I live in New York and I’m planning on studying in California and majoring in Biological Sciences or something similar (any science, really.). I heard however that UC Riverside doesn’t accept as many out-of-state students compared to schools like UCSD and UCS.
Looking at the stats, it’s hard to make an assumption whether I’m at a good standing because UC uses their own GPA calculator which I can’t find averages of, AND they’re not looking at SAT scores, which is unfortunate.
So essentially, I don’t know what to categorize UC:R as, and I’m looking for someone who can help me with that. Thanks!
GPA: UC Calculated GPA is 3.75
ECs:
I led a Game Development Club for 2 years
Managed an Online Community with over 200,000 members for 3 years as a Senior moderator.
I run an educational YouTube channel with around 13,000 subscribers and 200,000 views.
It also shows that UCR had few out-of-state domestic applicants, admits, and matriculants.
Note that there is no need-based financial aid for out-of-state students at UCs, except for perhaps a few hard-to-get top-end merit scholarships where the award amount is need-based.
One thing you need to understand about the UC and Cal State systems: these schools were created for the residents of California to have access to good public education. They are public schools which are funded by the State of California and it’s taxpayers which are required to have, largely, in-state residents.
They also don’t provide any financial aid to non-residents and charge full fees of $65k (UC’s) and $42k (CSU’s) to OOS residents because they can’t afford it.
The information that you need can be gleaned from the common data set (CDS) provided by the University. Google: Common Data Set, University of California Riverside, 2019. You will find that about 1% of non-resident/out-of-state students enrolled this past year.
Students may be offered admission to California publics, but a lot of out-of-state students don’t enroll. My experience has been that non-resident students do not enroll because they can’t afford the full fees and don’t realize that they don’t qualify for the State’s tax-payer funded aid.
They often post, on this website, that they’re shocked that they don’t qualify for instate aid. They may qualify for federal aid but don’t understand that it’s a drop in the bucket and doesn’t begin to cover the California tuition and fees.
Oh and if you’re doing the premed track because you think that the UC’s will give you an advantage if you go to a UC, the med schools wipe the slate clean. You’re actually at a disadvantage at the UCs. Your chances are probably better coming from a SUNY and applying to a UC med school from a SUNY school.
Other than weather, I do not understand what UC Riverside has over the various SUNY’s. You have great public universities in-state. UC Riverside is going to cost you and your parents a least $65,000 per year. This is likely to increase from year to year. You are looking at something over $270,000 to get warm sunny weather year round. Can you afford this without taking on any debt at all?
For you UC Riverside is not a safety. It might be a high match or a low reach, but a very expensive low reach.
“A coin toss at best” sounds about right to me, but it is a VERY expensive coin.
What do you intend to do with a degree in “Biological Sciences”? If you might be premed, then again there are advantages of staying in-state because it can give you an edge at in-state public medical schools.
Here are the 2020 admission rates for OOS applicants for all the UC campuses. UCR had 1473 OOS applicants and accepted 1166 while only a few actually enroll ed as noted by the common dataset.
Affordability is a huge factor when considering your Undergraduate school especially if you are planning to attend Medical school down the line, so paying $65K/year or $260K for 4 years at UCR does not make sense but that can be said for any UC.
Admission Rates for Out-of-State Applicants (Domestic):
UCLA: 20.7%
UC Berkeley: 18.3%
UC Santa Barbara: 53.1%
UC Irvine: 63.6%
UC San Diego: 60.3%
UC Davis: 72.1%
UC Merced: 64.9%
UC Riverside: 79.2%
UC Santa Cruz: 83.3%
Hi, aunt bea.
Can you elaborate more on “the med schools wipe the slate clean”?
In regards to tuition, thank you for letting me know. I was already aware and I’ve already received an ED acceptance into one of my top picks in New York; my entire family is moving to California due to a job relocation, though, which Is why I was considering California. I understand the aid is minimal, however I think I can get in state tuition for at least 2 years considering we’re intending on living in California
Each UC graduates more students than med school spaces.
My daughter’s Spring term in 2016 had 1000 graduates in the College of Biological Sciences. Picture that graduation rate, three times per year, just at one school.
Some schools have larger graduating classes.
There are 9 undergraduate UC’s.
Five of those schools have med schools.
My daughter got into UCSF. Her advantage was her experience beginning with high school-throughout college. (In HS, She had a biotech course and had experience working in a lab for a vet, learning universal precautions, centrifuge, sterilization of instruments, latin-derived terminology and procedures). She had lots of community experience working in low SE diabetes clinics teaching dietary skills as well as translating for doctors.
Just because you go to a UC for undergrad, does not mean that you will have an advantage over graduates from other schools and states.
The UC’s are very picky for their med school applicants and want a diverse cross of schools, experiences, and students with patient experiences.
Instate tuition comes after one year of living in California with your parents.
If you have a (binding) ED admission somewhere, and it is affordable, aren’t you obligated to attend? Or do you mean that you have a (non-binding) EA admission somewhere?
I agree with the above advice. There’s no rational reason to pay that kind of tuition when you can get it in-state. If you want to do medicine, your best chance is in your home state, because they give preference to state residents.