<p>Hey CC board,
Last time I posted here I was asking if people would chance me for University of the Pacific in Cali. It's been a while since then, and my potential college list has drastically changed. My plan is to major in Computer Engineering. Here goes nothing...</p>
<p>3.90 GPA (Currently starting Junior Year, so this is for Freshman and Sophomore years)
1520 PSAT (Plan on studying for my next PSAT in Oct. and SAT. Didn't study one bit for sophomore one.)
Asian-Indian
Will be doing AP Calc Senior year (currently Pre-Calc as junior)
Dual Enrollment at Local CC for English 101 and US Hist. 146
Volunteer at local library
Volunteer at local senior assisted living center
National Honors Society Member
Live Video Production Club
Black Student Union Club</p>
<p>The universities I am planning on applying to:
San Diego State University
California State Polytechnic University: Pomona
California State University: Los Angeles
San Jose State University
University Of California: San Diego</p>
<p>My further reaching schools are USC and UCLA</p>
<p>@Catria
Thanks again. SDSU seems to be the only real “match” you gave me. I’m very open to what schools I want to go to, and I would love to go to SDSU, but do you happen to have any suggestions as to what other schools in California I could be looking at? Furthermore, does being out of state (currently Washington Resident) impact any of my chances?</p>
<p>OOS chances usually gets closer to in-state chances if you can afford “full freight” (for anything “California State” full freight is $3,793 + $372 per unit, and that’s for one semester not counting room and board)</p>
<p>Budget is my only issue. I plan on applying for federal grants, scholarships, and whatever else that needs to be done so I can go to school here. My parents income is less than $45,000 a year, so I feel I have a good chance on getting a decent portion of my tuition paid. What’s your input on this?</p>
<p>By the way, I’m looking for other peoples opinions too. Please, anything helps!</p>
<p>If you can bring up your SAT scores to the range of 1800-2000 or higher, you can add UCI, UCD, and Cal Poly SLO to your list of public schools. You’ll be able to look into a lot of the private schools as well. Many will offer good merit-aid. Would you be interested in computer science also? Chapman is a private school and has a strong computer science program. If you get a decent score along with your decent GPA, you may qualify for their merit-aid and grant programs. Have you tried taking the ACT? Some people do better on the ACT than the SAT, so you might want to give it a try.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. Just as a question, Cal Poly SLO’s avg. SAT is 1110-1300, so lets say if I scored around 1600-1700, would I have a good chance of getting in? I’m really interested in that school. In terms of aid, could I get need-based and merit based? You only mentioned merit based in your post. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Still looking for responses from others as well. I need as many opinions as I can get!</p>
<p>Your gpa looks great, but was it a challenging curriculum? you need a challanging coursload for UC’s, and they will run you $55k/year, with little hope of ais out of state. You might want to try the ACT. Where you live carries a lot of weight with some csu’s, like sdsu. For privates, might want to check out Whittier and St. Mary’s, and LMU and Santa Clara if you SAT improves a lot. Also Occidental, if the SAT improves a lot, and you want to try an LAC. But I wouldn’t be counting on much money t the last three.</p>
<p>@Shrinkrap
Thanks for the response. My course load wasn’t very rigorous my freshmen and sophomore year. My only harder class was being ahead in math by a year. How much aid can I be expecting from State schools, granted that I keep my GPA up and score decently on my SATs and ACTs?</p>
<p>University of San Diego makes it rain for low-income students. You could also consider enrolling in one of the community colleges down there for a year or two, wait for the thousands of State or UC freshman to drop out, then move on in.</p>
Based on the fact that 1. you aren’t a California resident, 2. your stats are low and 3. your course load wasn’t rigorous (according to you), you’re not going to get anything from the UCs, which will cost an OOS student about $55k a year as Shrinkrap noted. CSUs will cost you between about $25k and $31k a year, and you won’t get anything from them either.
Have you considered some California privates such as Chapman, University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount, St. Mary’s College of California, or University of Redlands?</p>
<p>@LaChicaBuena
Thanks for the response.
If you’re referring to my PSAT for my stats, I just want to point out that I do plan on studying for my next PSAT and SAT. </p>
<p>As for rigor of my classes, this year I’m taking English and US. History both at my local CC. Both of these classes are more rigorous than my high school counterpart so my course load is definitely more rigorous than my last 2 years. As I said before, I’m also a year ahead in math.</p>
<p>I’m not counting on getting in to the UC’s on my list, but CS schools I was really hoping to get in to with some aid. I don’t mind some loans, but I don’t want all of my tuition coming from loans. </p>
<p>As for the privates you recommended, Loyola definitely has caught my eye now. How would aid be at these privates? I often steer away from them because the tuition just scares me.</p>
<p>You might be a match for some CSUs (SDSU may or may not be a toss up). However, you said that your parents’ income is less than $45k a year. How would they pay for a school that costs more per year than their yearly income?
Also, check out the University of San Francisco. You mentioned that you wanted to go into Computer Engineering; USF, St. Mary’s, and Whittier College have a 3/2 engineering program where you would attend USF/SMC/Whittier for 3 years, then the University of Southern California/University of Minnesota (Whittier)/Washington University in St. Louis (SMC) for 2 years. University of Redlands has a similar program, but with Columbia University.</p>
<p>I ran some net price calculators for a few California private schools based on the info you provided (even though you say your stats aren’t set in stone), and here is what you should expect to pay per year if you were to be accepted into some of the private schools:</p>
<p>LMU - between $34k and $39k
USF - between $10k and $15k
Chapman - ~$17k
USD - ~13k
Redlands - ~$14k
St. Mary’s - ~$21k
Santa Clara - ~$35k
Whittier - ~10k</p>
<p>You’re only a junior, so your stats might change, especially when you take the SAT and/or ACT; the cost of the privates might, too. The strength of your course load may or may not influence the aid you get.</p>
<p>@LaChicaBuena
Well for one, I was hoping I would receive need based aid since, well I really need it. I’ll look in to that 3/2 program you mentioned as well.</p>