<p>I'm new to these boards, but I have frequently browsed through them for several months. I would like some help and insight on which colleges I should apply to.</p>
<p>Background: I'm your typical rust-belt teenager who is trying to escape the urban blight and gloomy winters of my region. I have longed to live in California and I will do anything to get a taste for the life on the west coast. The winters here give me migraines and I can't take the darkness.</p>
<p>I am currently a junior. This is how my grades look..</p>
<p>Freshman Year: 89 Average. 3 honors classes and two art/music electives. </p>
<p>Sophomore: 85 Average. 3 honors classes and one music elective.</p>
<p>Junior: Two AP classes and one IB course. One elective (networking). I'm pushing for a 90 average this year.</p>
<p>I am interested in computers and developing websites. I have a portfolio of massive web projects available. I am the captain of three sports teams and manage to juggle working 15-20 hours per week. I play guitar, and participate in several school clubs.</p>
<p>While my grades aren't top-notch, I am involved with many other activities. What schools could I get into that focus on computer science in California? </p>
<p>What should I shoot for this year and what should I aim for senior year? Would an 85 average suffice? Or will I have to work even harder to get into a good school?</p>
<p>The UC schools look pretty good but I don't know much about them. I also prefer campuses within a 30 minute drive to the coast.</p>
<p>California has nice weather, but its college costs and costs of living can be prohibitive. So before you back up the moving van, run some net price calculators at some CA privates that have CS. You will find the CA publics to be very expensive to OOS students, and most will offer you no aid. </p>
<p>Play around with this. Go to a map of California and find all the schools within 30 minutes of the beach. Make a list of the ones with CS. Then look at the Financial Aid webpages and run the net price calculators for 4 private schools and 4 publics. These NPCs will tell you approximately what each school will cost your family. Then take the figures to your parents and see how much money they’re planning to offer you for each of the four years. Subtract the amount your parents will provide from the costs to your family, and that will tell you whether or not you can go to school within 30 minutes of the coastline of California.</p>
<p>You do know that not all of the California coast is sunny all the time? Google California marine layer.</p>
<p>The amount that your parents will pay will largely determine where you should apply and where you will be afford to go. Calif public univs aren’t going to pay for you to attend their schools. </p>
<p>For instance at a UC, the school will expect your family to pay (EFC + $23,000) per year…PLUS full loans and work study.</p>
<p>So, if your EFC is $13,000 per year, then a UC will expect your family to pay $36,000 per year PLUS it will expect you borrow $5500 and do some work study. You would get a tiny grant to put towards the $50k+ cost. </p>
<p>I’m not expecting my parents to help with college at all. They may cover book costs and some living expenses, but not anything more. </p>
<p>Would it be possible? Heck, it doesn’t even have to be a UC school. Are California State schools decent?</p>
<p>I want to a good school and try out California. Doesn’t have to be the best, but maybe on par with the university at Buffalo. Once someone graduates and stays in my area, it’s tough to leave unless you have a high paying job. </p>
<p>CSUs are generally fine, but many of them are commuter-oriented, focused on serving students from the local area. They also tend to have mostly pre-professional students (in contrast to the UCs and other more selective schools which have more liberal arts students).</p>
<p>However, their out-of-state list prices are $30,000 to $35,000 per year, with no out-of-state financial aid other than federal aid, so they will almost certainly be unaffordable if your parents contribute nothing.</p>
<p>What is wrong with Buffalo, and what major(s) are you considering? While campus recruiting tends to have a local bias, that does not mean that someone who wants to relocate to a different area cannot. But it means making more effort to find employers and jobs in a different area.</p>
<p>Run the net price calculator on each school’s web site to see what financial aid looks like.</p>
<p>Private schools in CA might be less expensive then public schools for somebody attending from out-of-state. Start looking at the aid and scholarship information on the CA private school websites. Also, gaining admission to any of teh UC schools is hard for in-state kids, near impossible for out-of-state kids. Many CSU schools and majors are impacted, too many applicants not enough spots available, such that gaining admission and getting the classes you need isn’t easy either. </p>
<p>I do not know about the qualify of U of Buffalo, but I can vouch for very strong CA private schools.</p>
<p>As a side note, I grew up in the Midwest and felt basically the same as you do. I made it a goal to live in CA. I do like the Midwest, visit often, but have now lived over half of my life in CA and do not regret it for one single day. If it is important enough to you then you can set your goal, make a plan, and achieve. I wish you all the luck in the world.</p>
<p>Next step: run the net price calculators for Buffalo and Cal Poly SLO. Each school’s financial aid webpage will have a link to the npc. Run it. Then go to your parents and say the Expected Family Contribution (in addition to student loans and work study) is $xxxxx. Ask your parents: Can you provide me with $xxxxx each year? If not, what can you guarantee me each year? Then you’ll know whether you can afford either of these schools. It’s the arithmetic of every college applicant. You can only borrow $5500 the first year and a total of $27K for four years. I highly advise you to avoid any more debt than that, esp as, after graduation, you want to move to CA where costs of living are probably higher than in western NY state. You may be in the boat where most college applicants are: living at home, going to a community college or a school they’d rather not attend, trying to earn the best grades and transfer out to a 4yr school or to a better school. The difference between you and the students who remain in Buffalo after going to college is that you have a dream to do something else and nothing to stop you from doing it if you don’t allow it. So get a summer internship while in college at a California software company. Work two jobs if you have to to make ends meet while working the internship. This experience may help you gain contacts in the CA software industry. Put yourself out there. Read Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. It’s a classic tale of a young person who runs away from home and the world of his family an friends to make his own way in the world; this self-making is what you intend to do. “So I sold some of my books to raise a little money, was taken on board privately, and as we had a fair wind, in three days I found myself in New York, near 300 miles from home, a boy of but 16, without the least recommendation to, or knowledge of, any person in the place, and with very little money in my pocket.”</p>
<p>An 85 will definitely not cut it. Your grades need to be higher if you want to attend a school in California. Since you want sun, I’d add New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona - keep in mind that SF and further north is not very sunny.
The CA publics will not be affordable at all (UCs and CSUs) since your EFC is likely to be very low.
Run the NPCs and show the results to your parents. See what they can commit to. In addition, calculate your EFC and see if there’s a discrepancy between what the guidelines say your parents can pay, and what they will pay.
Do you have grandparents who can help you?
You probably need a 100% need school or a school that wants you because of your high stats and CS prowess, so get experience with that.
Run the Net Price Calculator for Chapman, Whittier, LMU, USan Diego, Occidental, Harvey Mudd (that one seems like a star-distant reach but it’s 100% so it’ll give you an idea of the best financial aid you can expect).</p>
<p>We are southern california natives. Our dd went from San Diego to SUNY Buffalo and graduated with an EE degree at Buffalo. She is now working for a company here in town as a software/electrical engineer but, she had to prove herself to the execs who were comparing her to local UCSD and SDSU alums. Her grades and internships were always strong and her presentation skills (from SUNY Buffalo courses) have advanced her to junior management track.
As for sunny California, because our city is “near” the coast, we have a large number of overcast days. Believe it or not, California is huge, and not every school is near the coast or has “beaches”-more like rocky coasts, central valleys, deserts and mountains. All of that “beach” scene is generated by your television programs. </p>
<p>Our schools are extremely competitive for our residents and more so for non-residents, so your current grades wont get you in. And, because your parents are not paying California taxes, you don’t get a dime to attend our public schools, including SLO, which is in farmland.<br>
If you cannot afford to attend the Cal public uni’s, you would be applying to the privates for scholarships, and GPA matters for these schools since you are competing with all of the other students from 49 states (who want to come for 'Sunny California) to get those coveted scholarships.</p>
<p>Your stats will not make a CSU affordable. Their OOS costs are still high and you won’t get merit to be affordable.</p>
<p>What is your home state?</p>
<p>If you want warmth, then look at U New Mexico or NM Tech (or similar name). Both give generous OOS merit scholarships.</p>
<p>U South Dakota (not warm! lol) does have a LOW OOS cost, so it could work. It certainly would be fine for nearly all majors, including CS.</p>
<p>Ok…so here’s a strategy for you:</p>
<p>If you want to “get out of Dodge”, apply to UNM, NMTech, U South Dakota…plus any of those schools on the thread for schools that cost less than $25k. Look at the ones that have costs in the $15k/16k range.</p>
<p>Get the HIGHEST GPA you can this year! You need the bump from your AP/honors classes to get that GPA to a 3.5+ range for the best merit options.</p>
<p>You need to start testing NOW…take both the SAT and ACT. PRACTICE THEM FIRST. If you can get your scores at an ACT 28+ (preferably 30+) or SAT equivalent, you can get enough merit at some schools (not likely Calif schools) to be affordable. </p>
<p>Get some ACT and SAT practice books. Ask your GC if she has any to borrow…or go to your local library…or borrow from seniors that you know that are done with THEIR practice books. </p>
<p>Like all the above posters have stated, you will get little to no financial aid from California Public schools (UC’s and CSU’s) so you need to look to privates. With the privates, you will need outstanding grades, test scores, EC’s and essays to qualify for any substantial amount of merit aid. You can always move to California after undergrad to make your California dream come true. You have been given a lot of good advice on this thread, so use it and make some good decisions.</p>
<p>If you want sunny and by a beach, look at UNC-Wilmington, Flagler, and Eckerd. All are good schools, in sunny locations, and the college’s town basically is a resort. (Flagler actually is located in a former luxury resort hotel).
If you get to a 3.5 (89-90?) with strong SAT scores, you’d get nice merit/preferential packaging from these schools.</p>
<p>As captain of 3 sports teams, have you started the recruiting process? check out BeRecruited.com. If you have a portfolio of web projects, you could consider looking into a summer internship with Google, Microsoft, or look for start-ups. Even a 6-week unpaid internship after your Junior year would give you some excellent exposure and California contacts and set you up for a paid internship after your senior year. You may even consider taking a couple years off before college, if you have the maturity and independence to do this (you would be rare indeed, if you truly do have that degree of independence, I just put it on the table in case it is relevant). If you do, immediately take steps to establish residency the day you arrive in California. Maybe you could do web design, even for those two years. Residency requires living in California for two years (in productive society, not as a full-time college student). Just some thoughts…</p>
<p>That isn’t a good strategy. first of all, it’s too hard for a kid without a college degree to move to Calif and support himself for 2 years. Secondly, since he didn’t graduate from a Calif high school he wouldn’t be eligible for Cal Grants.</p>
<p>Southern schools would be a good alternative. My son had an 87 average with APs and honors and a 26 on ACT and got Merit Aid from Eckerd (it has its own beach), but not full pay. UNC Wilmington and College of Charleston are also close to the water. He got into Rollins and Stetson in Florida with some merit but they are not right on the coast although Rollins is on a lake. My son did end up at Occidental in CA but with no aid. BTW I went to UB.</p>
<p>My AP/IB curves should bring my average up to a 94-96 this year which will bring my total GPA up to a 3.7 or 3.8. I got a 1900 on the PSAT as a sophomore and I am hoping to get even further on the actual SAT later this year. </p>
<p>From all of the information given, I have concluded that if I would like to attend a school in California, I should focus on a private university due to this. I’ll look into this and come back with some results. Thanks for the help so far!</p>
<p>Can somebody link me to the net price calculators?</p>
<p>Also, what are the top 5 colleges in California that you think I should apply to if I close my junior year with a 3.6 to 3.7 overall HS GPA? They should have some pretty decent computer science programs. </p>
<p>I understand that California isn’t all beaches. I just feel that California is the best place for me to live once I graduate college. I’d rather make contacts there now, and even get some employment/internship opportunities from a college rather than packing my bags after landing a job there and not really be familiar with the area.</p>
<p>I’m just not into the east coast-- except for Florida.</p>