Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-06-2016, 09:22 PM
 
17,877 posts, read 15,723,446 times
Reputation: 11649

Advertisements

Why is there both a University of California, and a California State University system?

Is it a tier system based on level of academic competency with UC system being the smartest kids, and CalState being less academically inclined?

Now there are other states with this setup, but they have much less campuses. The UC system, and Cal State have a lot of campuses, and probably cost a lot of money.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-06-2016, 10:04 PM
 
Location: Oroville, California
3,477 posts, read 6,462,258 times
Reputation: 6787
The University of California was set up as research institutions back in the day. Always the top tier. The CSU were set up as "Normal Schools" to educated teachers and expanded into other disciplines over time. So yeah, the UCs tend to be more selective and have higher academic standards as a result. Its just the way the two systems developed.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-06-2016, 10:57 PM
 
53 posts, read 71,590 times
Reputation: 57
From my perspective (I graduated from UCDavis in 2002, so it's been a while), the UC system is more about theory, critical thinking, and big picture, while the CSU system is more about practical skills. I learned that the hard way when I wanted to change from Computer Science to Accounting in my junior year. UCDavis doesn't offer an accounting degree because that's too "practical" for a UC. I would have had to transfer to Sac State in order to get an accounting degree. Instead, I got a super useful (ha!) economics degree.

My mom had a similar experience with UCBerkeley in the 60s. She heard about this new "computer" fad and wanted to study them. The advisors told her that the UC system didn't teach such "practical" skills and that she should seek out a vocational school if she wanted to study computers. She ended up dropping out and getting trained by Alameda County on punch cards (ah, the good old days) and went on to have a long career as a computer programmer. And then Berkeley came around and embraced computers eventually.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-06-2016, 11:36 PM
 
17,877 posts, read 15,723,446 times
Reputation: 11649
But it seems nowadays, both systems have the exact same majors, and I guess the only thing separating them is academic achievements in high school right.

But I am thinking that, once you get to a certain level, there should not be a second place, or a developmental league (for lack of better term) especially a public avenue for this. If you are not good enough by now, then why not move on to other things. Or if you want to continue, you should have to the private route for remedial, and developmental assistance to get to that higher level.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-06-2016, 11:46 PM
Status: "I am a dude." (set 14 days ago)
 
Location: Anaheim
1,962 posts, read 4,455,983 times
Reputation: 1361
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133 View Post
Why is there both a University of California, and a California State University system?

Is it a tier system based on level of academic competency with UC system being the smartest kids, and CalState being less academically inclined?

Now there are other states with this setup, but they have much less campuses. The UC system, and Cal State have a lot of campuses, and probably cost a lot of money.
Really? "Univ of Cali"? "Cali State Univ"?

Brazen does describe you well.

I'm sure if I found some cutesy name for Rutgers as I was chilling in Newark, the locals would probably try to whoop my *****.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-06-2016, 11:50 PM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
9,455 posts, read 12,467,409 times
Reputation: 16449
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsltd View Post
Really? "Univ of Cali"? "Cali State Univ"?
I was never aware that Columbia has two University systems. Gotta love the internet!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-07-2016, 12:53 AM
Status: "I am a dude." (set 14 days ago)
 
Location: Anaheim
1,962 posts, read 4,455,983 times
Reputation: 1361
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150 View Post
I was never aware that Columbia has two University systems. Gotta love the internet!
Thanks, but it's "Colombia".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-07-2016, 12:55 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,055 posts, read 106,854,652 times
Reputation: 115795
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150 View Post
I was never aware that Columbia has two University systems. Gotta love the internet!
Columbia doesn't. Colombia does, though.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-07-2016, 01:00 AM
 
17,815 posts, read 25,504,568 times
Reputation: 36262
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133 View Post
Why is there both a University of California, and a California State University system?

Is it a tier system based on level of academic competency with UC system being the smartest kids, and CalState being less academically inclined?

Now there are other states with this setup, but they have much less campuses. The UC system, and Cal State have a lot of campuses, and probably cost a lot of money.
What does Nu Jer have set up?

I don't know what Cali has set up. That's a city in a country in South America.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-07-2016, 05:50 AM
 
8,361 posts, read 7,547,426 times
Reputation: 10952
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133 View Post
But it seems nowadays, both systems have the exact same majors, and I guess the only thing separating them is academic achievements in high school right.

.
This is absolutely not true. Both systems do not have the "exact same majors." If you want to major in nursing, education, marketing, TV broadcasting, operations management, sports management, hospitality management, or a host of other majors, you won't find those majors at a UC.

It all boils down to the missions that the two systems were given by the state legislature. The UCs were granted the mission of providing doctoral education, including professional degrees in medicine, dentistry, law, vet science. They do offer undergraduate programs, obviously, but that is not their primary mission as designated by the master plan.

The Cal States were given the mission of providing undergraduate education (and some masters programs). They can only offer stand-alone doctorates in some very limited areas (education is one). Beyond those fields, if they want to offer a doctorate, they have to do so as a joint program with a UC (a few have joint programs with Claremont graduate school). Since their primary mission is undergraduate education, the Cal State system, as a whole, offers more different types of undergraduate majors than the UC system does. (That's not to say there isn't some overlap, but it is primarily in liberal arts oriented majors and engineering).

Oh, and there's another important difference. A Cal States costs about half of a UC to attend.

So plenty of reasons why a bright, talented student might opt for a Cal State over a UC. I don't think it is fair to say one system is "lesser" -- they just have different missions. But students can get a great education in either system, depending on their academic interests and career goals.

That said, obviously there are campuses in both systems that have stronger programs in certain areas or stronger reputations. And some of the campuses in both systems are more competitive for admission than others. Did you know that for several years in a row, a Cal State has received more undergraduate applications than any other school in the U.S.?

In terms of your question about why California has so many public colleges (especially when you take our third educational system, Community Colleges into account), the answer is simple. Look at a map. See how big our state is compared to New Jersey? We also have more people. So, we need more colleges in more places to serve our population.

We're very lucky, though, to have such a large number of excellent public higher education options here. In fact, we have more than any other state. It's part of what makes California such a great place.

By the way, as I recall, your system in NJ isn't all that different, although much smaller of course. You have your university tasked with providing doctoral degrees (and medical too), Rutgers. Then you have campuses that are mainly tasked with providing undergraduate and masters degrees (i.e., the college of NJ, Rowan, etc.) They all offer some similar majors at the undergraduate level too. Other states (Texas for instance) have similar systems too. It's just that California tends to do every thing on a larger scale because we are so much larger than most.

Last edited by RosieSD; 05-07-2016 at 06:00 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top