<p>I am a junior in high school & I was wondering what universities in Cali would be good choices for me. I'm not sure where I should apply & I'm very nervous about where I'll get in. I go to a private, catholic high school & am currently a part of NHS, Key Club, National Spanish Honors Society & a few sports teams. I have also completed 50+ service hours. Here's my GPA and Sat:
-3.95 UW GPA (Honors and AP sophomore through junior year)
-Estimated 1950 SAT
:) Thank you so much! </p>
<p>Are you a resident of Calif? </p>
<p>If not, will your parents pay the OOS costs of a UC or CSU? </p>
<p>What will your major be? career goal?</p>
<p>You need to ask your parents now how much they’ll pay for college because that will determine where you should apply.</p>
<p>If you’re OOS, a Calif UC could cost your parents $50k+ per year. </p>
<p>Once you tell us if you’re instate or OOS, your major, and your budget, we may be able to recommend some schools.</p>
<p>I am OOS & my parents would pay for school, but would applying for scholarships be beneficial? & I am not sure of my major yet… </p>
<p>Have you shown them the prices and made sure that they are willing to pay?</p>
<p>California public universities (UCs and CSUs) are very, very stingy with financial aid for OOS students… you are unlikely to get any grants, just a lot of loans.</p>
<p>In which state are you considered a resident for tuition purposes?
Exactly how much can your parents afford per year? What is their approximately annual income?
What fields of study interest you?
Do you have other preferences? Big city, small city, suburban, town, rural?</p>
<p>@harvard<em>and</em>berkeley yeah, I’ve heard haha. I might have better luck just staying in state. I’ve been working very hard to get good grades but Cali schools are VERY competitive. My parents have been saving up for me to go to a good university, & my dad makes ~$200,000 a year. & I’m not sure exactly what I want to study. Would I be able to receive any scholarships with my gpa? </p>
<p>@ucbalumnus I know they won’t be able to pay for all of it. Are there scholarships for my gpa?</p>
<p>two kinds of aid: need-based and merit-based. You won’t qualify for need-based, and merit-based aid is used to attract high score students to campus. The missing high score that is going to mess with your merit hopes is the 1950. Do everything you can to raise that and you might earn more merit than you would with a 1950. Look at the “Financial Aid & Scholarships” forum (left hand column of this page), particularly the automatic and competitive merit aid threads. </p>
<p>@jkeil911 Thank you, I’ll take a look at that. Do you think I have a chance at USD or UC Irvine with my scores?</p>
<p>GPAs are really important to most UCs, so, yes, there’s a chance, esp if you bring up the 1950. But the problem with the UCs is that you’re not going to get ANY aid of ANY kind, and the schools cost 55K/yr. Only the richest OOS students go to UCs. Go to one for grad school.</p>
<p>The few really big scholarships at UC (e.g. Drake for ME majors at Berkeley, Stamps at UCLA) are extremely competitive, presumably requiring top end grades, test scores, and something else (e.g. high level extracurricular achievement or overcoming a highly disadvantageous situation).</p>