Why would you want to attend a UC or CSU?
1. The quality of education and extracurricular activities.
2. The price represents a solid value and will minimize the debt load you carry into graduate school and young adulthood.
3. Your family only has so much money and you would like to leave some for your parents and siblings so that they too can pursue their dreams.
3. Your family only has so much money and you would like to leave some for your parents and siblings so that they too can pursue their dreams.
4. Relative proximity to home allows you to live away from home but still be close enough to family and friends to attend important social events and help out when needed.
5. You believe that diversity means more than your class featuring two kids from each of the 50 states (aka Noah's Ark diversity), a Tanzanian orphan raised by monks in Sri Lanka, and Mick Jagger's love child. When you look at a public university you see an organic diversity of thought and life experiences that is genuine.
6. You like good weather and the opportunity to wear t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops year round. Your only cold weather gear is a hoodie.
7. You want a great education plus a sweet place to live and realize that you can have both in places like San Luis Obispo. Santa Barbara, and La Jolla. Score!
8. You know there is a good chance you will meet your future spouse in college and are not excited about the prospect of hooking up with someone from Arkansas who wants to settle in Little Rock.
6. You like good weather and the opportunity to wear t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops year round. Your only cold weather gear is a hoodie.
7. You want a great education plus a sweet place to live and realize that you can have both in places like San Luis Obispo. Santa Barbara, and La Jolla. Score!
8. You know there is a good chance you will meet your future spouse in college and are not excited about the prospect of hooking up with someone from Arkansas who wants to settle in Little Rock.
9. The lion's share of the people you admire most attended public universities and you believe that therein lies a strong element of cause and effect.
What might be discouraging you from attending one of California's public universities?
1. Friends tell you that Harvard is more prestigious and will set you up for life. Truth be told: nothing sets you up for life, not even Harvard. What sets you up for success in life is working hard, being kind to others, and making a commitment to serve a cause greater than yourself.
2. You want to enjoy the respect and adoration that some people in society automatically confer on Harvard graduates. Truth be told: who cares about being respected and adored by people who think like that?
3. You don't want anything less than "the best" for yourself and both your Uncle Harry and US News and World Report say that Harvard is the best. Truth be told: Uncle Harry is demented and he's a senior writer for USNWR.
4. You are afraid that if you don't go to Harvard, no one will know how incredibly smart and talented you are. Truth be told: if you're worried about that, you're probably not that smart or talented to begin with and Harvard will eat you alive.
The bottom line is this: year after year, the overwhelming majority of California's most talented high school students who choose to pursue higher education attend the University of California and California State Universities and then go on to accomplish great things for our state, our nation, and the world. Attending a public university is not a disadvantage or hinderance to you achieving your goals in life. Many UC and CSU will tell you that attending a public university was actually the catalyst for their success. Why? Public is the place that intentionally pursues excellence, access, diversity, & inclusion. Public is comfortable with blemishes, dives head first into messy, and accommodates differences. Public genuinely cares about people who do not have food, shelter or health insurance. Public believes in making the most of the opportunities you've been given and teaming up with others to work for the greater good. It's bigger and better than endowments, exclusivity rankings, and estimated future earnings. #greatnessredefined #noivyenvy
See below for brief profiles of some remarkable people who were undergraduates at the University of California or California State University.
Bill Walsh (San Jose State University) - Architect of the "West Coast Offense," coach of the 3 Super Bowl championship teams, and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Alice Waters (UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley) - the owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley and pioneer of California cuisine that features locally grown organic foods. She has been called the mother of American cooking.
Arthur Ashe (UCLA) - #1 ranked tennis player in the world and 3 time Grand Slam title winner. Later in his life, he became an advocate for AIDS prevention and education.
Margaret Lapiz (UC Davis) - Vice-President of Strategy & Integration for the 8000 member Permanente Medical Group
and UC Davis Foundation trustee.
Peter Ueberroth (San Jose State University) - organizer of the 1984 Olympics and former Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Connie Mariano, M.D. (UC San Diego) - Rear Admiral, United States Navy and director of the White House medical unit.
Gordon Moore (San Jose State and UC Berkeley) - Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Intel Corporation. The author of Moore's Law that states the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles every two years.
Jennifer Granholm (UC Berkeley) - former Governor of Michigan and current Professor of Law & Public Policy at UC Berkeley.
James Franco (UCLA) - actor, director, screenwriter, and producer who has appeared in Pineapple Express, Milk, and 127 Hours.
Jeanne Conry, M.D., Ph.D. (Chico State University) - President of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Permanente Medical Group physician.
Steven Spielberg (Long Beach State University) - filmmaker who has gifted us with such blockbusters as Schlindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park.
Carol Greider (UC Santa Barbara) - molecular biologist and 2009 Nobel Prize winner for physiology or medicine. She co-discovered the telomerase enzyme as a graduate student at UC Berkeley and is the Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins.
=============================
In related news . . . check out this 3/31/15 NY Times op-ed piece by Frank Bruini titled Our Crazy College Crossroads. My favorite quotes from the article:
Shiny diplomas from shiny schools help. It’s a lie to say otherwise. But it’s as foolish to accord their luster more consequence than the effort you put into your studies, the earnestness with which you hone your skills, what you actually learn. These are the sturdier building blocks of a career. Corner offices in this country teem with C.E.O.s who didn’t do their undergraduate work in the Ivy League. Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin went to the University of Alabama. John Mackey of Whole Foods studied at the University of Texas, never finishing. Your diploma is, or should be, the least of what defines you. Show me someone whose identity is rooted in where he or she went to college. I’ll show you someone you really, really don’t want at your Super Bowl party. And your diploma will have infinitely less relevance to your fulfillment than so much else: the wisdom with which you choose your romantic partners; your interactions with the community you inhabit; your generosity toward the family that you inherited or the family that you’ve made.
If you’re not bound for the school of your dreams, you’re probably bound for a school that doesn’t conform as tidily to your fantasies or promise to be as instantly snug a fit. Good. College should be a crucible. It’s about departure, not continuity: about turning a page and becoming a new person, not letting the ink dry on who, at 17 or 18, you already are. The disruption of your best-laid plans serves that. It’s less a setback than a springboard.
A high school senior I know didn’t get into several of the colleges she coveted most. She got into a few that are plenty excellent. And I’ve never been more impressed with her, because she quickly realized that her regrets pale beside her blessings and she pivoted from letdown to excitement. That resiliency and talent for optimism will matter more down the line than the name of the school lucky enough to have her. Like those of her peers who are gracefully getting past this ordeal that our status-mad society has foisted on them, she’ll do just fine.
And this 4/1/14 Valerie Strauss article, But did he apply to Stanford?, in the Washington Post. Quotes include:
Look at some people who’ve accomplished a lot and see where they started. Ronald Reagan? Eureka College. Jesse Jackson? They wouldn’t let him play quarterback in the Big Ten, so he quit Illinois for North Carolina A & T. Do you know that the recently retired chairmen and CEOs of both General Motors and General Electric graduated from UMass? Bob Dole? He went to Washburn Municipal University. The former minority leader of the United States Senate, Tom Daschle, went to South Dakota State. The former speaker of the US House of Representatives, J. Dennis Hastert, went to Northern Illinois University. Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, took a bachelor’s degree from Jamestown College. Winston Churchill? He was so slow a learner that they used to write to his mother to come take this boy off our hands. I know what you think: Spare me the sympathy. It still hurts. But let’s keep this in perspective. What did Magic Johnson say to the little boy who also tested HIV positive? ”You’ve got to have a positive attitude.” What happens when you don’t keep a positive attitude? Don’t ask.
The bottom line is this: year after year, the overwhelming majority of California's most talented high school students who choose to pursue higher education attend the University of California and California State Universities and then go on to accomplish great things for our state, our nation, and the world. Attending a public university is not a disadvantage or hinderance to you achieving your goals in life. Many UC and CSU will tell you that attending a public university was actually the catalyst for their success. Why? Public is the place that intentionally pursues excellence, access, diversity, & inclusion. Public is comfortable with blemishes, dives head first into messy, and accommodates differences. Public genuinely cares about people who do not have food, shelter or health insurance. Public believes in making the most of the opportunities you've been given and teaming up with others to work for the greater good. It's bigger and better than endowments, exclusivity rankings, and estimated future earnings. #greatnessredefined #noivyenvy
See below for brief profiles of some remarkable people who were undergraduates at the University of California or California State University.
Bill Walsh (San Jose State University) - Architect of the "West Coast Offense," coach of the 3 Super Bowl championship teams, and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Alice Waters (UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley) - the owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley and pioneer of California cuisine that features locally grown organic foods. She has been called the mother of American cooking.
Arthur Ashe (UCLA) - #1 ranked tennis player in the world and 3 time Grand Slam title winner. Later in his life, he became an advocate for AIDS prevention and education.
Margaret Lapiz (UC Davis) - Vice-President of Strategy & Integration for the 8000 member Permanente Medical Group
and UC Davis Foundation trustee.
Peter Ueberroth (San Jose State University) - organizer of the 1984 Olympics and former Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Connie Mariano, M.D. (UC San Diego) - Rear Admiral, United States Navy and director of the White House medical unit.
Gordon Moore (San Jose State and UC Berkeley) - Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Intel Corporation. The author of Moore's Law that states the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles every two years.
Jennifer Granholm (UC Berkeley) - former Governor of Michigan and current Professor of Law & Public Policy at UC Berkeley.
James Franco (UCLA) - actor, director, screenwriter, and producer who has appeared in Pineapple Express, Milk, and 127 Hours.
Jeanne Conry, M.D., Ph.D. (Chico State University) - President of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Permanente Medical Group physician.
Steven Spielberg (Long Beach State University) - filmmaker who has gifted us with such blockbusters as Schlindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park.
Carol Greider (UC Santa Barbara) - molecular biologist and 2009 Nobel Prize winner for physiology or medicine. She co-discovered the telomerase enzyme as a graduate student at UC Berkeley and is the Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins.
=============================
In related news . . . check out this 3/31/15 NY Times op-ed piece by Frank Bruini titled Our Crazy College Crossroads. My favorite quotes from the article:
Shiny diplomas from shiny schools help. It’s a lie to say otherwise. But it’s as foolish to accord their luster more consequence than the effort you put into your studies, the earnestness with which you hone your skills, what you actually learn. These are the sturdier building blocks of a career. Corner offices in this country teem with C.E.O.s who didn’t do their undergraduate work in the Ivy League. Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin went to the University of Alabama. John Mackey of Whole Foods studied at the University of Texas, never finishing. Your diploma is, or should be, the least of what defines you. Show me someone whose identity is rooted in where he or she went to college. I’ll show you someone you really, really don’t want at your Super Bowl party. And your diploma will have infinitely less relevance to your fulfillment than so much else: the wisdom with which you choose your romantic partners; your interactions with the community you inhabit; your generosity toward the family that you inherited or the family that you’ve made.
If you’re not bound for the school of your dreams, you’re probably bound for a school that doesn’t conform as tidily to your fantasies or promise to be as instantly snug a fit. Good. College should be a crucible. It’s about departure, not continuity: about turning a page and becoming a new person, not letting the ink dry on who, at 17 or 18, you already are. The disruption of your best-laid plans serves that. It’s less a setback than a springboard.
A high school senior I know didn’t get into several of the colleges she coveted most. She got into a few that are plenty excellent. And I’ve never been more impressed with her, because she quickly realized that her regrets pale beside her blessings and she pivoted from letdown to excitement. That resiliency and talent for optimism will matter more down the line than the name of the school lucky enough to have her. Like those of her peers who are gracefully getting past this ordeal that our status-mad society has foisted on them, she’ll do just fine.
And this 4/1/14 Valerie Strauss article, But did he apply to Stanford?, in the Washington Post. Quotes include:
Look at some people who’ve accomplished a lot and see where they started. Ronald Reagan? Eureka College. Jesse Jackson? They wouldn’t let him play quarterback in the Big Ten, so he quit Illinois for North Carolina A & T. Do you know that the recently retired chairmen and CEOs of both General Motors and General Electric graduated from UMass? Bob Dole? He went to Washburn Municipal University. The former minority leader of the United States Senate, Tom Daschle, went to South Dakota State. The former speaker of the US House of Representatives, J. Dennis Hastert, went to Northern Illinois University. Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, took a bachelor’s degree from Jamestown College. Winston Churchill? He was so slow a learner that they used to write to his mother to come take this boy off our hands. I know what you think: Spare me the sympathy. It still hurts. But let’s keep this in perspective. What did Magic Johnson say to the little boy who also tested HIV positive? ”You’ve got to have a positive attitude.” What happens when you don’t keep a positive attitude? Don’t ask.
