State university #3 (San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco: schools, universities, vs.)

[prairiestate]

I know that in the California state university system UC-Berkley is the flagship school, and UCLA is close behind. What school do you think would be in third place. If you feel like going crazy, list the 4th and 5th place schools as well!

[04kL4nD]

Uh, UC-Berkeley and UCLA are part of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA system, not the California State University system (CSU)

But to answer your question, people usually rank them as:
1. Berkeley
1/2. UCLA (depending on who you ask and what program you're talking about)
3. UC San Diego
4. UC Davis
5/6. UC Santa Barbara
5/6. UC Irivine
7. UC Santa Cruz
8. UC Merced
9. UC Riverside

As far as CSUs go, the system is a little too big to have a clear #1, but Cal Poly is probably the hardest to get into. San Diego State, San Jose State, Chico State, San Francisco State, Long Beach State, and Fresnso State are among the most well regarded.

[Ceece]

Ranks are subjective since much depends on your program/major. I have no beef with 04kL4nD's list though, it's about as good as you can get.

[nmnita]

As Ceece said, there is really no way to truthfully rank Universities. So much depends on many factors, the number one being the desired major. Plus studies and stats are very subjective.
Most of us know UCLA and UK-Berk are highly rated. The rest, there is absolutely no way judge.

Nita

[CAVA1990]

I'd put UCI up there with Davis and San Diego. However, it really depends what she/he is studying and at what level (undergrad vs. post-grad) in determining which campus is better for a given student.

Trivial point but you don't really have to add the Berkeley, as it's just UC or Cal. However, we traditionalists seem to be fighting a losing battle against the present day administrators who insist on playing up the city where it's located (as with the berkeley.edu URL).

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

...Trivial point but you don't really have to add the Berkeley, as it's just UC or Cal. However, we traditionalists seem to be fighting a losing battle against the present day administrators who insist on playing up the city where it's located (as with the berkeley.edu URL).

That's what signifies it's the flagship, just like in Illinois, when you say "Illinois", everyone knows you mean the university in Urbana-Champaign.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

That's what signifies it's the flagship, just like in Illinois, when you say "Illinois", everyone knows you mean the university in Urbana-Champaign.

However, due to this more recent overuse of the "Berkeley" brand most folks (particularly outside the Bay Area) assume something you're wearing that says "California" is a tourist souvenir rather than something associated with The Univerisity.

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

However, due to this more recent overuse of the "Berkeley" brand most folks (particularly outside the Bay Area) assume something you're wearing that says "California" is a tourist souvenir rather than something associated with The Univerisity.

We don't have that problem. Few people plan a vacation around soybean fields and dying industrial cities. Any souvenir from Illinois will say Chicago.

That may create problems for students at the University of Chicago, though. Actually, a lot of people do confuse it with the University of Illinois-Chicago, which is known as UIC. Nobody confuses either school with Chicago State, though, which is a fourth tier institution with an abysmal 16% graduation rate.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by nmnita

As Ceece said, there is really no way to truthfully rank Universities. So much depends on many factors, the number one being the desired major. Plus studies and stats are very subjective.
Most of us know UCLA and UK-Berk are highly rated. The rest, there is absolutely no way judge.

Nita

Why? I don't understand if you can rank and rate the best why can't you do that for the rest. That really doesn't make any sense to say that.

The same criteria used to rank and rate UCLA and Cal as the best is the same criteria used to rate the other schools. There is definitely a way to judge this.

[BeauCharles]

If you're looking at technical fields Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, while being in the CSU system, is as selective and highly regarded as most of the UCs.