Huh?
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UCLA prioritizes CC transfers, then other UCs, then finally OOS transfers. It’s basically impossible. Davidson has a 45% ED acceptance rate.
I’m in the minority here but if OP is going to hate Davidson and only wants UCLA and they will accept him after the deadline and he has a plan to enter a high paying career and is willing to live at home to save money and pay back the debt, then I wish him well.
Worse comes to worse, he reassesses after his first year either financially or academically and if he has to transfer to a different school then so be it.
It is apparent that you don’t know the caliber of school that Davidson is.
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Or put it in your pocket or towards retirement or a home purchase if you don’t have that debt!
I feel for you that your situation is causing such anxiety. I really do. Do you have a mental health counselor to talk to? That seems a more logical step than what you’re considering. Once you’re at college and out in the professional world, it is important to have coping mechanisms to deal with stress. Now is the time to develop those coping tools.
Btw - Davidson has excellent career counseling.
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I for one am exiting the merry go round.
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If you don’t accept Davidson now and give it a chance, I’d consider that door closed. I’m not sure why you applied in the first place if you are feeling at this moment that “there’s nothing you want to study” there (per a reply above). Why not ask to defer entirely? Seems like you need more time and different options.
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You will need the math regardless.
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When I initially applied, I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do and felt exploring would be helpful. Now, I realize, exploring is going to cause a never-ending cycle of anxiety because I’ll never pick a career.
ED is not their transfer rate.
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Poppycock. One of my kids got an engineering degree. That kid did some real soul searching during undergrad and realized engineering wasnt for them. But finished the degree regardless. That kid has a different but rewarding to that kid career.
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I get it. Anxiety is crippling. If you are someone who can’t face the exploration, then yes, a cs degree could be a good option.
But almost all cs degrees everywhere require a lot of math. UCLA does too—it’s just in their prerequisites section for the cs/linguistics combo.
If a cs program will alleviate your anxiety and let you proceed, then look at some of the other schools where you were accepted —including Davidson— and pick the one with a cs program that seems the most doable to you.
Wishing you well.
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Well, we folks in California will gladly accept your OOS dollars for as long as you need. Our public university rates will be going up and anything you want to contribute to our coffers will be gladly used for our state incidentals.
BTW: those Parent Plus loans get bought and sold ALL OF THE TIME. A number of them are “pay-as-you-go” and your parents wont have the option to change the requirements because the holders of those loans like making money on them.
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I do feel for you – you are clearly overwhelmed with anxiety about all of this. I just hope that you can hear what many of us are all saying regarding the fact that “picking a career” at age 18 is almost always speculative. Unless you are in a very targeted program in college that is sending you in a straight path towards something like nursing, you are going to college to learn things and grow and develop your thinking. Even in CS. There’s no guarantees about where that takes you. You don’t need to “pick a career” today (or next year). You need to get an education that helps send you in a direction. You can do that at Davidson or UCLA or wherever and be equally successful. In the end, though, it’s best to avoid crippling debt and having to plan around living at home for an extra 5 years.
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I think that a gap year is a very good idea for you. I also think it would be very beneficial for you to work with with a professional counselor and, among other things, learn some coping mechanisms for when you’re going through periods of great indecisiveness and anxiety.
Perhaps after working with a counselor you will decide that Davidson is the right path, or maybe you will decide to apply to different schools for SY23-24, or maybe you will decide on an entirely different plan. But I think you need more assistance than the CC community can provide.
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Btw I doubt 10% of kids know what they want at 18 or know even what exists. Thinking u know and knowing…vastly different. You’ll one day be in a job you have no idea exists. Even in your industry.
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Agree. And the last thing I will say to @7Steps_22 – other than sincere good luck and good wishes and please keep us posted – is that being undecided at a school like UCLA is really hard. My son went in undeclared this year as a freshman, and I can’t count the times he has warned his younger sister not to do that. The academic counseling and advising is really limited for students who aren’t sure of what they are doing. It’s a giant school. You need to know what you want and how to advocate for yourself. I can see that being a really bad match for you, OP. Davidson, on the contrary, is small and so personalized. It’s the best educational experience my husband had bar none. Just outstanding attention to your individual concerns.
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Davidson as a school seems great. There’s just nothing I would be interested in majoring in there. No programs I like. UCLA commits me to one career and one only. No more exploring.
The CS major at Davidson seems very doable. Please map out the four year program for CS at both ucla and Davidson.
Davidson is only one math course, four required cs courses and five electives.
Very, very doable.
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Why not CS at Davidson?