Is San Jose a good place for a college student? (Long Beach: house, schools)

[eureka1]

Until recently,I hadn't spent time in Sn Jose for years. Had to be there in Sept re: a family situation. I was impressed with the diversity especially around the U of Santa Clara area. The traffic is horrible.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Bonez765

I do not recommend the Bay Area if you want the fun college experience (going to a lot of parties, meeting very fun people, etc.). I only recommend the Bay Area if you are the introverted and studious college student who will be a future workaholic. If you want to go to a fun California CSU, I recommend looking up Chico State (for a UC, check UC Santa Barbara or UC Santa Cruz).

That's nonsense. You can work hard and go to parties, too. I went to UC Berkeley and had to work pretty hard but I had fun and went to lots of parties. The same applies to all the other Bay Area college campuses, too.

[MediocreButArrogant]

If you go to Chico, you'll just use drugs. If you go to Cal, you might room with the person who invents this generation's LSD.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by Seanathan1

Hi, I'm American currently going to high school and living overseas with my folks. I'm going to college soon, and since I really don't have family anywhere in the states, (and they're staying overseas in Europe) I can really go anywhere I want and it wouldn't be that much a difference. I've been looking at schools in California recently, as I've always wanted to go there. I kind of want to start fresh in the state, and start building my life on the west coast, so I'm looking at the Cal State Schools.

I'm currently looking at CSU - Monterey, San Jose, and Sacramento.

I think San Jose would be cool because it's a large city not far from the coast, nor that far from the valley and only a drive away from San Fransisco. I've never lived in a city before though. How does it compare with other schools/places in the state? Thanks for your imput!

As others said CA is expensive but if you really want to end up in California then you have the right idea by applying to CA schools as most companies prefer not to hire out of state.

Of those three, I would pick Sacramento. It still has plenty of amenities and is close enough to the Bay Area and coast to do a day trip if you want, but it’s not as absurdly expensive as San Jose or even Monterey. IMO, the only thing that would make San Jose worth the price as a student is if you are planning to study a tech field and actively network with the companies in the area. I don’t see any reason to go to Monterey...while it’s nice, it’s sleepy, expensive, and somewhat isolated.

Are you willing to consider other CSUs? None of the three you’ve looked at will really provide a traditional college experience IMO. If being in a legitimate college town interests you, try Chico or San Luis Obispo. The cost of living in Chico is also much more reasonable. San Luis Obispo is cheaper than Monterey or San Jose, but still expensive. SLO-State is highly respected, but more difficult to get into. Also, consider San Diego State. It’s in a very college-y area. San Diego is expensive too, but the SDSU area a little less so.

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I was asking the OP. I wonder why the interest exclusively in 2nd-tier colleges.

I was wondering this too, but CSUs are still much cheaper despite the price of both CSUs and UCs going way up these past few years. Also, perhaps he doesn’t want to try to compete to get into the “1st-tier” colleges.

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Totally disagree. It's off the charts if you have housing expectations which are incompatible with living in a major city.

Ok, I think this comment is way off base. The housing price in San Jose is off the charts whether or not you have reasonable expectations. Apartments and rooms, while not as astronomical as SFHs, are still way higher here than most American metros.

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

They said they wanted to go to a CSU, so just go to a community college for general ed and then transfer to CSU. Saves a lot of money. At that point it's more a question of having time to do it. If you're working you're probably not going to pull full time student load (12 units). It's probably going to be one or two classes a quarter/semester.

A community college in California is $31 per unit. A typical class such as Calculus would be 5 units. A nonresident does have to pay $149 per unit extra, but it sounds like this person intends to be a California resident.

This on the other hand is excellent advice! CSUs and UCs give priority to transfers from Calfornia community colleges and as long as you meet certain requirements (GPAs, classes) you are guaranteed to be able to transfer.

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by Seanathan1

I'm currently looking at CSU - Monterey, San Jose, and Sacramento.

Monterey definitely sounds like the most fun of the three, being in a relatively small and beautiful coastal town. But you should probably let things like this be the deciding factors:
1. Curriculum -- especially in relation to your interests and possible major
2. Affordability -- tuition, CoL, travel
3. Other factors -- e.g. close to family/friends, alumni relatives, safety/suitability of day to day environment, etc...

[jade408]

SJSU has roots as a commuter school so the whole college experience think isn't as strong as other schools. Good reviews about Cal Poly on the college experience thing.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by jade408

SJSU has roots as a commuter school so the whole college experience think isn't as strong as other schools. Good reviews about Cal Poly on the college experience thing.

As with many of your perceptions of SJ, you're about a decade out of step. They changed admissions policy and are even building new midrise student housing.

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

As with many of your perceptions of SJ, you're about a decade out of step. They changed admissions policy and are even building new midrise student housing.

He said "SJSU has roots as a commuter school" which is generally true. You even bolded it out, so it's hard to know sure why you still missed that part. (also, look at it's current residency vs total tuition ratio and see if you still think it seems like a commuter school in the generic sense)

@ Jade: I went to Long Beach State, which is similar to SJSU in a lot of ways: largely a commuter school with some dorms and off-cumpus residences, very large enrollment, relatively low admissions bar (...state U vs UC, etc... no aspersions intended), centered in a very large city in an even larger metro area… and so on. "Commuter school" or not, I agree that if you're looking for the typical 'campus life' experience, it's a lot different where I went than it would be at schools like Cal Poly, Chico State, or even Stanford, where the college has a bigger influence relative to the town it's in. It's not necessarily a bad thing to go to a "commuter school" (I preferred that life, personally) but it will be good to get your expectations right before even applying. But like I said before, curriculum, cost and many other factors should probably be considered first anyways.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

I don't know what you're talking about, man. Walk into Fahrenheit Lounge on Saturday night and tell me how many introverted people you see.

I personally am somewhat introverted but not entirely. But a lot of people who work at Google etc can be found at night clubs.

Ok, we'll never agree. I'm tired of arguing about it.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

I guess. If you have rich parents and you don't have to work while going to school, then yes that's an option.

But he does have other options. It's called going to a state U somewhere else, where tuition and general cost of living are lower....so that you don't have to work and take "less than a full load of classes".