College list ideas

College Search & Selection
1

Hello,

I am a parent, new to the board and of course have a question.

We are working on the college list for my S, senior next year.
He is in a large extremely competitive public HS. Our GCs claim that the school is well known and respected but that is a disadvantage in CA public colleges’ admissions due to politics. Those same GCs strongly suggest we look at public OOS colleges as the chances are much better than in UCs.

Since we are in CA, he will obviously apply to 4 UCs (with UCLA and UCB a pure theoretical interest, of course, plus he is currently not interested in Merced or Riverside).
However, UCs being recently very unpredictable in admissions, we need to have more options.

We are looking for the more competitive colleges with solid CS and physics depts where our not-so-perfect (but still smart and hard working) student would have a chance being admitted. His only other preference is if it’s OOS, he wants to have 4 seasons with cold and snow (he is miserable in hot weather anyway).

His stats:
GPA 3.67 UW(may go a bit down after this semester)
SAT (best sitting out of 2) 2090
SAT math 800
APCS 5, waiting for CalcBC, PhysicsB (expect 5 for both)

Plan for the next year in school: AP Phys ©, AP French, AP Macroecon, AP USGov (pending the space availability), BritLit
Concurrently in local CC: Calc D, Lin Algebra or intermed.C++ (the last two are depending on the work load at school)

ECs (not much here): FIRST robotics club - team lead, various computer projects (3D modeling, Python/Java programming, Linux installation/config), a bit of volunteering - trail building (around 50hrs), digital music editing for local ballet school (around 50hrs), recreational rock climbing (does it count? he is not on team or in any club), 6 yrs of judo (does it count? -dropped in 10th grade), Russian lit studies (fluent reader, native speaker)

Wants to major in CS but also has a strong interest in Physics (as a minor?)

We are on the high income end so no FA is expected and given his stats not much (if any!) merit aid is expected either. We will consider paying bigger sticker price if it gives higher level opportunities.

After much research, I feel even more lost at where we should look. Our GC doesn’t want to help. Could the combined common knowledge here give us some ideas?

Thank you so much!

2

Calculate his UC GPA: http://rogerhub.com/uc-undergraduate-admissions-calculator/

Your son looks like a competitive applicant and UCLA/UCB should be on his list.
I would also suggest Cal Poly SLO, UCSB,UCSD,UCI and UCD. USC would be a good choice and he may get some FA there. For safeties, consider CSULB and SJSU (especially for CS). For OOS, it will depend upon how much you are willing to spend and if he qualifies for need based and/or merit aid. Only willing to comment on California schools. He has a lot of good options so hopefully some other CC posters can recommend some good OOS schools to look that will not break the bank.

We are also high income CA residents and we were willing to pay full price for the in-state Cal States and UC’s for my son’s. Good Luck on your search.

3

Thank you, Gumbymom!

Yes, we are considering all the UCs. I was just wondering about OOS matches and safeties .

His UC GPA is 4.0 BTW. Also, I don’t think he will qualify for any need based or merit based aid. He might get some scolarships through robotics but right now we are more concerned about his chances re: his grades and test scores.

4

I’d look into Purdue for CS (it’s where my brother went) not sure how their physics is, but they’re pretty good with the sciences

5

Some possibilities
-University of Utah (would possibly get WUE or other merit scholarships)
-Syracuse University
-CU Boulder
-Illinois Institute of Technology
-Depaul University
-Boston University
-San Jose State University
-Cal Poly Pomona
-Iowa State University
-Bucknell College
-Washington State University (he qualifies for the Cougar Academic Scholarship worth $11,000 a year)
-Brandeis University
-Seattle University (merit)
-University of Tulsa (merit)

6

might look at Holy Cross-very good school in Massachusetts

7

Thank you, everyone!

That’s a list to work with - I will start looking at them and will see what my S will say.

8

University of Minnesota

9

You could take on some selectivity risk for OOS because even UCSC looks relatively good with its savings of $20K+. He definitely has a shot at more selective UCs, too. Look at Rensselaer, Case Western, Bucknell.