Aloha, my daughter would LOVE to go to a California school for Biomedical Engineering. She graduates in 2016.
Her stats:
4.0 unweighted
2120 SAT - taking again in June
AP World History - 5
Just took her AP Calculus & English Language - we’ll see…
Senior year - mostly taking dual credit classes at a CC - Calculus 2, Literature, Microbiology w/ lab
Outside chance she will qualify for the National Merit Scholarship, but we aren’t holding our breath
She works @ 20 hours a week & has been on an outrigger paddling team since she was 10, but otherwise does not have a lot of ECs.
Financially, we have made it very clear we can provide $15,000 a year for four years, and maybe an occasional care package, but only if she keeps her grades up.
So, UC schools and really any public school that is not part of WUE are out. Of the WUE schools (150% of instate tuition), Chico is the clear winner for her (even though no Biomedical). I ran the Cost of Attendance calculator, and Santa Clara University might be a fit, if she gets the best possible aid package, although she is concerned because she considers herself agnostic. I think USC would be a reach with her stats.
Any other ideas? We are looking at schools in other states, but again, she’s California Dreamin’. Thanks!
I think USC would be within her reach but her Stats may not be enough for merit aid and at best, she may only get $25K in FA. Harvey Mudd, Univ of San Diego and Univ of the Pacific may also be an options but again much will be depend upon how much FA she will be able to get to afford the high price tag. I personally see no options other than Chico that are affordable in CA. Majority of CA publics are unafforable as an OOS applicant and only a few of the privates have her intended major along with the high pricetag and probably not enough FA. Sorry I cannot be more help. Also remember BME majors require grad school for the best job oppprtunities. Good luck on your search.
Thanks for the reply, @gumbymom, and I agree with everything you said. Another good thing for me about Chico is that is does NOT have her intended major, “forcing” her to take a different engineering track that could lead to a good job with an just an undergraduate degree. We visited Chico in October are were pleasantly shocked by how much we liked it.
Other WUE schools that could work are Colorado State and Northern Arizona University. Fun fact: even though they offer merit aid beyond the WUE rate, they are still more expensive than the CSU WUE rate.
Temple and Alabama are on our radar because she would qualify automatically for a full tuition scholarship. Both would be a huge culture change from Hawaii, but heck, that’s what leaving home and expanding your horizons is all about.
Since students often change their mind regarding majors, I think having many engineering options is a good plan. Also, ME and EE are far more marketable and will able her to do similar work as an BME. Is she interested in BME as an backup for Medical school or just interested in BME as a stand along degree?
In her wildest dreams, she develops a revolutionary medical device as an engineer. Then, after 5-10 years, goes to medical school to become a renowned surgeon, all while being able to afford beautiful clothes, gourmet food, gracious housing, and exotic travel. Haha, the standard stuff.
While this is certainly a possibility, lately my job has been the killjoy who points out how much it will cost to get there.
Yes, biomedical engineering is relatively weak in bachelor’s degree level job prospects. Many medical devices and such are designed by mechanical, electrical, and/or materials engineers.
There are a few rare big merit scholarships at Berkeley (Drake for mechanical engineering majors) and UCLA (Stamps), but those would be considered super-reach for all applicants.
UC Merced offers WUE and ABET accredited mechanical and materials engineering. It also has a not-ABET-accredited bioengineering major.
Other CSUs with WUE and mechanical and/or electrical engineering are California Maritime Academy (a rather specialized school that is probably not what she is looking for) and CSU Sacramento (a more commuter-heavy school than CSU Chico).
Thanks for the suggestions, @Alfonsia & @ucbalumnus. All three were looked at, but didn’t appeal as much as the three WUEs still on the list. Big concerns for her on a personal level are schools with healthy living options and an emphasis on sustainability. Chico has a great fitness center, the honors dorm comes with a huge kitchen so she can cook, and they are regularly ranked as a top “Green School.” @NCalRent, I noticed your son is in Chico Honors. Is he still happy with the school?
It’s funny, at first the college choices were daunting because they seemed limitless, but with little bit of research, I realize it is daunting because I need to say “no” to so many of her dreams.
Have you thought about U Arizona or Arizona State, which do have WUE for selected engineering majors and additional potential discounts for the Barrett Honors (at ASU). Two other schools that might the the bill are Western Washington U (which would meet her sustainability and healthy living requirements) and UC Merced.
@hop, we’ve researched all the schools you mentioned, but they haven’t made it to the top of the list. BUT, if she is a NMS, with a full tuition scholarship and Barrett, Arizona State Tempe would be an amazing option.
@Alfonsia, I take it back! I did more research thanks to your suggestion. Great biomedical and engineering in general and a honors program with awesome housing. I wonder if she could get merit scholarships beyond the WUE? It is really hard to tell what she would qualify for from their website. The only concern is a Hawaii hippy in SLC. It might be a little cold for her, literally and figuratively.
Is it correct that she does not want to go to University of Hawaii?
Remember, California is a big state. If being near the ocean is important to her, then she should note that places like Chico, Sacramento, and Merced are rather far from the ocean. Culture varies in different parts of the state as well.
@ucbalumnus, yep, she is not interested in University of Hawaii. Even though she knows she is going to miss living near the beach, we agree with her that living on the mainland will be an essential part of her education.
Thanks for the reminder to check the abet website.
@NCalRent, my biggest question is will she find fellow students at Chico with similar high school stats and dedication to schooling? She doesn’t need to be surrounded by exclusively driven intellectuals, but most of her classmates are baffled by how hard she works and consider it weird. She wants to go somewhere the cool kids are the ones who work the hardest.
The way the California higher education system is, most of the stronger students in the state universities tend to favor the UCs (other than Merced) and the more selective CSUs (CPSLO, SDSU, SJSU, CPP, CSULB) – note that only the least popular campuses have space for WUE-discounted students. CSU Chico’s common data set at https://www.csuchico.edu/ir/docs/pdf/CDS1415.pdf indicates that only 1% of frosh scored >= 700 on the SAT CR and 0% scored >= 700 on the SAT M, and only 11% had HS GPA >= 3.75, so it does not attract a lot of top end students.
A flagship level school (e.g. Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, or Hawaii) may have a significantly larger cohort of top-end students, even if it is not that selective at the base line. Check section C of each school’s common data set, or the admissions tab under the school’s entry on http://www.collegedata.com .
Engineering majors at Chico who plan to graduate in 4 years work pretty hard. The Honors program will also put her in a more academic crowd. I don’t think your daughter would be ostracized for working hard - but, it is a pretty social school. There are academically focused clubs and activities but, truth be told, a small sliver of students at Chico State graduated high school with a 4.0 UW GPA and 2100+ SAT. That doesn’t mean many don’t take their college courses seriously but, few enter with that discipline. The town of Chico is also pretty isolated - you can get anything she’s likely to need in town but, it is 100 miles from Sacramento and 200 from SF and 500+ from LA.
You have plenty of time. Apply to a bunch of schools and see what happens. Arrange a trip to CA before making your decision.
I’d look at privates like Santa Clara, LMU and USD. I’d bet they would offer significant aid/scholarship based on her stats.
@ucbalumnus, brilliant! I love the logic. I’ve stumbled across various school’s data sets before, but never thought to use them in such a succinct way to find a pool of students similar to my daughter. Cost, major, campus features/vibe/location, and now easily comparable data to find academically similar students. Thank you so much for this.
@NCalRent, you make some great points. College, by definition, should be transformative. I’m sure she would receive the education needed to be a successful engineer. Chico’s magic may be that it transforms her into someone more laid back, social, and accepting of people with different goals. Who knows? As for the isolation, that is not a problem for those of us living on a rock in the middle of the Pacific.
We went on The Grand California College Tour last fall before I understood there is no way around out-of-state tuition and she focused on Engineering (Pitzer, Pomona, Chapman, Occidental, UCSB, CalPolySLO, Stanford, Berkeley, Chico).
This summer we have a family reunion in Nebraska. We are going to tack on a tour of Colorado State when we fly into Denver. After the reunion, she is taking Amtrak on her own to SLC and checking out University of Utah, and finally, flying into San Francisco to hang out with my brother and touring Santa Clara University and maybe University of the Pacific. Woohoo!
However, plenty of people find rocks in the middle of the Pacific interesting enough to at least visit. She may want to be sure that if she goes to an isolated place (like Chico, Merced, or Stockton (UoP)) that the place is some place she is willing to live in for the duration of college. Colleges in isolated places may also not be as attractive to recruiters (many employers preferentially recruit at local colleges for convenience reasons).
Remember also that California and South Dakota public universities require a year of high school art courses. In California at least, AP art scores or college courses can substitute (see http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/a-g-requirements/ ). The art requirement seems to be a frequently asked question every fall by out-of-state students thinking of applying to UCs and CSUs.
@Palm715 you are missing the boat on your daughter’s EC’s! No pun intended. She has done paddling on the islands since she was 10! Translation: She has done crew! Do you know how many scholarships there are for crew??? If your daughter wants to go anywhere for almost free, you both need to check out the “crew” teams for any university. This includes the ivies as well!
Paddling and rowing have significantly different stroke technique, so she would have to have considerable practice to get good at rowing, although if she is good at paddling, she probably has a head start on the strength and fitness.
