While I don't imagine that the California State University (23 campuses total) is high in the national rankings, I'd like to get an idea of how the CSU system is regarded, in general. Thanks.
CSU is the "second-tier" public university system in California, below the more-prestigious University of California (UC) system. The CSU system offers bachelor's and master's degrees. They do not offer doctoral degrees (although they may be allowed to offer the Ed.D. in the future) or professional degrees (other than the MBA). In general, CSU degrees are considered perfectly respectable and legitimate, but not particularly prestigious. The CSU system is not known for selective admissions or cutting-edge research, but it has historically done a fine job of turning out large numbers of qualified teachers, engineers, accountants, etc. Most of the CSU schools are fairly "generic"; people usually go to whichever one is most convenient. As a result, CSUs are often commuter schools, with less on-campus social life than you might expect from the large enrollments. Sometimes a particuarly strong department will emerge at a particular school, and this program may attract students from across the state. But the vast majority of students at most CSU campuses are locals. Three of the CSU schools are specialized. Two are "California Polytechnic State Universities", including the original Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly-Pomona; they focus on engineering and agriculture. The third is the California Maritime Academy, which focuses on shipping. These three specialty schools attract students throughout California, and also from other western states, and they tend to be more selective and prestigious than the other CSU schools. Cal Poly engineering, for example, probably compares favorably to many of the UC schools in terms of admissions standards.
Re: Re: California State University Actually, several of the Cal State Universities do offer doctorates but they are awarded jointly with other schools (either UC or non-public schools). A work associate is pursuing this joint PhD in Engineering and Industrial Applied Mathematics PhD at Cal State Long Beach in conjunction with Claremont Graduate University. http://www.csulb.edu/colleges/coe/views/coe_pages/Joint_PhD.htm
Re: Re: California State University I was on the faculty at CSU San Bernardino for eight years. CalDog's observations are right on the money (so is Ian's point about the joint doctorate program). San Diego State is the leader in this area with 14 doctoral programs (in conjuction with UC San Diego, UC Davis, Claremont Graduate University, University of San Diego and others).
You forgot to mention Chico State - best looking chicks in any CA college or university. SJ State is an excellent engineering college as well. The top tier Silicon Valley companies recruit from there. I will take an SJSU EE over a Stanford EE anyday (Stanford EE's do everything on computers - which is not real life).
I'm a product of the CSU system. Nevertheless, I'm not really sure how the system is regarded "in general", because that takes in a lot of places and a lot of schools. Here in California, I think that most people perceive the California State University system as... familiar. There are 1.7 million California State University graduates living in California. If you add all the people who have taken individual CSU classes (something that's very easy to do), a significant proportion of the state's workforce has attended a CSU. No matter where you go to work in the state, you will have CSU alums as coworkers. In some California industries the CSU impact is massive. The California State University system produces half of the engineers that graduate in the state. 55% of the individuals holding California K-12 credentials got them through a CSU teacher ed program. You will find impact reports by industy and by campus here. As a consequence of all that abundance, I think that most Californians see the CSUs as... safe but unspectacular. They aren't perceived as highly selective prestige schools because almost everyone attends one at some point. The CSUs throw themselves open to public participation. They welcome members of the public to come and take classes without formal admission to the university on a space-available basis. San Jose State combined its university library with the city's main library in building a large and impressive new public knowledge resource for Silicon Valley. The UC system, by comparison, likes to remain aloof and apart, above the riff-raff (like me), preserving its abundant resources for its own students, staff and approved outside researchers. That's one reason why the CSU system has been much more active than UC in creating DL programs. If you can't come and devote yourself to full-time study at a UC campus, you simply aren't UC material. There's lots of resistance to DL there. But while the California State University is in a sense the people's university, there's also a public confidence in the many CSU campuses, a well-justified faith that they aren't mills. They are sources of good solid journeyman-style education without pretentions or frills. As far as rankings go, a few comments are in order. California state law prohibits the California State University from offering doctoral degrees, except in conjunction with a UC or a private research university. (The UCs don't like competition for status and funds.) US News uses the Carnegie classifications, dividing up higher education by the kind of degrees schools offer. So by definition, none of the CSUs (with the exception of San Diego State which has lots of joint-doctoral programs) are doctoral-research universities. The CSUs appear in the regional-masters lists. Some people will inevitably interpret that to mean that they are lesser universities in some sense. As far as the USNews tier rankings go, CSUs range from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which the magazine has labeled the best public masters-level school in the Western United States, to CSU Dominguez Hills which trails along in the fourth tier. Given that everyone on earth has studied at one, the CSU system has produced its share of familiar names. San Francisco State has generated prominent alums in fields ranging from film and TV and literature to science and technology. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's coolest graduate has to be legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan, creator of SpaceshipOne. (Monday Night Football's John Madden has a masters (Boom!) from Cal Poly.) Football coaches Bill Walsh ("the genius") and Dick Vermeil graduated from San Jose State. The creator of the ubiquitous reality TV series 'Cops' earned his masters degree from CSUDH.
Calstate in my opinion are good schools. However, they are not prestigious unversities. They are good down the middle schools. However, even though I never attended a Calstate Institution, I do hear many students gripe how it takes longer that four years to graduate with a bachelor's degree as many of these schools are impacted(I know cause I live in Southern Ca.). Also many students do not like beaucracy that comes along with Calstate (many many rules). However, if one can get past all of this, an individual can get a good solid education from these institutions. In another matter,the UC system does produce good graduates at all levels. At the doctorate level, many UC graduates are pretty sharp. However, it is interesting to note that 2/3 of all doctorates in the State of California that are earned, are from private schools within the state. Many students can not put up with all the UC beaucracy either. If memory serves me right, it takes around five to seven years to earn a Ph.D from a UC institution. It is also correct that if one wants have a life outside of academics, then a UC doctorate program is not for you.
SFSU periodically sends me their alumni magazine, and the latest issue has a story on another notable former student, James Goettsche. Goettsche has a passion for pipe organs, the bigger the better. So naturally he moved to San Francisco and became an organ student at SFSU. In 1961 one of his professors introduced him to Vatican organist Fernando Germani. Goettsche told Germani of his interest in architecture and acoustics and about his concept of playing as if his instrument was the voice of the building itself. Germani was interested in the passionate young man and wanted to hear him play. The result was Germani inviting Goettsche to Rome to be his student. Goettsche graduated from the Conservatory of Rome and went on to become organist of the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana in the Roman Forum, where his concerts became increasingly popular and he became a Roman celebrity. Finally in 1989 the mysterious mechanations of the Vatican announced Mr. Goettsche's appointment to the post of "Modulator Organorum" (Official Organist) of the Vatican Basilica of Saint Peter. Those of you who watched Pope John Paul II's funeral probably heard him. http://www.prleap.com/pr/11579/ I guess that this doesn't have much to do with the original post. But I do like seeing former CSU students doing well and this guy has one of the coolest music gigs in the entire world.
I agree with the previous posters regarding the CSU system in general. CalDog made an excellent point regarding specific programs. A question I see asked here sometimes is, “Which of the following schools is best?” Unless you’re talking about an obviously disparate comparison (i.e., UCLA vs. SCUPS) the question really requires clarification regarding “Which field are you interested in?” I graduated from a CSU, and my close friend from a nearby UC. I visited his classes, and my impression was that the UC's had a higher standard for the general education classes, but the quality of upper division work depended entirely upon one's major. While I recognize that his UC degree looks more prestigious on a resume, I believe the education in my field (history) was better at the CSU. I was blessed with some truly excellent teachers. However, the reverse would have been true in other programs.
Of course one must also consider that of the 90 or so regionally accredited 4-year universities in California, there have been only 9 UC Campuses. There are about twice as many private universities that offer doctorates. This list includes: Alliant International University Azusa Pacific University Biola University California Institute of Technology Claremont Graduate University Fielding Graduate Institute John F. Kennedy University La Sierra University Loma Linda University Pepperdine University Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center Stanford University University of La Verne University of San Diego University of San Francisco University of Southern California University of the Pacific The above list does not include schools that award the JD as the highest degree, which would increase the size of the list. Dave G. is correct regarding the fact that one must consider individual disciplines when comparing graduate schools--the UC might not always have the best program. For instance, in my field (Instructional Technology), the best nationally regarded program in the state is the one at San Diego State University.
