I went to CC my first year of college only to save money. My impression is that it was an extension of high school, i.e., not all that hard. Garrett, first year college courses, that is english, math, etc. are designed at a 4 year college to weed out those who should probably not be in college. Hence the reason they are difficult. I was an English 101 TA and couldn't believe the number of kids in my classes that couldn't even diagram a sentence.

oh yeh - re dorm life -- not sure what is req'd for Fr. year, but I know that UO has every possible type of living situation you cold possibly imagine. He may want to take advantage of that.

Overall, and in comparison to other state U's UO has an extremely well balanced sports program. I also respect the football coach here a lot 9not as much as I respect God, but he is ensconced in Happy Valley and will never leave). Basketball and Track are also big as are some women's sports.

I once worked with a girl that graduated from Oregon. She was very hot. Sorry, best I can offer (that type of info was of interest to me as a prospective student ;)).

That's what you need now? Really? Went there as a freshman before transferring to Cal. I didn't see any transcripts, but I'm certain there were a fair amount of students with < 4.0 back then (in the 80's, including myself).

I guess I'm a case in point of the trend mentioned by a previous poster. I finished my M. Arch here eight years ago, and haven't gotten around to leaving yet! In addition to my day job as an architect, I'm an adjunct assistant professor of architecture at the U of O. The architecture department consistently ranks among the top 15 nationally. I may be biased, but I'm a firm believer in the program.

The U of O has a wonderful campus, and is very much a city unto itself. As a student, I enjoyed the sensation that there was not real reason to leave campus. It is a cozy and beautiful ivory tower.

I think that the quality of departments, as in most places, varies. The best departments are very good.

That raises another good point. What is it that your son wants to do? That should play a big part in helping to determine what school makes the most sense. I knew I was going to be a business major, so I looked exclusively at schools with very strong business programs. From there, Miami won out, although nothing else was ever truly given strong consideration.

Im at DVC, there is alot of competition. Great school, I love the atmosphere and the diversity. Also, there are some teachers on campus that are prob the best Ive ever had just because they actually teach, not just lecture and expect you to understand. Its a great school, kinda sucks that its my last semester, but its really prepared me for the school i plan to transfer to. Let me know if he wants to go there, I can help him get with the best teachers and the best counselors.

Yup. As an Aerospace Engineering grad, my hardest classes were math and science BS classes. They are INTENTIONALLY designed to weed out the slackers. Like me.:D Personally, I like to focus my energy on the courses that actually MATTER.

Well, there's another reason -- the modern research university does not put much effort into teaching -- ESPECIALLY the teaching of Freshmen. Students (+ taxes) don't even really pay their own way. What the Dean REALLY wants is more grant overhead (they take half of what you bring in) so he can put new wood paneling in his office. Sad but true.

One exception is (or was) the Zoology Dept. at Univ. Wisc. They only let Full Profs. teach Intro. Biology.

But generally, you are stuck in a 1,00 person classroom and if lucky, get to watch a prof. thru binoculars instead of a TV monitor.

That is one reason why a small high quality 4 year college is so superior. They are focused on the Undergrad. My advice - if you have the bucks or can get close to a full ride - find one where the faculty do research and the students go to grad. school, medical school, etc. There are hundreds of them.

At a CC, you may very well get superior teaching. But there are two other problems. First, the other students don't generally set a competitive environment - something that is critical. 2nd, the teachers are not experts. At a res. univ. that person in front of the class is probably THE top person in the entire world (at some narrow narrow slice of teh curriculum).

Some CC's are much better than others, and all are better than they used to be - since 4 year collegs are so expensive now, many of the decent students are going to a CC's just for cost reasons, not b/c they couldn't get in to a 4 place.

Anyway, the best thing is to send your id up here and have him wander around campus for a while. Walk into some Fr. classes in the sciences and some Soph. ones also. See how big they are. Get the feel of the place. And visit his other top 4 favorites too.

Check out Oregon State University while you are near Eugene in Corvallis. Unbelievable engineering school, nuclear science program with our own reactor, best Wave (tsunami) lab in the country, Marine Mammal Institute. Ag school from the 1800s, forestry engineering, turf grass management sought after by all top golf course supers, etc etc.

Developed wave energy concept. clones mussel adhesive for plywood industry, purple tomatoes, NCAA World Series champs 2x, beat USC 2 a couple of years ago, righteous babes that will make you cry.

Go Beavs

At most 4 year schools, you won't get the good professors until grad school. Very sad but true. Most major colleges simply don't care about undergrads, because they just want grants. Grad students operate as GTAs, not only do they teach the undergrad courses (for nest to nothing), but they do the grunt work for research. So, it's cheap labor for the grants, which bring in money and acclaim to a university.

For the record, I have had one class taught by a TA. The rest are full professors. Or, in the case of my business legal studies teacher, a part time instructor, who works full time as a lawyer in town and teaches a few classes. Thus far, it is the best class I have ever taken.

Direct from the UCSB website, admitted freshmen for Fall 2007, the average weighted GPA was 3.98 and the average SAT Reasoning score was 1866. Seems like it is a pretty hard school to get into.

This is how Arizona State works, the masters students teach the 100-200 level classes and phd students teach everything else. Then everyone so often a professors will come out of his office and teach a class.

I just went through this with my son who's going to be a freshman at UC Santa Cruz this year (we will be moving him into his dorm this weekend). He is a very bright kid but had too many extracurricular activities (all good) going on in HS so he only had a 3.3 GPA. Not bad but should've been higher since he had 4 AP classes between his junior and senior years. He had his sights on UC Davis, San Diego and Santa Cruz, all because of his dream to play college level water polo.

He didn't get into SD or Davis. The average GPA at both is around 3.9. The average GPA at Santa Cruz is 3.7. If hadn't had all of those extracurricular activites and sports under his belt, he probably wouldn't have been accepted. But I think the clincher was his high SAT score. We invested about $2k in SAT prep courses with Princeton Review. Classes were held near UC Berkeley for several weeks and it was a pain to transport him to and fro but it was worthwhile.

He never did make the water polo team. He tried out but he just wasn't a fast enough swimmer. He does love the UCSC campus though.

Good beer, good weed, good mushrooms

He should look at Corvallis as well as Eugene, as mentioned above.

I liked Corvallis better than Eugene, smaller school too, which has some allure. Choice of major may have some impact too.

I know you are a rich doctor and all, but he will want to establish residency in OR to save a boatload of cash

+1 on checking out Corvallis as well as Eugene.

Both schools are nice; it's all where you feel you fit in. I went to OSU in Corvallis and loved it. I had many friends at U of O at the time and would visit often. Eugene didn't appeal to me. Way too many hippies "outraged" over absolutely everything.

My .02....after many years have passed, I've noticed one underlying fact - the school you went to matters little (unless you want to be a professor). It's personal drive, determiniation, a solid work ethic, social skills and who you know.

:eek: Wow, I guess things are different these days.

When I went to UCSB back in the day, there were dudes who came in with like sub-2.5s majoring in P.E. or something like that, who where basically there to surf, get stoned, meet chicks, and surf, literally. Sounds like "that dude" has been weeded out well before the admissions process.

Some students were admitted to some of the aforementioned campuses as their "second choice" (something that's no longer part of the UC system's application process). I guess they'll only admit Rhodes Scholars by the time my kids are ready to apply.

My local City College has a 100% transfer credit to UCSB....I also have a rental 1 mile from the campus. It pays to be a Pelicanhead.....

I also can keep the little scheister on a short lease....and teach him how to turn a wrench.

3rd year applicants get a break...the weenies are weeded out by then.

UNFORTUNATELY...the UCSB track and Field program would have to improve to suck. The SBCC field and program is actually better funded.

Nearly all of my business classes (business management minor) were taught by part-time instructors. My finance class was taught by a CFP. My accounting class was taught by an accountant who had just quit her day job to teach full time. My marketing class was taught by a lady who owned a market research company. All were EXCELLENT teachers. I majored in aerospace engineering at a school known for aerospace engineering, and my best teachers were in entry level business courses. BUT, the college of business isn't obsessed with research and grants.

Do the CC and have him challenge himself with the newly available free courses from Stanford!

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/17/228227

Robotics and CS...