I want to go to San Diego State University, Cal State Long Beach, or San Francisco State. On top of that I will be applying to University of Arizona and Arizona State. I am also planning to apply to much more cal states and UC Riverside. Will I get in? Do I have a chance?
My GPA is a 3.6
and I have about 500 community service hours total. My family makes less than 20K per year. I am also a junior in high school, and I live in Southern California. Can I make it in?
PS I WANT TO GO IN AS A NURSING MAJOR AND I KNOW THEY HAVE THEIR OWN REQUIREMENTS.
^This what she said. I can’t stress the amount of wasted time that I applied to numerous big OOS name schools only to get accepted and find out in the coming months it was impossible to pay for it.
So, I thought about it and what if I majored in Psychology or physiology instead? I’m also taking the ACT where I feel more confident and I think it’s a lot easier than the SAT. I will be completely done with the a-g requirements by next year, taking four years of eng. Math, science and spanish.
I also have tons of volunteer hours and I live in state of California.
Do you think changing my major will help me get in? I don’t have to have a degree in nursing for the job that I want.
You should only do nursing if you want a job in nursing, most likely. Nurses with some years of experience are also eligible for other desk type jobs in healthcare. You can’t do anything in the psychology field with only an undergraduate degree but you can apply for any type of job that requires a Bachelor’s degree.
The deal is in CA the state will help you with your education. Out of state they won’t. Here you will get a Cal Grant to help. It will cover tuition for CSU. For UC Cal Grant covers tuition and the UC helps with other expenses. So go with your plan and apply widely.
Students that go to out of state colleges get scholarships based on gpa and sat scores. Did you prep for your SAT? If you prep you may be able to do a little better on a retake. There is nothing wrong with your scores but they are about average. The M + CR scores are the most important.
You can go OOS, but only if you apply to private colleges (which have some financial aid for students applying from OOS) or WUE schools, AND better stats (ie., your GPA is decent, you have lots of hours in community service, your weak point is your test score: work on the SAT, use khan academy and practice books - there should be some in your library-, review every single mistake and correct it; try the ACT in June and order TIR).
You’re also lucky because CA ias “WUE”, an exchange program with other Western states. http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all
You’ll just have to apply widely.
Since you’re lower-income, you should request your fee waivers (you can have them for ACT, SAT, and SAT Subjects) as well as application fee waivers (from your guidance counselor.) UCs and CSus won’t need letters of recommendation, but private selective schools will, so arrange to talk to teachers about it, and show them this (since UCSs CSus don’t require them, they may not be used to what it entails.) Ask soon, since it takes time and some may say no. http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs
In CA, check out LMU LA, URedlands, St Mary’s perhaps even Pitzer or Occidental if you can bring those test scores up by 200+ pts (it’s hard to know if 1560 is indicative of what score you’d get or just indicative of lack of preparation).
Definitely apply to UCR and UCM, you may get in.
Alright, with my scores. I just wanted to clear something up.
I’ve applied to 11 schools (two are community colleges)
Accepted:
-Cal State Long Beach: Biology
-Cal State Fullerton: Biology
-Baylor University: Biology
-University of Arizona: Physiology
-Johnson and Wales: Pre-Physician Assistant
-Chapman University: Health Science
-Golden West Community College
-Orange Coast Community College
I was rejected from:
-San Diego State (not to my surprise)
-Loyola Marymount.
I received full rides from the Cal States and for the private schools, Chapman and Baylor, half of my tuition (around $50k-$60k full tuition) was paid for.
Thanks to everyone who responded. But to future readers just give yourself a chance.
I just really want to get into cal state long beach or san diego state.