The International Student Blog

For international students trying to decide where to study sociology, one of the best places to look is California. California is a large state with a wide variety of locations- if you want to study in a city, town, near a beach, in the mountains, or near national parks, studying sociology in California may be the right choice for you since this state has each of these.

Northern California

Northern California is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west coast and the Sierra Nevada mountains on the east coast. The climate of Northern California is mild, but colder than the rest of California, with temperature highs in the low 70s (fahrenheit) in the summer and lows in the mid 40s in the winter. Northern California’s largest city is San Jose but also contains San Francisco and the state’s capital, Sacramento. San Jose and San Francisco are part of the largest metropolitan area in Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is located on the west coast of California and has over 200 parks and beaches. It is known for its rolling hills, cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Northern California is also home to several famous national parks including Yosemite, Redwood National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and Death Valley National Park. International students looking to study sociology in California will find many universities to choose from in Northern California as there are six University of California locations, twelve California State University locations and many private universities to choose from in Northern California. Additionally, five of the top ranked sociology programs are located in Northern California: University of California- Berkeley, Stanford University, University of California- Davis, University of California- Santa Cruz, and University of California- San Francisco.

Southern California

Southern California is bordered by the Pacific Ocean in the west, Mexico in the south and the Colorado and Mojave deserts in the east. Southern California is home to three of the largest metropolitan areas in the US: Los Angeles metropolitan area, San Diego metropolitan area and the Inland Empire (containing Riverside, Ontario and San Bernardino). To put the size of California into perspective, Southern California is, itself, bigger than England. Southern California is known as the entertainment capital of the world as it is home to Hollywood. It also has a large surf and skateboard culture, the X games and US open surfing competitions are held there. Southern California is also known for its education with five University of California locations, eleven California State University locations and several prestigious private schools. Like Northern California, Southern California has some of the top ranked sociology programs in the US. University of California- Los Angeles, University of California- Irvine, University of California- Santa Barbara, University of California- San Diego, University of Southern California, and University of California- Riverside are some of the best choices available to international students studying sociology.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2015 at 7:39 am and is filed under International Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Written by Bryanna Davis

Bryanna joined EIC in 2011 after returning to the United States from teaching English in China. Her interest in international education, sparked initially by her own study abroad experience in Wales, led her to the company. Bryanna is originally from Missouri and is a graduate from the University of Central Missouri.

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