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Old 11-08-2010, 05:47 PM
 
Location: Fargo, ND
3 posts, read 4,465 times
Reputation: 10

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Hey everyone,

I'm a originally from a small town in Minnesota but currently live in Fargo, North Dakota. As of now I am finishing up my generals at community college and am thinking about moving to San Fran to get my bachelor's. I'm wondering what the pros and cons are of this city. Is it fun? Do you enjoy California in general? How hard would it be for me to find a job (Being a student I don't expect anything great.) What school(s) would you recommend?

Thanks for your replies!
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Old 11-08-2010, 05:58 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,054,023 times
Reputation: 2957
It's not San Fran. Nobody here calls it that.

Now that we have that out of the way, I dunno, Stanford and UC Berkeley are the main top schools in the area but are hard to get into. SFSU is alright. UC Davis is pretty well renowned but is about an hour or so north of SF. There are some smaller private colleges here and there but they charge you like $30,000 a year and when you graduate nobody will have heard of the school. It kind of depends on what your major is, different schools are better for different stuff.

The job market here sucks but maybe it will be better when you graduate in a couple years.
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Old 11-08-2010, 06:18 PM
 
Location: Fargo, ND
3 posts, read 4,465 times
Reputation: 10
I'm currently a sophomore and would be moving out there sometime this next year. My goal is to eventually get my master's and teach college level humanities classes. I was looking at SFSU and it seems like a nice enough school. Have you heard anything about UCSF?
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Old 11-08-2010, 06:50 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,054,023 times
Reputation: 2957
UCSF is really only for graduate level stuff like medical degrees and law. I don't know if they even have any undergraduate stuff.
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Old 11-08-2010, 07:40 PM
 
Location: SW King County, WA
6,409 posts, read 8,251,572 times
Reputation: 6588
SFSU has some decent MA/BA programs. I finished my BA I'm getting my Master's there right now. PM me if you have any specific questions.
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Old 11-08-2010, 08:44 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
6,817 posts, read 9,023,653 times
Reputation: 5183
If you stop calling it San Fran, I will stop making fun of your (cute) Minnesooota accent.

If I were you living in Minnesota, I'd think about heading for Chicago, but c'est la vie. Keep in mind that San Francisco is incredibly expensive. However, I'm still convinced that there are ways to live here if you get creative. You can share a house, rent a room, find apartments in less desirable (but still safe) parts of town, etc. You can also live south of the city or across the bay in Oakland, Berkeley etc.

There are many, many schools in the Bay Area. If you are committed to staying in San Francisco, then SFSU is what most people talk about. I'm not sure if you are considering a place like Berkeley, which is expensive for out of town students.

If you are a student, you might find some work study jobs on campus. You might also be stuck working a retail job at the mall near SFSU. Again, you can be creative and probably find something interesting to do which might pay enough to get by.
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Old 11-22-2010, 06:30 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
75 posts, read 301,820 times
Reputation: 83
SFSU is foggy, overcast, and cold about 364 days out of the year due to its location (we have some microclimates in the Bay Area). It's also ground zero for communists, crazy liberals, and general anti American sentiment. If that's ok with you, then I would consider SFSU. Otherwise, I would seriously recommend one of the schools down in Southern California. The weather is better and the beaches are great. There's just a different vibe down there and there's some very good State/UC schools. Before making the move I would nail down a few and then visit the campuses when school is in session. Coming from a small town you might be in for a culture shock.
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Old 11-22-2010, 06:44 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
527 posts, read 1,574,754 times
Reputation: 320
Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin_l91 View Post
I'm currently a sophomore and would be moving out there sometime this next year. My goal is to eventually get my master's and teach college level humanities classes. I was looking at SFSU and it seems like a nice enough school. Have you heard anything about UCSF?
I work in the higher education industry, and I just want to give you a couple words of caution about your game plan:

1. With a Master's degree, you will only be able to teach at the community college level or possibly get semi-permanent Adjunct status at a university without possibility of tenure. These positions are very competitive.

2. There is a glut of people with advanced Humanities degrees - usually PhD - whose intention was to become a college professor, and not nearly enough positions for everyone to become employed. They will usually accept adjunct positions for very low pay (around $30,000/year) while hoping to become tenured one day. However, older professors are not leaving their positions, therefore tenure may be a long way off.

If you passionately love the Humanities and want to teach at the college-level, you might as well go all out and get that PhD, as a Master's probably isn't going to cut it. Otherwise, you could get your Master's in Education or in a subject area and teach high-school level instead (many teachers entering the high schools now from college come with Master's).
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Old 11-23-2010, 12:11 AM
 
24,353 posts, read 26,826,712 times
Reputation: 19827
Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin_l91 View Post
Hey everyone,

I'm a originally from a small town in Minnesota but currently live in Fargo, North Dakota. As of now I am finishing up my generals at community college and am thinking about moving to San Fran to get my bachelor's. I'm wondering what the pros and cons are of this city. Is it fun? Do you enjoy California in general? How hard would it be for me to find a job (Being a student I don't expect anything great.) What school(s) would you recommend?

Thanks for your replies!
I attended USF (University of San Francisco). It's an expensive private school, but the job placement is excellent. I thought the academics were good, but not really worth the price compared to SFSU. However, all my friends got jobs in less than a year from graduation earning on average $50k (business majors, mostly accounting). The cost of living in San Francisco is high, but so are wages. I was a host at a restaurant and made $12/hour + tips. I know Inn & Out (fast food chain) in Fisherman's Wharf pays $12/hour.

I loved living in San Francisco and I miss it a lot. The politics annoyed me at times. I consider myself to be a moderate, but they are very far left. However, just don't worry about it. You don't need a car if you live in San Francisco proper. The public transportation is excellent, although you feel dirty after you get off. There's millions of tiny restaurants, bars, lounges, shops on every street. It feels like a huge city, but at the same time, there is a feeling of community. The most expensive part about living in San Francisco is housing (buy or rent). It's worth it if you're a college student. Now that I've graduated, I'm not sure if I could stand paying $1500-$2000/month for just a small 1 bedroom apt + $300/month for car parking. Once I develop more wealth, I plan on moving back to San Francisco. However, at this point I don't want to live with room mates nor pay someone else's mortgage. When I was attending college, that was no problem.

You'll enjoy it! It's a great experience regardless.
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Old 11-23-2010, 08:33 AM
 
19 posts, read 79,224 times
Reputation: 13
If you move here be prepared to see more BMs than you have ever seen before.
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