<p>I am an out of state student and I applied to UCLA, Berkeley, and UCSD. I got into all three of them. After checking my financial aid digits, I realized our family would have to pay 37K/yr for Berkeley and 31K/yr for UCLA (I am not worrying about UCSD right now) which is pretty tight because of recent heavy losses in our business. My mom says that she can only pay about 15K/yr and rest was on me and student loans.
The other option is University of Tennessee-Knoxville which would be around 10K/yr, but I realize that UTK in nowhere even close in academics compared to UCs
So what do y'all think I should do? Should I possibly have 17k/yr debt for four years? I am almost sure that I will do grad school or med school so... is the debt worth it?
Thanks!</p>
<p>If your family cannot afford to pay over $30,000 a year for you to attend college, you will need to consider schools that are affordable to them.</p>
<p>no, UCs are not worth OOS fees, unless you are a 1%'er… If your family biz has losses, attend your instate public. Plus, UC’s are brutally competitive for premed. Knoxvile is a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Its crazy for an OOS student to go to a UC for premed…especially if debt is needed. besides, that is too much debt for any undergrad.</p>
<p>Where else did you apply?<br>
t
And to say that UTenn is nowhere near the UCs isnt really accurate if you’d be some science premed major. Utenn would certainly be more than good enough. What magic do you think is at the UCs??? lol</p>
<p>""""“Unweighted GPA 3.8333
ACT : 27
Activity Years Active Position Description
(Hours per week)
Technology Student Association (President)”""""</p>
<p>I’ll be honest with you…if that is your test score, stay away from those three UCs…the premeds there would eat you for lunch.</p>
<p>Our UC’s are extremely competitive and I have to agree with Mom2, your 27 ACT is too low to compete with the UC students. You were admitted to our schools for the money. Our state is out of money and one way to have you help subsidize our college programs is to pay full fees. $68K is not worth it.</p>
<p>It is very exciting to think about going off to school in California. However, it doesn’t appear to be financially possible. You won’t be able to borrow that much money on your own unless you have a co-signer and it is really not a good idea, even then. UTK is a good school that will give you a solid education. Save the money now and use it for grad/med school. It seems disappointing now, I know, but you will be so much happier at the end of your education to not be carrying crushing debt. </p>
<p>Actually it doesn’t look like he got admitted for the $$ as he got enough financial aid to only have a COA of $37,000 for Berkeley and COA of $31,000 for UCLA. Possibly he got an admissions bump for geographical diversity though.</p>
<p>Thanks all for replying! For all that speculating that I got in because of money, I would have to agree with CalBearsMom. I got a very generous 26K gift support from UCLA and possibly more due to scholarships (also 18 K from Berkeley which did make me a little mad). I have seen in a Cal YouTube video that the essay was more important than test numbers because they want personality rather than numbers, and I’m glad to say that my essay was one of the most special things I have ever wrote. I’m certain that it was my essay that separated me from other applicants. </p>
<p>Could I file for CA citizenship after the first year?</p>
<p>You could file for in-state residency but very unlikely you would qualify.</p>
<p><a href=“http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Residency/legalinfo.html”>http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Residency/legalinfo.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/general-counsel/_files/ed-affairs/10-things-undergrad.pdf”>UC Legal - Office of the General Counsel | UCOP;
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<p>No way to get it unless your family moves to California or you become financially independent from them (which means you get a job to pay all bills).</p>
<p>You know, going off what I have seen here and from other people I have talked to. Going to any Top Tier school for Pre-Med is rough. I know UCI has a brutal Bio Department Curve and I doubt UCLA or UCB would be any better. For Law School it makes sense because you can do an easy GPA booster major (i.e humanities) but for medical school you’ll be forced under the same curve as some of the smartest and brightest students in the nation. You should sandbag, goto your local state flagship for the highest GPA possible. </p>
<p>And paying all those bills would include your OOS costs to attend college in CA. </p>
<p>No, you will not get instate tuition after one year. Think about it…that would mean all second year students would pay instate costs. Now you have to KNOW that simply isn’t going to happen.</p>
<p>"“My mom says that she can only pay about 15K/yr and rest was on me and student loans.”"</p>
<p>If your mom wont pay that the subject is moot. You can only borrow $5500 and that may already be in your aid pkg.</p>
<p>I thought this was a silly question to begin with (should I save $17K x 4), then I saw the premed tag. Mind boggling. Let’s take the $200K for med school loans and add another $70K of aged loans on top. What do you think OP? It seems your mom owns her own business. Ask her what those loans would mean.</p>
<p>Please attend your affordable choice, and have a great four years.</p>
<p>If you want to go to medical school, you need to have a great GPA and MCAT scores. You also want to graduate with as little debt as possible.</p>
<p>If you want to go to California, go there for vacation after you graduate.</p>
<p>I told my daughter not to apply to any UCs.</p>