difference between the CSU and UC systems...like any other university system, each college has strong majors and weaker majors and I always recommend students look at their major and determine their choice for colleges based on the program...like I said, CSUN is the only university in CA that has (to this day) a Bachelor's degree in my major (Deaf Studies), and is the best on the west coast...so staying in a UC wasn't practical for me...I felt more heard in the CSU system and my professors interacted more with me than the UC system...not to say that UC isn't a good system...it's great! But students need to focus on their individual needs...not what the name of their school is...

PiLove... they got rid of the chickens! :eek: :(

And CSUSigEp... I may drop by Grand Slam. Just be sure you team stays in the running long enough for me to see you all. ;) (I'm totally jokin' with you.)

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That's it in a nutshell. As a result, the admission criteria is higher at UC's. After undergrad, I attended a UC for grad school. Now, five years later, I'm at a Cal State. The difference is HUGE!!!

I have heard rumor , and we alll know how much wt we can put into rumor, that Cal State Northridge is being considered for upgrade to a UC school.....


it proberly isn't true but has anyone heard that?

That would be interesting....as my alma mater, I'd be interested to see how this pans out...when I was there, they were in the midst of moving up the sports totem pole to the top leagues (to compete against UCLA, USC, etc.)....they finally got there, but a UC?? Hmmm...

UC system has Regents... The Trustees for the university...

CSU has trustees...

The UC Regents are appointed by the governor...

The CSU has more direct funding by the state from state taxes, therefore the Cal State assembly has a say in who the trustees are for any particular school...

As for SDSU, it is a class 3 or 4 university--thereby allowed to give doctoral degrees as long as it is a joint program with another dissertation program university... So someone can get a Ph.D. in education from SDSU and Claremont Graduate School... Or and Ed.D. from State and University of San Diego... Or a Ph.D. in molecular biology from State and UCSD...

Since UC get alot of funding that is endowment rather than state taxpayer funds, then the Chancellor's main charge is to fundraise... For the past decade, UC school have suffered in their research efforts because of the inability to raise funds federally and inability to tap into resources through the state. They some how balanced it back with joint ventures with capital campaigns with corporations involved in research...

Whereas, CSU makes some of its off of taxpayers, it also makes funds under allied programs... Like I believe SDSU now has a business class on gaming and entertainment...

Either way, advanced degree education is what you make of it... You can get the best of education after your bachelor's degree no matter how hard you work on it... UC or CSU whatever...

Okay, not to ensue a riot but there has to be a reason why six out of the seven UC universities consistantly are in the top 50 universities in the nation.
(Now, I haven't checked this year's U.S. News and World Reports but I'm 99.9% sure they are still in the top 50 on the basis of past ratings)

Here is some information I got off of reliable college websites:

The University selects freshman applicants who are academically among the top ten percent of California high school graduates.

UC: To provide undergraduate and graduate instruction through the doctoral degree with emphasis on research and professional education. Offer preprofessional programs in law, medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.

CSU: To provide undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree in liberal arts and sciences and professional education, including teacher education


As for the difference of UC and CSU bachelor programs:

UC: Undergraduate programs are designed to prepare students for graduate and professional work. Curriculum emphasizes theory and professional preparation.

CSU: Undergraduate programs are designed to provide a combination of theory and application necessary for graduate work or employment in one's chosen field of study.


In my experience, as I am now taking graduate level courses at a CSU, the caliber of thinking among students is far different. I have classmates who complain that 50 pages of reading in a class is too much... damn I had over a 150 pages a week in some classes as an undergrad at UCLA and mind you I was taking 4 classes a quarter. Furthermore, one of my professors forces us to do peer editing on papers and many of my classmates have yet to grasp the idea of a properly formatted college paper with double spaced lines and the use of simple sentence structure.

As for class size, sure at UCLA I had some huge classes but I always knew I could speak to my professors and get help, but the vast majority of the students didn't feel the need to speak to the professor or a TA to pass and get an A in the class. Most didn't need the hand holding that is so prevalent in my classes at CSU.

The rumors about CSUN or Long Beach State becoming a UC have been running rampant forever but I fail to believe that the UC Regents are going to make any CSU into a UC when they are currently finishing UC Merced as well as the current financial crisis in the CA educational system.

I have many friends and family members including my brother that went to Long Beach State, Cal Poly SLO, and SDSU but I honestly don't think you can compare the two. They emphasize very different educational structures as well as curriculum demands on their students. If there wasn't a difference, there wouldn't be two systems.

Okay, so I'm sorry if that was bitchy and holier-than-thou but I am sitting up reading for a class and I had to stick up my UCs because the posts seem a little one-sided so far.


Edited to de-bitch it a bit! Sorry I'm having a bad night!