I’ve posted before that if you can go private, do so. I graduated from a “coastal” UC engineering program. As engineering classes 20 years ago have pre-reqs and you need to take them in order (usually), if you get a C- in any class, you’re guaranteed to stay another year since you need to retake it and they are only offered once a year and never during the summer.
For a UC system where some of your upper division engr classes are curved, this means 1/3 of the class will stay another year or drop out of the program.
Something to consider if you do a STEM major.
All that said, I think “UC” schools aren’t that great and if given the choice or if your kid has the choice, go to a nice private/ivy/stanford/cal-tech/mit/harvey mudd school/program.
I think the kids in those schools will be the future leaders of America and it’s best to be friends with those people.
Also, trying to get hired at the top tech companies or any company is easier at the Ivy’s I feel. Connections are worth a lot more to getting ahead, especially if you want to eventually leave the worker bee/engineer/tech/worker type field and move up to management. You can do a search for Fortune 500 CEOs and many come from elite universities due to connections. A lot of the UC students, I assume tend to be immigrant families (I was one) just looking to be a worker bee, etc…since that’s what their parents did/know/etc…
With grants/loans for kids who are great, a lot of private schools will also cover a lot more expenses now so you may pay a similar amount or even less than a UC or CSU school.
