I am a rising senior from CA looking to add safety schools to my college list. My stats are as follows:
UW GPA: 3.971
Weighted GPA: 4.354
ACT: 33, writing score of 10
Top 5% of class
Family income is over 100k
Hispanic/Asian female
ECs are focused in music, political science/public speaking, and CS
I’ll apply as a PolySci major most likely but would like to be able to purse CS potentially
My reach colleges are UCB (dream), UCLA, Stanford, & Pomona. My low match schools are UCSB and Cal Poly SLO (MCA score of 4900+, I live in the area), but I think my chances of getting into these schools are also fairly low. I’d like to go to a medium/large research university in an urban area in-state.
I’ve looked at the lower tier UCs but I haven’t fallen in love with any (yet). Does anyone have any suggestions for safety schools? Thanks in advance!
At some schools, changing into CS after enrolling is difficult.
Your preferences suggest adding UCR, UCSC, UCI to your list as more likely schools, although they would not have 100% assured admission. Apply to CS at these schools if you would like to study CS. UCM and UCD are in more rural areas or smaller cities.
For CS, SCU and UCSC are good choices, although more matches than safeties. LMU should be a safety, offer merit, and is located next to the tech part of LA, for decent internship prospects.
Not sure if it is a definite safety but what about UC Davis? Lots of community spirit and is tight knit. Davis is a terrific college town and it an hour and a half from San Francisco ,half an hour from Sacramento plus in 2 hours or so you can be in South Lake Tahoe. The town is in a bit of a rural area but pretty. The campus presents students with a lot to do. Poly Sci majors can intern in the Capital of CA, Sacramento to gain valuable experience and make connections for career positions
I think UCD is a good target/match school but definitely not a safety and as noted as @readthetealeaves noted that you have access to the state capital as a Political Science major.
I will also concur that if CS is a consideration that you apply for CS instead of Political Science since getting a direct admit into CS will much tougher than PS. Much easier to switch into a less competitive major than the other way around.
Hi, thank you for your reply @mwfan1921 . I’m looking at schools with 20-40k tuition (before financial aid) per year. I expect to get an average financial aid package, and I’m applying to a lot of merit-based scholarships to help pay for college. I also will either do a work/study program or find work. Ideally my family and I will pay 15-20k per year. Tuition is a factor in my college search but not a deciding factor. Thanks again!
What you really want to do is use the net price calculator on each college’s web site to see if the net price for you is likely to be under $20k per year. Don’t go by list price, or your assumptions about “an average financial aid package”.
We recently took a CA tour of private schools for my daughter who is also looking for fall 2021. We didn’t look at any state schools because we are out of state and the price is ridiculous.
Her top to CA private schools were Santa Clara and Occidental. Both have strong programs in what you are interested in. But neither would be considered true safety schools as they are competitive admissions. Although not in the same league as Stanford or Pomona.
The main question with Santa Clara and Occidental would be cost. They are both expensive and may not provide the sort of financial aid you need.