Chances for California Engineer Wannabe

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi Parent Forum. </p>

<p>I know you guys generally don't do chances, but I'm going to stick my neck out. A friend's nephew is visiting from California this week. He is desperate to go to college, but because I don't live in Cal, I don't have great perspective on where he fits. He goes to a big school with few GC's, and doesn't know them/feels they are too busy to help him. He can get great recs from math and science teachers.</p>

<p>30/800 Class Rank
3.7 Weighted GPA
SAT CR 650 M 670 W 630
SAT II Lit 580 US Hist 680 Math II 570
AP US Hist 5 AP Lit 3</p>

<p>Senior classes: AP P of D, AP English, AP Calc BC, AP Econ and a couple of required classes. Will likely get all A's and raise GPA and class standing a little.</p>

<p>EC's: not much:
Academic Decathlon team member 10,11,12 and current president. Placed 3rd in Math at the county level. </p>

<p>Mock Trial</p>

<p>Less than 100 hours of community service during high school.</p>

<p>Never had a paying job. Works hard in school, helps with younger siblings, and puts about 15 hours per week into academic decathlon/mock trial.</p>

<p>Attended a summer 3 week resident session at Berkeley's Engineering school and fell in love with civil engineering and Cal.</p>

<p>URM Hispanic Male Bilingual Spanish/English, English first
Single Parent with 2 younger siblings, Dad never in the picture.
Mom finished college, works as a teacher, and they don't have any money saved for college.
This kid is scrambling to get out of a bad neighborhood/tough school.
Should be able to write compelling essay. He's articulate, bright and sensitive.<br>
He would be fantastic in interviews.</p>

<p>What are chances for acceptance at and financial aid from:</p>

<p>UC Berkeley
UC Riverside
UC Davis
Occidental
Pomona</p>

<p>Cornell (I know need blind for these, but chances?)
Columbia</p>

<p>Also, please suggest other schools (especially California or the west) that would grant acceptance, and meet financial need.</p>

<p>A million thanks for any help with this.</p>

2

<p>Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They even have a Society of Hispanic Engineers club. He needs to apply by the end of this month. For the UC's and Cal States end of Nov is the deadline.
He should also look at Cal Poly Pomona.
Also look at Univ of the Pacific. I am not sure what engineering majors they have but I know they give good financial aid.
Did a quick check on Univ of the Pacific- they do have Civil Engineering and it is accredited. They also have a club for Hispanic Engineering students. The student body is diverse. I know they give merit aid for stats less then your friend.</p>

3

<p>I don't believe Occidental and Pomona have engineering.</p>

<p>UCMerced is anxious for applicants.</p>

<p>Some CalStates have engineering including CalMaritime, a small CalState in the Bay area.</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.csumentor.edu/%5DCSUMentor%5B/url"&gt;http://www.csumentor.edu/]CSUMentor[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>This website makes it easy to explore the CalState campuses.</p>

<p>Applications are due THIS MONTH.</p>

4

<p>Also agree with the CalPoly suggestions.</p>

<p>UCs and CalStates don't generally see the senior grades. They generally base their decision on sophomore and junior grades only.</p>

5

<p>Santa Clara University is another worth a look unless he wants a larger school. Well respected engineering program and they are interested in male applicants and URMs. In addition, from my research, qualified kids are often able to afford a private education for less than one at a UC, Good Luck!!</p>

6

<p>Thank you all so much. We filled out the UC and Common Apps last night, except for essays, so we WILL be pushing the send button before Nov. 30. We'll get right on Cal Poly and others ASAP.</p>

7

<p>Also look into Western Tuition Exchange and see what schools might work for him.
You can do a search and come up with schools that offer Civil Engineering. It doesn't include all schools in a state but is worth a look.
Also check and see what other UC's and Cal States offer engineering.</p>

8

<p>With the stats you gave UCB is a reach, UCR should be okay, UCD he's in the ballpark for. He should also consider UCI and UCSC. He could try UCLA and UCSD but those would also be reaches but they're only another checkbox on the app and some more money. As another poster stated he should also consider UC Merced. UCM is fairly new though so just make sure they have the programs he wants to major in. I think he should get into at least a couple of the UCs given what you stated. Many of the UCs are tops as far as engineering programs go. The advice on CalPoly was good as well. </p>

<p>The UCs don't use race as a factor in admissions so URM status won't help in that regard. The single parent household and possibly the financial situation might help though since the UCs add points for these circumstances.</p>

9

<p>Don't forget about USC! They give out lots of financial aid, and have one of the top 10 Engineering schools in the country!</p>

10

<p>Good choices mentioned in Calif ESP cal Poly but I would also look over the border to University of Nevada Reno. Your stats could get you some money there and it has a very solid Engineering college. Oregon State is also making a big push in Engineering right now and they have been meeting full need for the right students.</p>

11

<p>Second Santa Clara University, for all of the reasons historymom mentioned. I would have posted pretty much word for word what she said, if she hadn't beaten me to it. :)</p>

12

<p>You guys are great. This boy is so deserving of a chance. I think I'll be happier for his college match than my own D, at this point.</p>

13

<p>Another one to consider - San Jose State. One of its big advantages is that it's in the heart of the Silicon Valley so there are lots of internship possibilities for one in engineering. Santa Clara U has this advantage as well (as do Stanford and UCB).</p>

14

<p>^Not for Civil Engineering. OP's interest in Civil Engineering.</p>

15

<p>^^ I missed the 'Civil' part.</p>

16

<p>His chances at Berkeley might also change if his UC GPA is higher then 3.7. You only calculate the UC GPA on 10th and 11th grade grades and only certain UC approved classes.
I think Chico also has civil engineering.</p>