Class of '06 - Where Are You Applying

[Cory]

Originally Posted by sciguy125

I'd like to note that it would probably be best to stay out of the California public school system (UC and CSU) if possible. The budget problem is getting pretty bad. I've heard that the UC system is fairing better than CSU though. UC Berkeley is UC's flagship school, so they're probably doing alright. There was some talk awhile back about San Fransisco State cutting their entire engineering program. I don't know what happened though.

I go to San Jose State and it's not pretty. The place is becoming seriously overcrowded. I need to get to school before 8 just so that I can find parking. Less money, however, means fewer classes. More students and fewer classes is a bad combination. I have to be there before 8, but I couldn't get any early morning classes, so I sit around for a few hours. Two semesters ago, they even cut some of the smaller majors (ie Russian and some other languages, not a big loss I guess). Some of my professors stopped handing out syllabuses (syllabi?) and handouts because their paper budget was cut back. After doing teacher evaulations, a lot of them would make a big deal about getting all their pencils back. One of my physics professors made a comment about needing to get some lab equipment calibrated, but not having the money to do it. Through all of this, tuition is still on the rise. Not that I'm complaining, it's still pretty cheap.

While the state school system is in trouble financially, they're still the best public schools in the nation. From what I've heard, once you get into a UC, you're fine. The problem is it's increasingly hard to do so. I haven't heard such good things about the CSU's, though.