UCSB vs sjsu Econ major
I’m a transfer student going into my 3rd year, and I only have about 2 weeks left to decide whether I should commit to UCSB or SJSU. I visited the UCSB campus yesterday, and honestly, I wasn’t as impressed as I expected to be. At the same time, I’m not a huge fan of the SJSU campus either. However, I do like the idea of experiencing life away from home, meeting new people, and building new friendships. I’m from San Jose, so commuting to SJSU would also be very convenient for me.
My biggest priority right now is graduating as fast and efficiently as possible. I plan on taking summer classes and trying to finish my degree early if possible. One thing that really concerns me about UCSB is Econ 10A. From what I’ve heard, it’s an extremely difficult class, and you need at least a B to officially get into the Economics major. My cousin attended UCSB and ended up failing the class, which eventually led to him dropping out. That honestly worries me because I don’t want to transfer to a school where my major still isn’t guaranteed after already coming this far.
Financially, SJSU is practically free for me since I can stay at home, while UCSB would probably cost me around $20k–30k or even more. I know UCSB may have a stronger reputation and potentially better opportunities for economics, but I’m trying to figure out whether the additional risk, cost, and stress are actually worth it for my situation.
Time is running out, so I’d really appreciate any honest advice from people who have been in a similar position. Please explain which option you think would be the better decision for me and why.