Forums | MacLife

Again, res, it depends on the jc and the 4-year you transfer to.  From living in a transfer dorm, I'd have to say that about half the people were well prepared and half had to do some serious catching up at cal.  But every single person I talked to felt it was significantly harder; some were just better prepared for harder than others.

Which still isn't to knock JCs; statistics say transfers typically cope a lot better and are more sucessful in classes than those coming in as freshmen (although this may also be due to the weeding out of undisciplned students). 

Regardless, you can't compare the education achieved at a JC to that at a giganto-school like Cal.  For one thing, those tiny classes you mentioned offer a totally different type of learning from huge lecture halls.

JC is a viable alternative but I wouldn't recommend it for every student.

Depends on what's "gigantic." I was pretty sure I wanted to go to a small school, but then I kinda fell in love with a mid-size uni (6,500 undergrads, even more grads). Not a huge school, but biggish. Don't dismiss something as a matter of principle, is I guess what I'm trying to say.

Doctor Spike wrote:

LKS_Rocky wrote:

lol

has anyone heard anything about Umass, University of mass Amherst? It looks pretty cool to me.

umass suckkks. no, really, it does. its a massive state university where you probably won't get a good education. of course if you were to go to boston university, you're education would be first class, and you would join the elite group of macaddict forum posters at bu.

UMass Boston sucks because they're limited on space and since Pres Bulger got forced out they have less alum donated money to work with on adding profs and improvements.... or now the recent issue of building a new campus as the current 'key' buildings are built on top of underground garages which are crumbling.  As a Mass resident I'm thankful I was rejected by UMass Boston & Amherst
On the serious pros of UMass, the Amherst campus is where all the 'better' profs and education options are offered at. Cost for non-residents is nearly as much as going to a private university and being in no-mans land isn't fun unless party-rioting on campus after sporting events is your sort of activity *rolls eyes*

As for Boston University, I was working on my transfer paperwork in hopes of fleeing there in 2007 based on cost and taking a required class at BU via summer term to trim down transfer credit limits... an arse shoved me while exiting a tram and I suffered a concussion on my way to class. I think I'll be sticking to Harvard University as it is actually safer going to class and I wasn't constantly being asked "what is your major" then being snickered at. On the other hand maybe my education attracts freaks
Pros I would give BU is profs who are flexible for students when office hours are concerned and their positive attitude towards his/her course... Harvard has a fair amount of profs more interested in writing his/her next book, research project(s) or speech/lecture to a 'major' conference than students. BU's course work is easier vs Harvard, during the fall I compared two classes via someone I know at BU and Harvard profs force us to do 2x more papers and/or tougher mid/final exams. If anything, we deserve our grades at our higher rate of burn out.

Can't comment on JCs, never been to or known anyone from such a school... considering I'm from Boston, there is so many choices and not enough time to decide. My theory is to jump for whatever college/university fits your needs and don't let parents/close friends force you into following their dreams or schools. Most of my family friends went to BC, they were disappointed in me being split between Harvard and BU (BC alums I still know are a bit disappointed in my decision)

*random smartarse crack* if you do go to BU, go with a bunch of BU friends wearing a terrier hat to eateries or shops in the MFA-Northeastern University-Longwood area and dead silence happens esp during hockey season

Cal state schools are a good option.  They're inexpensive and there are a lot of campuses.  For once, Habs, we agree.

res - uc davis just lost their accredation to teach in the veterinary sciences.

And yes, csus have lower standards.  they also are seen as less prestiguous because they don't specialize in science/engineering the way the UCs do - they arent the giant research institutes that the ucs are (sorry guys, we live in a society that respects these far more than the liberal arts, which is what the csus excel in teaching). 

that said, some of them are good schools.  others (csu monterey bay) are poor excuses for schools.  you just need to do your research about which campus has a good program for what you want.

Tria wrote:

res - uc davis just lost their accredation to teach in the veterinary sciences.

What? Why? They were the best - certainly in California.

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/

is still up - I'm still googling ...

Last edited by resedit (2005-07-16 2:11 am)

Res- yea, it astonished me too.  One of my friends was going for vetmed a few years ago, so I assumed she'd go to Davis.  I was shocked when she explained the situation to me.  Good to see they have it back.

the article says it was because of poor learning resources.

LKS_Rocky wrote:

One of the CSUS i like is the one in Sonoma, also the fact that they aren't nice research facilities doesn't impact me too much since I don't intend on being involved in science/engineering.


I've been looking more and more at the Boston area. I love California and like the schools here, but something about Boston intrests me.  One school I liked was Hampshire.  Does anyone know any other good(not the very top) boston/Mass Schools? I've been looking around at collegeboard.com to get a better idea.


You guys were right Umass Amherst is hideous, but its still an option.

How far out of boston is amherst? I assumed (with my limtied knowledge of geography...I'm a product of the american Educational System, what do you expect?) that it was relatively close to Boston.  Any schools relatively close to Boston would be cool.

There are a ton of schools in the Boston area.  My brother completed his undergrad at Northeastern, and is getting his PhD through Boston University.  There's also Emerson, MIT, Boston College... Harvard...

LKS_Rocky wrote:

I've been looking more and more at the Boston area. I love California and like the schools here, but something about Boston intrests me.  One school I liked was Hampshire.  Does anyone know any other good(not the very top) boston/Mass Schools? I've been looking around at collegeboard.com to get a better idea.

If you look at Yahoo Maps you'll understand Amherst can be a very very long driving trip to/from Boston and the new england winter is cold as hell & lots 'o snow the further inland you live.  Amherst in my opinion is too depressing if you're a city person and for current costs you may as well go elsewhere for the same amount. Here is a map I found on google: http://images.google.com/url?q=http://w … w/MAP.html

When all else fails, consider Northeastern University it's a step up from UMass in quality of education vs cost, within the city and only a few blocks from the Museum of Fine Arts... just avoid telling locals you're a student from there as most locals are sick of the typical snobbish NU students that rub in their work-study experience upon everyone

I drink because I like beer

Tria wrote:

Marc wrote:

resedit wrote:

Well, since Humans are a species of animal - at least biologically, and students are typically human ...

yes thats it, I drink because tiki abuses me.

fixed for you.

yeah... your right