Countdown to Choosing a College

My mom and I at UC Los Angeles

Hey everyone! Now that April 1st is approaching fast, seniors are starting to hear back from potential colleges. All colleges must inform their applicants by April 1st and all students must commit to a college by May 1st. Fortunately for me, I have already heard back from all the University of California schools I applied to. To learn more about these schools check out my old post about public Californian colleges by clicking here. I have gotten accepted to every UC school I applied to: UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego! I am extremely excited because all of these schools are great in their own ways and I am looking forward to touring them and learning more about each campus. Most of the schools I have already seen, but it is always more fun to observe as an potential student!

My friend touring UC Berkeley

I am also very happy about my acceptance to the UC schools because they have everything I am looking for in an university. I want a school with warm weather, good social student body, rigorous academics, and exciting sports. Everyone is looking for different things in their university, so make sure you research all the different schools before you apply! I guarantee you will find the right school for you.
As I start to hear back from more and more schools, I will post after April 1st and let you all know which university I will be attending. It is such an exciting time! I will tell you all what colleges I am deciding between and during the month of April I will be posting about the visits I make to different colleges when trying to decide the one that is right for me.

What do you look for in your school/future university? Let me know in the comments!


xoxo

Purposeful Public Schools

Hey everyone! In my blog I have been talking about some of the private schools around the US, but each state also has a system of public colleges and universities. The main difference between public and private schools is that the public ones are funded, in part, by tax dollars and subsidies from the state government.  This means that the tuition and fees charged to students that attend these schools is much less than the private schools. Most public universities also tend to be larger and have more students than the private ones.

In California we have two very good systems, known as the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) systems.  UC has 10 campuses in California and all are very popular and well respected.  Each school varies in size and location and “feel” of the campus.  UC Berkeley is ranked as the #1 public university in the United States and UC Los Angeles is ranked #2.  These universities require very good grades and test scores for admittance just like the best private schools, and normally accept the top 12% of students that apply.  They are well respected for academics and research as well as their strong sports teams. There are 23 universities in the CSU system, and these are also very good schools and admit the top 30-50% of students that apply.  Two of the most popular ones in my area are San Diego State and Cal Poly San Louis Obispo.  The CSU schools are known for their practical training and don’t do as much research as the UCs.

Applications for the UC and CSU schools are accepted from October 1-November 30^th, so many seniors at my school are busy completing these applications right now.   I have visited the UCLA and UC Berkeley campuses this year and liked both of them.

There are many great choices of colleges and universities in the US.  When selecting which ones to apply to its important to identify your goals and interests, and consider costs, class size, culture and environment of each school before choosing between a public university and private school.

What type of public school would you prefer to go to? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo