Best CA colleges for engineering?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a CA resident, and I want to go major in engineering, probably computer, but I’m still figuring it out. So far I’ve looked into UCSD & Cal Poly SLO, but I was wondering what other colleges are out there with a good engineering program. It’d be great if I could get some input based on my stats (I’m obviously not qualified for Stanford, haha). Also, I don’t want to go to a religiously affiliated school.

I have a 4.23 CSU WGPA, my ACT is a 34C, & my SAT is a 1970. I don’t have an amazing spectrum of ECs, unfortunately. I have one leadership position in a small club and maybe 100 community service hours. :confused:

Thanks in advance for the help!! :slight_smile:

2

Your ACT is a LOT higher than your SAT. Are you going to apply to USC? they love high stats.

Have your parents run the NPC to see if it’s affordable.

Do you know how much your parents will pay?

There are many good programs at the UCs, CSUs and Cal Polys. Apply to all that have the program that you want.

Will you need merit scholarships to help pay for school?

Since you don’t want a religious affiliated school, that eliminates some CA schools.

3

With your interests and stats, the only private school in California that fits your criteria is USC.

For public universities in CA, you have lots of options:
UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSC
Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, SDSU, SJSU, SFSU, CSULB

4

@mom2collegekids I’ll definitely be needing scholarships because my family is pretty much as low income as it gets. I don’t think I’ll be applying to USC though—it’s too costly for me, and I don’t see myself getting a big enough scholarship to help pay off the tuition. & My parents will chip in for helping me pay for my books, food plan, & housing but tuition itself is pretty much going to be me.

@harvardandberkeley Thanks for the list!! I’ll look into those.

5

As a low income California resident, you may want to check the net price calculator on the web sites of UCs, CSUs, and USC to get estimates of financial aid and net price, rather than making assumptions about cost and financial aid or applying blindly and waiting until April to see what the financial aid may be.

6

@ucbalumnus Ah, yeah, I’ve been making sure to do that with all the colleges I’m looking into. :slight_smile:

7

USC is a “meets need” school, so if you’re low income, you’d get amazing aid. You should apply.

Apply to all the UCs, especially the mid and low tier because you will likely get a bit of merit to off-set some loans or “student contribution”.

You are getting Fee waivers for apps and scores, right? Get them from your GC.

@ucbalumnus do low income kids with waivers use ONE waiver for all UCs or what?

8

@mom2collegekids I already got my four free fee waivers for colllege apps. I don’t think there are fee waivers for score reports though.

Hmm, I’ll look into USC some more. And thanks again!! I’ve started looking closer into the UCs & CSUs to see the type of aid they’ll give out.

9

Yes, you can get fees waived to have your scores sent.

You need to see your GC about this…
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/waivers/guidelines/sat

There are also fees waived for the ACT.

10

Not necessarily as amazing as Yale, or in-state UCLA, if the relative net prices are similar to the recent past:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1675058-meet-full-need-schools-can-vary-significantly-in-their-net-prices-p1.html

Check the net price calculators.

For application fee waivers, UCs allow waivers for up to four campuses:
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/application-fees/
For CSUs, an application fee waiver request must be sent to each campus, though there is no apparent limit to the number of campuses:
https://secure.csumentor.edu/faq/finaid_costs.asp

Each system only requires one set of test scores, regardless of the number of campuses applied to.

11

@mom2collegekids Ahh, those are just for taking the test itself (which I have already used/taken).

@ucbalumnus Definitely going to go check out that online calculator you posted :o