Chapman University vs UC Riverside

[hawk24]

I got accepted to both Chapman University and UC Riverside. I'm a statistics major at UC Riverside and a mathematics major at Chapman. I really do not know which one to choose. Chapman is private and Riverside is public. I would like to become a statistician and I would like to attend grad school. Anyways these are my options.

Thanks for the help

 

[hitmeoff]

I got accepted to both Chapman University and UC Riverside. I'm a statistics major at UC Riverside and a mathematics major at Chapman. I really do not know which one to choose. Chapman is private and Riverside is public. I would like to become a statistician and I would like to attend grad school. Anyways these are my options.

Thanks for the help

Are you going in as a freshman or transfer? Realize that if you are a freshman, you will be taking your math courses (Calc I through Elementary Lin ALg/Diff EQ) with hundreds of other people at any UC. Once you go into upper division courses though, the number drop to about 30 or so student in a lecture (maybe even less). Chapman is a very very small college, so you won't have any issues with class size.

You also have to remember that UCR is a research university while chapman is a lib arts college. This may be a good/bad thing depending on what you want to do. At a large public research U like the UC schools, undergrads are usually second tier...their focus is on the grads and faculty research. But being such a large university, the opportunity to do undergrad research is much wider than at a small college (which would be great for grad school). Remember, at a UC you are going to have 30+ thousand students and you got to figure out how to distinguish yourself from the herd. At Chapman, you have a fraction of that number, so you are likely to be more visible to faculty and might have a higher opportunity at really getting know your faculty.

The big issue for me would be the price of attending. I believe a UC school cost about 3K a quarter times 3 quarters and you are looking at tuition of about 10K a year. Chapman being private is going to cost you up to $35K+ just on tuition alone. You got to have a roof over your head and you got to eat on top of that. Obviously there are ways to pay for your education, but short of getting serious amounts of scholarship money, you can expect to rack up quite a nice load of student loans attending a private uni.

I don't know much about Chapman math specifically, but I know the physical sciences arent the main focus of Chapman (they do have a great film school though), that's another thing to consider. I personally think that the California public higher education system is awesome (the UC's, the cali community colleges and even some Cal States) and are a great value, especially in the sciences.

 

[hawk24]

Sorry I am a transfer and Chapman is a 20 min drive away so I would commute there from home. I would move closer to UCR though if I went there as it is a little farther. The main thing I am considering is the quality of each program. I've had interaction with a couple of professors at UCR though I have had close to none with any at Chapman which is why I am unsure.
Anyways thanks for your help.