Dang, my kid didn’t get into any public CA University with a 4.2 GPA that was applied to.

Mr Doof

Duke status
Jan 23, 2002
24,906
7,818
113
San Francisco, CA
Eugene is expensive!!!!! It’s 50k a year and they are not giving out any discounts to out of state students, well at least to us. Really surprised by that. They went to visit the campus and took a tour a few weekends ago. Of course they loved the campus and the greenery. Travel to Eugene is not cheap. Few if any direct flights. They could have flown to Europe for what they paid flying to Eugene/San Diego. They were stoked on no sales tax and cheap water though. Smaller than they expected.

So many factors factor in the big picture.
1 Eugene has small regional airport. It always surprises me how 'not cheap' it is to fly into regional airports on commercial carriers. Depending on what you want to do, can be cheaper to fly to PDX and drive down.

2 Eugene and Salem used to be tied for 2nd biggest city in Oregon, or switch positions every few years. Would guess there are about 180,000 +/- 5K people in both now.

3 Lack of sun can be a bigger issue than the long periods of drizzly misty rain.
 

Bob Dobbalina

Miki Dora status
Feb 23, 2016
4,313
4,721
113
To no one in particular:

Another important point for parents to internalize is that your own, personal college experience - particularly how your mediocrity did not impair your admission and thus, your career trajectory- is absolutely fucking useless. Especially if you went to college in a year that started with 19. The game was loaded in your favor in ways that you have likely still never been forced to reconcile.

The game done changed.
Assuming that your experience 30-40 years ago means fuckall (unless you are a legacy alum at a private school with the $$ to guarantee access) is a useless endeavor. Combining that with your assumption that you know better than the admissions folks as to what they are looking for? Good luck with your ticket to animosity town.

The cost, the demand, the metrics, what schools value, the stakes. It doesn't matter what worked for you and, in the end, can lead to really unfortunate realities for your children when they try to run your playbook.

It's not fair.
It never was.
 
Last edited:

Autoprax

Duke status
Jan 24, 2011
68,547
23,242
113
62
Vagina Point
Didn't you see the letter from my student?

She went to cal state and kicked ass and now got into grad school at USC.

The CC, to STATE college model still works if you kick ass.

I see it all the time.

But you got to kick ass.

You have to be outstanding.
 

Random Guy

Duke status
Jan 16, 2002
32,133
6,310
113
Didn't you see the letter from my student?

She went to cal state and kicked ass and now got into grad school at USC.

The CC, to STATE college model still works if you kick ass.

I see it all the time.

But you got to kick ass.

You have to be outstanding.
Not everyone is outstanding
was the state university program intended to be so exclusive?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ghostshaper

afoaf

Duke status
Jun 25, 2008
49,552
23,132
113
Living in SF its interesting to see how people treat each other/assume things based off where you went to university haha
this is my favorite part of telling people I went to school in San Francisco....their response is usually, "I went to Cal, where did you go"

LOL SFSU LOL
 

Autoprax

Duke status
Jan 24, 2011
68,547
23,242
113
62
Vagina Point
Not everyone is outstanding
was the state university program intended to be so exclusive?
No. It's for dummies like me.

I'm saying you got these guys on here saying their kids have 4.3 GPAs and they can't get into a UC.

I'm saying there is a way around this.

Obviously, the kid is smart.

So what you do is go to the CC and then the state school (living at home), acing it, and then you get in a good grad school and the school will probably pay for it.

I tell my students outstanding kids get special treatment.

I didn't know that when I was student because I am an idiot.

Then I tell them, DONT BE LIKE ME!!!!
 
Last edited:

Yewstreet

Legend (inyourownmind)
Nov 8, 2019
432
799
93
this is my favorite part of telling people I went to school in San Francisco....their response is usually, "I went to Cal, where did you go"

LOL SFSU LOL
lol My GF told me that if she knew the reputation of my school (uninspiring Canadian university) she probably would have said no to the first date. :bricks:
 

hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
15,588
14,231
113
this is my favorite part of telling people I went to school in San Francisco....their response is usually, "I went to Cal, where did you go"

LOL SFSU LOL
My kid goes there and she loves it. Going thru ceremonies next month then it's on to grad school. She did the 2 years at CC thing, I figure she saved me $55K.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mr Doof

afoaf

Duke status
Jun 25, 2008
49,552
23,132
113
lol My GF told me that if she knew the reputation of my school (uninspiring Canadian university) she probably would have said no to the first date. :bricks:
yeah, that sh!t grates me, but I laugh because the ratio of cost school to current income for me is very favorable; it's typically only the pre-med kids that wound up outearning

SFSU had such a beautiful campus...I golfed Harding, Fleming, Golden Gate, Presido...surfed OBSF and canoodled endlessly. the other SF campuses were not as nice
 

ringer

Tom Curren status
Aug 2, 2002
11,342
614
113
Huntington Beach, California
Here is an ode to the California Community College system. A young woman I know of graduated with middling grades and SATs from a good high school in Huntington Beach. Flopped around for a couple semesters at the local JC (Orange Coast College). Quit for a year. Decided to get her sh!t together, studied hard and got all A grades for two semesters at OCC. She just received admission notifications from UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, amongst other fine institutions. This stuff is still very possible in California.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,730
8,726
113

kelpcutter

Gerry Lopez status
Aug 24, 2008
1,293
1,651
113
A coworker's daughter went this route as well. Went to CC and killed it. Transferred to UC Berkley Architecture program and graduated with honors during the pandemic. She went from an internship to a six-figure salary with her undergrad degree. Looking at Ivy League grad schools now. Community College is a legit way to start, even for over achievers.
 

rowjimmytour

Tom Curren status
Feb 7, 2009
11,534
5,831
113
54
Here is an ode to the California Community College system. A young woman I know of graduated with middling grades and SATs from a good high school in Huntington Beach. Flopped around for a couple semesters at the local JC (Orange Coast College). Quit for a year. Decided to get her sh!t together, studied hard and got all A grades for two semesters at OCC. She just received admission notifications from UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, amongst other fine institutions. This stuff is still very possible in California.
SBCC to UCSB transfer rate with tag program is very high :cheers:
 

hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
15,588
14,231
113
Remember when UCSC did away with grades a few decades ago? It was a disaster. Students had trouble getting in to grad schools and employers recruited elsewhere, where student success whas easier to evaluate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rice

npsp

Miki Dora status
Dec 30, 2003
4,284
3,907
113
down the hill and to the right
Visit site
A coworker's daughter went this route as well. Went to CC and killed it. Transferred to UC Berkley Architecture program and graduated with honors during the pandemic. She went from an internship to a six-figure salary with her undergrad degree. Looking at Ivy League grad schools now. Community College is a legit way to start, even for over achievers.
Even medium achievers. My son decided to go the CC route early in HS and ended up having a great HS experience. He didn't fret over the SAT or ACT. Only took AP history because he likes history. Almost didn't get to walk because he had a lot of truancies for surfing his senior year (total laziness as he was 18 for several of them and could have signed himself out....). I think his senior year consisted of guitar, auto shop, auto shop TA, wood shop, wood shop TA and AP history TA and a few other basket weavers.
He transferred to Mira Costa, got straight A's and had his pick of schools. He's now at USD, having a great college experience and couldn't be happier.