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Just wanted to see if any of you are alumni or could give some good opinions on whether the following schools (the ones i applied to) are good for undergrads - academically, but mostly quality of life....will i enjoy my time there? My philosophy is work hard, then party hard, so i need somewhere I can do both :-D...any opinions are appreciated....THANKS!

university of san diego
santa clara university
UC Santa Barbara
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UC Santa Cruz
San Diego State
CSU Long Beach
Cal Poly - Pomona

btw....my GPA is 3.3 UW, 3.545 weighted, 1330 SAT I....if u think any of these are huuuge reaches and wont accept me (or the other way around lol) let me know

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 02:48 pm: Edit

Looks like a good list to me and I think you have a great shot at all of the schools on your list.

While I don't know Santa Clara personally, I do know some students who have gone there - to me, it sounds very similar to USD in some respects. It has an outstanding business program.

I'm personally acquainted with the University of San Diego - my daughter goes to USDHS across the street which sends many students to USD each year. It is a beautiful campus - one of the nicest around - with an excellent library. They are on an expansion thrust under their new president and there's already been some new buildings built recently, including a fabulous science center. In the next few years, they're going to be building new dorms as well.
The kids that I personally know who go there or have gone there like it a lot - they seem to be able to blend fun with academics and speak highly of the school overall. I've heard many positive comments about personal relationships and help from professors as well. The one thing I have noticed when I have been on campus on the weekends, however, is that it seems pretty quiet - wonder if everyone goes to the beach? All in all, a very good school whose national reputation is growing.

I attended SDSU as an MBA student so I can give you some feedback there as well. SDSU is the polar opposite of USD. For one thing, it is huge and I found that it could be an uphill battle to get advising and other services at time. There has been a lot of local media coverage recently about how the budget crisis is affecting SDSU - larger classes, less class offerings, etc. That said, I found the teachers at SDSU to be terrific - usually very open to people visiting them for help or to ask questions. You do have to be aggressive about that, however - no one will hand you anything on a platter at SDSU but everything you could need is available if you ask for it. I always found that it seemed there was a lot going on on campus on the weekends - lots of parties, concerts, etc. so it's definitely not a place that is boring!

Good luck!

By Sunnycagrl15 (Sunnycagrl15) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 06:22 pm: Edit

Carolyn, thank you SO much! i really appreciate your input, it will definitely help with my decision once those (hopefully) acceptance letters come around

By Coureur (Coureur) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 07:20 pm: Edit

I'm a UC Davis alum, so I can answer any specific questions you have. Plus here is a description I posted in an earlier thread:

UC Davis is an excellent large state university. It started as Berkeley's agricultural school back around 1900, and agriculture is still one of its strengths even though it has grown into a full service university.

It's strong in the sciences (particularly biological) and engineeering. It is the top school in the world to study wine-making and wine grape growing. It has a medical school, a veterinary school, a law school, and a business school. It has a fairly strong academic atmosphere - It's not quite Caltech, but it's not a school for slackers either.

It's a large university in a small town making Davis perhaps the only true college town left in California. And it's a great little town. Everything you need is right there in easy biking distance. Sacramento is a short drive away.

The area is flat and rural - about an hour west of the ski slopes of Tahoe and an hour east of the bright lights of the Bay area. The weather is rather hot and dry in the summer and kind of cool and foggy/rainy in the winter. It almost never gets cold enough to snow there.

By Sunnycagrl15 (Sunnycagrl15) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 09:02 pm: Edit

Thanks Coureur, whats the social life like at Davis? Is it any fun to live there?.....or would i mostly be doing schoolwork in davis and traveling elsewhere to party and have fun?

By Coureur (Coureur) on Friday, December 05, 2003 - 10:07 am: Edit

Well, I was in grad school at Davis, so I wasn't part of the undergrad social scene. But there seemed to be plenty going on - No need to go out of town. There is an active Greek scene available for those who want that, and there are plenty of non-Greek kids too. It seemed like a study hard during the week and play hard on the weekend kind of school.

If it's partying you want, among the schools you list, San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara have reputations as party schools. But that's just by reputation - I have no direct knowledge since I have never attended either school.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Friday, December 05, 2003 - 06:46 pm: Edit

Coureur - I've heard that UC Davis is also good for history and studio art. Any thoughts or insight into this? The history department certainly looks good on paper.

By Coureur (Coureur) on Friday, December 05, 2003 - 07:56 pm: Edit

I know that some of their history profs wrote books that were well received. Same for art - there were some high profile art work commissions awarded to UC Davis profs while I was there. Beyond that I couldn't say. I was in the biomedical end. Artists and historians could give a better picture of the strength of these departments.