<p>I need your help! I've dug myself into a hole and don't know how to get out.</p>
<p>As a senior in high school, I was admitted to UC Berkeley and UC San Diego but not UCLA. I decided to go to NYU over Berkeley despite the fact that NYU is way too expensive for me. If I had gotten into UCLA I would have just gone there directly.</p>
<p>If I stay at NYU, I will go over $70,000 in debt. However, it is VERY difficult to transfer to a UC out-of-state--so to transfer successfully to a UC, I would have to spend a year at community college. I'm about to start my sophomore year of college. So here are my options:</p>
<p>1)Stay at NYU all four years. I like the school, but don't think it's wise to go that much into debt (once again, over $70,000). I'm a dramatic literature major with minors in producing and creative writing.
2)Spend next year at a community college and hope that I get accepted into UCLA. I would major in English at UCLA with a creative writing concentration, and would end up going into debt only about $6,000. However, if I don't get into UCLA, I'm screwed.
3)Transfer to UW Madison my junior year (my Dad lives in Wisconsin, so I'd get in-state tuition). Once again, I'd major in English with a creative writing concentration. I'd go about $30,000 or $40,000 in debt because I would be spending an additional year at NYU.</p>
<p>If you are not drop-dead thrilled with NYU, what would possibly be the point of going into that debt? Especially when you have other excellent options. </p>
<p>I'm not clear on why you passed over Cal and UCSD.</p>
<p>Anyway, if I were you, I would take either option 2 or 3, although are you sure you can't transfer into UW for spring term? Re option 2, I would certainly not limit my applications to UCLA; apply to several UC's and pick one after you are accepted.</p>
<p>I think that you're right...but then again, what's $70,000 in the grand scheme of things? Like, when you buy a house, $70,000 doesn't make a huge difference....</p>
<p>Passing over Berkeley and San Diego was a very foolish choice....I chose NYU because I liked it best, not taking the astronomic price into consideration. But I've grown up a bit over the past year and am viewing things in a more realistic light.</p>
<p>You're right, UW Madison does accept spring transfers, so that's definitely an option. And yeah, I'll apply to other UCs--but I'd rather stay at NYU than go to UC Davis or something. I really do like NYU and don't want to give it up unless for a comparably good experience.</p>
<p>oh and I really hate to bring this into the equation, but when a certain family member passes away, I will receive a considerable sum of money (about $100,000). So I technically wouldn't go into debt, but I would have to use all that money for an undergraduate education instead of putting it toward a house or graduate school or something.</p>
<p>If you're really set on going to UCLA then I would definitely go to a California Community College for a year; you will definitely improve your chances of getting accepted this way. How did you do your first year at NYU?</p>
<p>What other UCs would you apply to from community college (Berkeley? UCSD?), what are your chances of getting in, and how would you rate the experience at any of those compared to NYU?</p>
<p>^^I did pretty well...my gpa was about 3.65 and I had a couple great internships and ECs. I would have worked harder, but I didn't think my grades mattered that much (because I wasn't considering transferring yet). If I went to a community college, I would work hard to get high grades fall semester, raising my gpa to a 3.7 or so. I would also try to complete all the prereqs next year.</p>
<p>@ADad...I would probably apply to Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego and maybe Irvine or Santa Cruz. I think I would definitely get into San Diego, Irvine or Santa Cruz (if coming from a community college), but I would much prefer to be at UCLA. San Diego would be okay, but the school is more geared toward science than humanities/arts...I'd give the experience a 6. NYU is an 8 or 9. One of the other schools would be a 4. UCLA would be an 8.</p>
<p>In that case, I think you have a great shot at succeeding in CC if you got a 3.65 at NYU. Again, I would definitely go the CC route as it would give you a much better shot at being accepted.</p>
<p>it would definitely be possible for you to transfer to ucla from a cc, i did it after leaving nyu. all you really need to do at a cc is to complete all the pre-reqs and fulfill the igetc requirements, which is not that many classes and can be done in a year but the classes that you took at nyu might not be consider transferable. you should try to check with a transfer counselor at the cc you might attend and should have him/her look at the course syllabus for the classes you took at nyu, he/she can give you a better sense of what you need to do and how realistic your situation is. but i think with a 3.6 at nyu and a high gpa from cc will probably get you into ucla.</p>
<p>ADad : "Well, a worst case of a 6 (and loans minimized) versus a best case of an 8 (and loans minimized) makes the cc/ucla idea look pretty good."</p>
<p>but ADad the cc/ucla idea is not 100% guaranteed. when i was deciding to withdraw from nyu and going to cc or not, the thought of not getting into a school like ucla or berkeley scared me. because even if it is expensive nyu is still a top-tier school and is located in a city where there are numerous internship and job opportunities. it is a big risk for CKG to take. the only reason i was even willing to leave was because i truly was depressed going to nyu and i created so many plans for my future if i were to only have been accepted to uc san diego to reassure myself that i was making the right decision for me.</p>
<p>by the way CKG, if you were to go to a cc, you should look into applying to other schools besides the UC, even schools outside of california. and practically any school beside nyu will give you money. one of the private colleges that i applied to gave me 3/5 scholarship money and 2/5 in small loans and work study. it might be more than a UC but for a private school, just like nyu, i thought that was a pretty good deal.</p>
<p>UCLA rates an 8, but it is a risk. But if UCLA doesn't work out, there is UCSD, a 6. </p>
<p>If OP goes to a cc but doesn't get into ucla, the worst case, then, appears to be a 6, a loss of 2 relative to ucla. </p>
<p>By OP's own ratings, then, the overall plan saves an enormous amount of money but only risks getting a 6 rather than an 8 (and could well get an 8).</p>
<p>
[quote]
but then again, what's $70,000 in the grand scheme of things? Like, when you buy a house, $70,000 doesn't make a huge difference....
[/quote]
Well, here's what it means in the "grand scheme of things." (I plugged in assumptions on loan rate and term; you can go to a college loan calculator on your own and plug in your exact rate and term).</p>
<p>A monthly payment of $805.56 per month for 10 years. That is huge. Here's what that means if you want to buy a house. It will reduce the price of home you could qualify for (if you could qualify at all with that amount of debt) by over $130,000. And, you would likely not have been able to save for a house down payment. Whereas without that debt, you could save for a down payment and or use any funds which come your way from a family member's estate to buy a home instead of pay off huge student loans.</p>
<p>pinkwallflower, so you transferred to a cc, then a UC? Do you mind telling me your major and stats (you can private message me if you'd like)? And just how the overall process went for you? I think that your idea about applying to other schools is a good one; I definitely want to keep my options open. The thing is, NYU gave me a pretty good financial aid package. Next year, they're giving about $23,000 in grants/etc., so I'm only responsible for about $29,000 (tuition+room and board w/o aid is at an all-time high of $52,000).</p>
<p>@ADad: I think that you are very right. But I think I would rather stay at NYU than transfer to UC San Diego or even Berkeley, despite the exorbitant cost. So it would suck to take that chance and not get into UCLA. Though you are right that San Diego would be fine and would be much, much cheaper. Your method of rating was very clever and it helped a lot.</p>
<p>@Andale: guhhhhh that really, really sucks. But then again, I would be able to pay the $70,000 off pretty much right away because I'll be getting about $100,000...so the loans shouldn't garner too much interest. But I used a loan calculator like you suggested and the figures ARE very scary.<br>
I think I may try to transfer to a UC directly from NYU my junior year. I probably wouldn't get into UCLA, but then again, there's a large chance I wouldn't get into UCLA from a community college--and this way I wouldn't have given up NYU.
I saw a counselor at Berkeley today (I'm from Berkeley originally and am here for the summer), but he really wasn't helpful. I just want him, or some other college adviser to say "Yes, you will probably be accepted to UCLA if you do x,y&z" or "No, it isn't worth the risk." But it seems like he wasn't willing to give me that kind of information and I'm not sure why. He must know what type of person is accepted and what type of person isn't...</p>