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Revision as of 05:39, 28 June 2006

Calstate vs UC

Is it true that Calstate is better than UC for its undergraduate programs? Because I heard UC doesn't offer "learning by doing" experience as much as Calstate, especially Calpoly.

An engineering faculty from CSULA (who visited my campus, MTSAC) even went further & said that UC put undergrad on backseat; I realized that his opinion might be biased, but can someone please enlighten me?

My landlord, who graduated from UCLA with Bachelor in EE, clarified those rumors, and said that he didn't get too many "hands-on" experience from his school, he also mentioned about this TA (Teaching Assistant) thing, which further discouraged me, since I want to be taught by professor, not some undergrad & grad students.

I'm well aware that UC is, of course, more prestigious than Calstate, but after listening to those statements, it's kinda make me want to transfer to Calpoly, instead of UC.

First of all, this area is not the place to ask such general questions on Misplaced Pages; try the reference desk (it's accessible through a link of the Help page, I think). Talk pages are supposed to be about discussing editing issues for the page they're attached to.

But to answer your question, yes, UC Berkeley and UCLA are notorious for a stressful undergraduate experience (which I can personally testify to). If you're looking for a trial-by-fire challenge in learning how to deal with apathetic, impersonal bureaucracies where you have to make appointments weeks in advance to talk to a counselor (the kind of bureaucracies you will have to deal with anyway if you go into business, government, or law), then UC is a great fit. If you'd rather enjoy your college years at a school with decent customer service, I advise you to find a smaller, less bureaucratic school like Caltech or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. --Coolcaesar 05:34, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

At this risk of offending colleagues and mentors who might stumble onto this page, I can attest that overall, CSU provides a better undergrad experience. I received my B.A. from CSU Stanislaus and Ph.D. from a UC Santa Barbara, so I should know. There are many faculty at UC schools who are dedicated to undergraduate teaching and enjoy it; however, there are many more students to serve and many tasks are relegated to TAs. At a typical UC school, you will find yourself in a general ed. class of a few hundred students; you will mostly interact with a TA in discussion sections; if you are lucky the prof might remember your name; you will have tremendous bureaucracy. At a typical CSU school, you will find yourself in a general ed. class of 40-50 students; you will deal directly with the prof; within your major, you will work closely with them; you will find reasonable customer service. Keep in mind, the UC system is specifically aimed at research first. This makes for excellent graduate programs and exciting experiences for unusually talented undergraduates. This does not mean you cannot have a great undergraduate UC experience; just be aware. The CSU system is focused on undergraduate teaching first; in general, the faculty are much more involved personally. Now, I commit a grave error in judgment by attaching my username to this. Revolver 03:36, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

I was wondering how each of the CSU and Cal Poly campuses would rank academically in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University survey (do a google search for "best universities"). The only one that appears in the survey is San Diego State at number 301 out of 500 world universities. Does anyone know how much lower say a Cal Poly campus would be than UC Riverside or Santa Cruz (both # 101 of 500)? If someone really knows please reply to my query. Thanks. Vivaldi4Stagioni 07:59, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Flagship Campus - Controversy

What evidence is there to back-up these statements of support? What support really exists for this concept? What about citations to documents other than webpages promoting this drastic change? Anyway, how is it that a small group of SJSU people have managed to turn this article into an advocacy page for their attempt to establish San Jose as the 'flagship' campus? All of the statements about this need to be excised from the main encyclopedia article and put into a separate article. This is supposed to be an encyclopedia article about the CSU as a whole. Streltzer 22:20, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

The evidence of support is in the membership of the CSU Students of San Jose (213 members) and CSU Alumni of San Jose (53 members), CSU Spartans (36 members) and other groups. Also, since this issue involves the institution of a statewide flagship campus, in does involve the whole CSU. Michaelch7 27 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree that it should be a separate article, so that the arguments and references can stand (or not) on their own merits. Some of the inaccuracies can be cleared up, as well: the Chancellor's Office is in Long Beach, but not at CSU Long Beach.--Curtis Clark 23:54, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

It looks like the disputed language concerning the 'flagship' campus controversy has been removed. So, is there are a new article concerning that matter for all of us to review and comment? Streltzer 17:56, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, where has the text be moved? Or was it simply deleted by a Misplaced Pages vandal (NeoChaosX) under the guise that it wasn't relevant, but really because he is opposed to the issue. (pure SJSU censorship) Michaelch7 27 June 2006 (UTC)

There is a parallel discussion at Talk:San José State University. 65.104.77.179 01:36, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

User NeoChaosX created a stub about their campaign at GoState. Streltzer 21:12, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Just to throw in my two bits: As far as I can see, there is no real controversy. I haven't seen any coverage of any "controversy" in the L.A. Times, the San Jose Mercury News, or the San Francisco Chronicle (and I skim at least one of those three each day, and all three during any one week). I've not sure Misplaced Pages even should be mentioning it. See Misplaced Pages:Verifiability and Misplaced Pages:No original research.--Coolcaesar 06:24, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Exactly. As I mentioned on the talk page for SJSU, it's just the GoState folks using Misplaced Pages as a tool to force their viewpoint on what's really an SJSU-only non-issue on others. If that's all they're going to add, they should keep it on their own webpage, because Misplaced Pages is not the place for promoting one's cause. NeoChaosX 08:15, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

You are wrong. The issue of restoration of CSU student rights in San Jose has been covered in the San Jose Mercury News, the Spartan Daily (repeatedly), and the SpartanThunder.com website. There are close to 400 students and alumni in groups like the CSU Students of San Jose, CSU Alumni of San Jose, and CSU Spartans who support CSU restoration in San Jose. This is a valid and legitimate issue in the CSU system, and your attempts to suppress it amount to typical SJSU repression of California State Normal School history and CSU student and alumni rights in San Jose. Michaelch7 27 June 2006 (UTC)