<p>Does it matter what college you go to? And is transferring a good option?</p>
<p>While going through my college application process I made a huge mistake by applying to all these top schools I was sure I was going to get into. I got rejected to almost all so now I am stuck going to a CUNY. Does it matter? Will I still be successful? Is transferring a good option?</p>
<p>The danger sign in yur original post was the “We’re not applying to those schools.” She isn’t applying; you are!</p>
<p>It is your decision, and when it comes down to it they can’t prvenet you from filling out th eapplication and sending it in (sometimes it’s easier to apologize than to get permission.)</p>
<p>Applying to a safety on your own would be an OK thing to do.</p>
<p>If you want to start trainiing your parents to butt out you could mention to them that you are adding one school; then refuse to argue about it. </p>
<p>If they keep hassling you then -seriously - think about getting an adult through church or school or a trusted familuy friend to help you work out a strategy for dealing with this.</p>
<p>Good luck . . . and you are wiser than your parents for looking for a safety school!</p>
<p>I agree with talking to your guidance counselor with your parents there and coming up with a list of schools that has their top choices (ones you’d be happy to go to if you get in), plus matches and safeties.</p>
<p>If your parents totally refuse, just apply anyway. You’ve gotta be able to come up with the money for a few applications on your own, and you don’t need your parent’s permission to send in the applications.</p>
<p>I totally agree with kfc555. By the time someone is a senior in h.s. their parents need to let them grow up and not plan every step of their life, particularly if they are just living out their dreams through their children. One day, they will be on their own and then what, their child will be resentful toward them for the rest of their lives. What does that accomplish?</p>
<p>You mention your mother, how about your father (i apologize if your father does not live with you anymore). As a rule of thumb, if one parent agrees, than its a go. I think you ought to apply to as many schools as you like. Try to convince your mother that you could get a scholarship.</p>
<p>Also tell her that being an African American allows you to have an advantage only in certain schools, and to do some research first before assuming that every school that you apply will give you such an advantage.</p>
<p>Doesn’t being a URM only help at private schools?</p>
<p>And honestly, my mom could care less about what my dad thinks. He sent one of my sisters to USC and the other to LMU. I don’t think being a sibling helps at all at USC, though.</p>
<p>siblings aren’t considered legacies. And, I just thought I’d mention that any of the UCs is a stretch at your GPA. I live in CA and know a TON of people that were denied from Davis and San Diego with 3.8+s in the top 10% of their class(including myself with a 31 ACT and 2060 SAT). The amount of extra points you get in their grading systems are very minimal for being an URM (especially considering that they are not legally able to practice AA).</p>
<p>Find some way to apply to other schools. If you really need to do it in a way so that your parents won’t find out, call the schools and explain your situation. Explain to them that you would LOVE to attend their school, but that your mom won’t let you apply there because of her mentality regarding schools. Most likely you can convince some of these schools to give you a fee waiver or something of the sort. </p>
<p>Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>“I just thought I’d mention that any of the UCs is a stretch at your GPA.”</p>
<p>Disagreed. According to collegeboard, a fair amount of people with GPAs at or around a 3.4 are admitted to some UCs (minus LA, Irvine, San Diego, and Berkeley).</p>
<p>UC Berkeley:
* 91% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 4% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 2% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
* 2% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
* 1% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>UC Davis:
* 58% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 24% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 12% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
* 5% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
* 1% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>UC Irvine:
* 65% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 31% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 2% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
* 1% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
* 1% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>UC Los Angeles:
* 92% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 4% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 2% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
* 1% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
* 1% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>UC Riverside:
* 18% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 24% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 28% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
* 26% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
* 4% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>UC San Diego:
* 80% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 16% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 4% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara:
* 65% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 22% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 9% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
* 3% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
* 1% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz:
* 23% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
* 25% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
* 29% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
* 19% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
* 4% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>On an equal GPA basis, it looks like it just boils down to the rest of the application.
And plus, I still have community college classes (all A’s) and classes from the first semester of my senior year to account into my GPA. I could very well end up with a 3.5-3.6.</p>
<p>Hi again, Baddy. Some of those stats you’ve posted put you as low as a 2% statistical chance of admission, best case 30%. I wouldn’t be too quick to disagree with the poster who said the UCs are a reach.</p>
<p>But what I truly want to know is did you try to have the conversation I suggested about the money and the cost-efficiency. I believe elsewhere you mentioned being single-parented and looking for affordable options (or did I confuse you with someone else?).</p>
<p>Because TRULY, you do need to have the conversation about finances – it will TOTALLY influence where and why you apply. Please be warned that MANY kids learn too late in the game that they will NOT get merit money and that they CANNOT meet the gap. Some parents don’t seem to realize how FA work, what they’ll be expected to contribute, or what the true costs are. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have that conversation right now before you’re too far into the application process…since it’s lost in the thread, I’ll repost the gist:</p>
<p>OP, have you asked your mom the following question:
“Do you have at least $212,000 cash sitting in the bank and at the ready to devote to me attending the schools of your choice?”
If she does not, you have a much bigger problem than where she wants you to APPLY, AND you have an argument for safeties. In that case, I might say something along the lines of:
“If I am to absorb any of the debt from my undergraduate studies, I would like to apply to FISCAL safeties and academic safeties that might award me merit in order to reduce my future debt load. It is my life and my responsibility to service my future loans…”</p>
<p>The beauty of a safety is not just the stress reduction. It is the fact that if it is a true safety you may very well be offered merit assistance to attend.
Even if your family has saved well for this occasion, another question worth asking would be:
“If we could chose to spend $53,000 a year versus $44,000 a year to attend equally ranked out-of-state business schools (eg. an Ivy or U of Michigan Ross) which would you choose, Mom?”</p>
<p>I’d also look at these tables if you don’t believe me:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/freshman_admit_profile_2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/freshman_admit_profile_2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>this is a direct link from the UC system, 2009 stats.</p>
<p>average high school GPAs:</p>
<p>Berkeley: 4.16
LA: 4.17
Davis: 4.0
SD: 4.09
Irvine: 4.01
SB: 3.92
SC: 3.76
Riverside: 3.62</p>
<p>and here is admissions by ethnicity:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/fall_2009_admissions_table_1.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/fall_2009_admissions_table_1.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/fall_2009_admissions_table_2.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/fall_2009_admissions_table_2.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/fall_2009_admissions_table_3.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2009/fall_2009_admissions_table_3.pdf</a></p>
<p>My mom is really starting to pi** me off.
She thinks that Harvard is “interested” in me just because they sent an application in the mail (which they sent to basically EVERYONE).
The Common Application just came out a few days ago, and she’s already on me about filling it out for all of these colleges that I don’t even want to go to. Harvard being one of them.
She started to yell at me and I came right back and told her that I don’t even want to go to Harvard. Then she yelled back and said “I don’t give a s*** where you want to go, you’re going to fill out the application!”</p>
<p>I just don’t know what to do. She won’t let me apply to any safety schools, and I can already foresee that the spring of 2010 is going to be very disappointing for me.</p>
<p>Somebody please help me. =(</p>
<p>On this thread:<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/739942-cornell-university-ivy-leagues.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/739942-cornell-university-ivy-leagues.html</a> a student also recieved a application from Harvard in the mail, I concluded to them it may just have been apart of common application.</p>
<hr>
<p>Today I recieved mail from Cornell, and before I jumped to the conclusion that they could possibly be looking at me as a potential student I came to cc. Many users told me it may just be advertisement etc… I found out from a relative that his brother got the same mail as me also today. So now I know it was just advertisement, and multiple of other students at my school may have also recieved this booklet.</p>
<p>I guess if your mom will pay for your application at Harvard, without a penalty of applying to other universities…</p>
<p>As I said in my earlier post, you need to call colleges and explain your situation. Explain how much you want to go to their schools, and see if you can get a fee waiver. Although it is deceptive to do this, you may have to apply without your mom’s knowledge.</p>
<p>Baddy, as long as you fulfill your a-g requirements you’re UC eligible, and the combination of your GPA and ACT is high enough that you should be able to get into at least one of the UC’s. One way of solving the safety school issue is to apply to several of the UC’s at all levels of selectivity. You don’t have to do a separate application, just click the box for each UC you want to apply to, and you get charged $60 (last I looked) for each. You can apply to UCB and UCLA to make your mom happy, but also click the boxes for a few others - maybe Davis, UCSB, Santa Cruz, and either Riverside or Merced. After you’ve submitted the UC app you can casually mention to your mom that you’ve applied to a couple of “extra” UC’s. Or not, but she’ll probably notice when she gets her cc statement (I’m assuming that she’s the one paying all these application fees).</p>
<p>Thought I’d also respond to Elblufer’s comments about GPA. Remember that with UC you have to look at a combination of GPA and ACT scores to get a realistic picture of your chances. While the average GPA at, say, Riverside is a little higher than the OP’s, the ACT composite score is MUCH lower - 23 as opposed to 30. So the OP can feel pretty comfortable about his chances at Riverside or Merced, especially if he picks a major that isn’t impacted. Some of the UC’s publish their point system on their websites, so it’s pretty easy to see if you have a shot or not.</p>
<p>BTW, have you already taken your SATII’s? If you did well on those, they can also help your UC app.</p>
<p>Yeah, I wouldn’t worry too much about riverside and merced, and you do have some chance at the other UCs, I just wanted to make sure that you had a realistic view of what admissions are like at the UCs. Don’t forget that this year UCB had I believe it was 15,000 applicants with above a 4.0 and they admitted 10,000 (or something similar to this, I don’t remember the exact stats from my rejection email).</p>
<p>Haven’t taken SAT II’s and didn’t plan to since I took the ACT. =/</p>
<p>you need SAT IIs to qualify for the UCs I believe. I think you need 2.</p>
<p>For 2010 and 2011, you are required to have two SAT subject tests in two different areas to be eligible to apply to a UC. This is a requirement regardless of whether you are submitting SAT or ACT scores. If one of the tests is Math, it must be Math Level 2. Starting Fall 2012, the SAT subject tests will be optional. [University</a> of California Admissions](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/examination_reqs.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/paths_to_adm/freshman/examination_reqs.html)</p>
<p>So if you plan to apply to a UC next year you must have two SAT subject tests or you will not be eligible for admission.</p>