EPT*starts to rant about California's budget allocation and the atrocity of public worker compensation*
College folk! Help me choose a school! - Page 2
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
*starts to rant about California's budget allocation and the atrocity of public worker compensation* | ||
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Cr4zyH0r5e
Peru1308 Posts
My gf is paying about 28k @ UCB and I'm paying about 27k @ UCSC I have my own health insurance though. I think the prices include just about everything you have to pay for. That said the 30% increase in tuition a couple years ago and the latest 8% were bullshit. Add the 500 billion cut to the UC system and you got yourself a big mess. That said: Including financial aid, scholarships and a 5.5k loan I had to pay nothing out of pocket and I already made enough money working on weekends to pay off my loan for this year. But yeah. I don't want to think about next year... | ||
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n.DieJokes
United States3443 Posts
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Froadac
United States6733 Posts
On March 28 2011 15:39 Loser777 wrote: Another case of not reading the post carefully, I see. I think I have a good shot at getting $20,000/yr at USC. Got it. I know they give good aid, but because you didn't explicitly state you got any scholarships (and it's kind of a big deal when you do) I figured you weren't getting much in terms of financial. In any case, those two are pretty close in regards to those programs, and you would probably get more connections/easier internships of of SC, but then again undergrad degrees aren't the most important thing in the world so... | ||
Last Romantic
United States20667 Posts
UCLA > USC for sure. UCLA doesn't have the stigma of being an overpriced mediocre private institution. (Not saying that's actually true of USC, but there's definitely many who feel that way) | ||
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Loser777
1931 Posts
On March 29 2011 04:44 Last Romantic wrote: UCs cost like 18k for tuition now, + whatever additional costs. 30 sounds about ballpark, maybe a bit high. UCLA > USC for sure. UCLA doesn't have the stigma of being an overpriced mediocre private institution. (Not saying that's actually true of USC, but there's definitely many who feel that way) I don't care about the stigma if it means I'm going to be stuck as an undergraduate in the UC system for more than four years. Cost is not an issue right now given the scholarship money I have for USC and the lack of scholarship money that I have for UCLA. | ||
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DarkOptik
452 Posts
I was talking to a math professor of mine here at Duke who recently went to UCLA for a conference and he was telling me about how he was talking to a lot of the upper level math students. They were having a hard as fuck time getting the required amount of coursework in just because there wasn't enough space/too many students. I don't know how true that is (seeing as I know a few people at UCLA and haven't heard anything of the sort), but maybe that's something to think about. Of course, I hear having regency basically puts you on a tier higher on the picking listings so you won't have as hard of a time, but again this is going on hearsay. One of the UCLA TL members should be able to clarify that for you. Where's LosingID to defie all the UCLA > USC!? | ||
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Sermokala
United States14220 Posts
Actually on second thought if you live in cali you won't live in michigan or the east coast. I'm being frank if the fact that I still have snow on the ground and I'm 100 miles south of it. Michigan tech Has snow 9 months out of the year. In between trying to get into finals and liveing in the freezeing cold of Winter you won't make it. I know it sounds werid but think about idaho state last year it had the same ammount of patent startup companies as MIT and that means a great rich future for you. Edit: I think I come off as too harsh if you do want to come out to the midwest or north east I'll do anything I can to help you out with the snow. Its an amazing community when your all together trying to get though the winter and I would totaly recommend that for someone whos changing a lot though college anyway. | ||
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rabidch
United States20289 Posts
On March 29 2011 07:28 Loser777 wrote: I don't care about the stigma if it means I'm going to be stuck as an undergraduate in the UC system for more than four years. Cost is not an issue right now given the scholarship money I have for USC and the lack of scholarship money that I have for UCLA. thast what i believe my costs are if you're walking in with no units at all and no credit for any class it will probably be very annoying to graduate in 4 years. if you're mostly done with math and have some other things out of the way (CS AP) and you're a year ahead in standing then its no problem assuming you dont have to retake any classes. | ||
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jalstar
United States8198 Posts
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Loser777
1931 Posts
And where is LosingID8?!?!! | ||
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N.geNuity
United States5112 Posts
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WarBacchus
United States2 Posts
I go to UCLA(also got into USC with half tuition), and I love it here. Nice weather, awesome campus, and there's plenty of stuff to do outside of campus too(frat row is right outside of the Hill where the dorms are, Westwood Village is 5 minutes away, Santa Monica is just a bus ride away) I'm also an EE major at UCLA. UCLA is huge in terms of the amount of research that professors do, and there's always plenty of professors doing research every quarter, and a lot of them look for people to help out in their labs so if you want to go into research early on in college(highly recommended), then you can just email a professor and ask. Also, if you want to just get to know a professor(great for getting recommendation letters later), they're usually pretty eager to talk to students, especially about their research. As for AP credits, if you get a 4 or above on your APs, the engineering school takes your credits and usually lets you skip some courses. However, if you got a 4 on an AP exam i.e. AP Chem, and they want a 5 to skip out of the class, you can still petition and still get credit AND skip that class. UCLA, at least in the engineering department, is pretty lenient and nice about AP credit. There's plenty of clubs on UCLA also(both engineering and non-engineering), so you won't have to worry about building your resume through a club or finding a group of friends. On a side note, I'm still a little confused about your financial aid situation with USC. Sorry if I missed something, but you said you "think" you're getting around 20k a year in financial aid. I remember when I got into USC, they told me what financial aid I was getting right when I got in, so I don't understand why you're unsure about how much you're getting in scholarships at this time. | ||
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Zlasher
United States9129 Posts
You don't want to leave California...I made that mistake. | ||
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xxpack09
United States2160 Posts
The amount of research done here is immense.... like top 3 in the country immense IIRC. The campus may be in the middle of nowhere but there's enough stuff to do on campus (especially if you get involved in clubs/RSOs) that that won't be a big deal. I understand though that money is a large issue... since you're out-of-state your tuition is significantly larger than mine, and I don't know your financial situation but that could potentially be an issue Did you get into the James/Chancellor's honors program? | ||
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Froadac
United States6733 Posts
On March 29 2011 16:28 Zlasher wrote: Trust me, go to UCLA or USC. You don't want to leave California...I made that mistake. Where did you go. | ||
LosingID8
CA10835 Posts
alright let's just be honest here, your choices should be USC or UCLA, especially for undergrad. the other three schools are great, but chances are if you're from california, you're going to get SAD if you end up in michigan or illinois. GT is a great option but i don't really know if you can justify moving across the country and paying more for it for USC/UCLA. based on the college acceptance thread i can see that you're leaning toward USC. i'll talk about the good things about USC: -USC students are extremely well-rounded (academics/social/athletics). work hard and play hard would aptly describe the average student. -viterbi is a great community. they have all sorts of special events and lots of ways to get involved around campus. USC specialized schools all have the feel of a small community within the context of a large university. -check out the viterbi student ambassadors for more information specifically about engineering. lots of good material here. http://viterbi.usc.edu/vsa/ -location location location. yeah ok we're not in westwood. so what? we have LA LIVE (staples center, etc) a free tram ride away from campus (< 2 miles away). we also have little tokyo, koreatown, chinatown, etc all within a 10-15 minute car ride. the neighborhood is continually improving. you always hear about USC being in the ghetto, but i never experienced any crime during my 4 years. -$$$$$. you should check out the USC master plan for what they envision the area directly north of the campus to look like. it's going to be sick. furthermore, USC is not in a budget crisis... not even counting the monumental $200 MILLION donation to the COLLEGE OF LETTERS ARTS AND SCIENCES (wtf who donates to the humanities?!?), USC was ranked 3rd or 4th in the nation in 2010 for total fundraising. we have all sorts of construction and stuff going on campus. which means lots of shiny (well ok, red brick) buildings all over campus. apparently amongst academics, USC is often referred to as the University of Stolen Colleagues because we poach great professors from schools all around the nation. -$$$$$ part 2. USC has a lot of money to spend on undergrads. if you can take advantage of this you can do all sorts of amazing things. as an RA i took out my floor to all-you-can-eat korean bbq twice... average cost per person: $3.00 (the cost of the round-trip bus ride). my friends have gotten snowboarding trips to big bear funded, etc. -CSL. USC eSports is an actual student organization with a faculty sponsor (thanks prof sloper!). awesome little community that meets weekly and does fun things too! we actually have a computer lab reserved just for our meetings. pretty cool! -the awesome PAC-12 sports scene. school spirit is amazing here. you will be brainwashed by the end of orientation. believe it or not, when i applied to USC i didn't even know they had a good football team (when i was in high school USC went through the palmer, -honestly you need to attend one of the admitted student events like Explore and get a feel for the school. -"fit" is probably the most important thing. if you visit both USC and UCLA and you like the vibe on UCLA's campus you should go there instead. go where you think you can succeed for the next 4 years of your life. ps: UCLA is a great institution as well, but it's a university for children of lesser ability  | ||
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gamecrazy
United States421 Posts
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LosingID8
CA10835 Posts
On March 30 2011 14:12 gamecrazy wrote: I applied and got admitted for to UCLA and USC as well. I'm probably going to do EECS just like you, OP (admitted for EECS at Cal as well). I have no clue which one to pick, but here I am in a similar boat. Some of the responses in this thread are prolly gonna help me shape my decision. I'd really like to see WarBacchus and LosingID8 compare USC and UCLA directly though. Tbh, if you're from California, and you got into these great programs, you'll want to STAY IN CALI. my honest opinion is that if you were admitted to Kal EECS go with that, unless you really hate the norcal or berkeley environment/campus. | ||
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ShadowDrgn
United States2497 Posts
On March 29 2011 16:28 Zlasher wrote: Trust me, go to UCLA or USC. You don't want to leave California...I made that mistake. Haha yeah. I have a BS in CS from Georgia Tech; I live in California now. I think you'd be kinda crazy to leave California to go to GT, Michigan, wherever. | ||
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