<p>Yea, what are the schools for a Korean Parents will be ashamed of? A good friend of my DD is a Korean, she is attending Brown, so does that makes your parents happy? MIT is even better. If so, your GPA/SAT does not warrant that, but there is no reason to go to CC either. </p>
<p>Please narrow it down a little bit, perhaps a list of schools you like and we can comment on the list, instead of a wild goose chase.</p>
<p>Well, I definitely think you need to clarify what sort of schools your parents won’t be ashamed of, but I also definitely think that you have a shot at some excellent colleges. Especially if you can crack 2000 on the SATs and maybe take some more SAT2s if you think you can do well (selective colleges are not likely to care about your Korean SAT2 score since you’re Korean…)</p>
<p>My D had an even lower GPA mid-way through her junior year. She was able to get it up to 3.46 by senior year and has been accepted to some truly excellent “very selective” colleges.</p>
<p>Remember, too, that schools that are well-known in some parts of the country may be nearly unheard of in another, so keep your mind open when you’re looking :)</p>
<p>You might want to look at these threads about where real kids got in with mid-3 GPAs:</p>
<p>I got in without a 3.7+ GPA club <a href=“The "I Got in without a 3.7+ GPA" club - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>The "I Got in without a 3.7+ GPA" club - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums;
Where did your 3.3-3.6 GPA child get in <a href=“Where did your 3.3-3.6 GPA child get in? - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>Where did your 3.3-3.6 GPA child get in? - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
The 3.3-3.6 GPA parents thread <a href=“The 3.3 to 3.6 (GPA) Parents Thread - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>The 3.3 to 3.6 (GPA) Parents Thread - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
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<p>I think in this case the OP has done a good job of giving us info. She gave a geographic region, info that she needs FA, her thoughts on UC and CSU colleges, what kind of class sizes she wants what she wants to major in, her GPA, and expected test scores. That is far more than many people provide. That is why this is the “College Admissions and Search” forum – so she can get help generating a list of colleges. Now those students who just give some stats with no more info on what type of school, location, major, financial situation, etc – I agree they need to be asked to narrow down some. But this poster has done a good job of providing info to start with.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your wonderful advice, my parents don’t know English very well, so I am pretty much on my own for my college search. My mom will print out the family tax returns tomorrow (she’s a tax professional) and I will have to do the Net Price Calculating myself. I will update with my calculations and my SAT score (due 27th), I hope I can still have you to help me out with finding the right college.</p>
<p>As for “colleges that my parents won’t be ashamed of” :
Public Colleges
Open Admissions
Less Selective
Colleges known to be “party schools” or “have bad reputation”</p>
<p>Honestly, I feel that Occidental would be more of a “dream” than a “reach”, especially in science, no?</p>
<p>If I pull through this second semester, I can raise my GPA to a 3.5 (deviating about .05)</p>
<p>I myself want a college that can provide me with a right road to my future as a Chemist, and somewhere I can experiment with my abilities as a scientist.</p>
<p>Thank you again for all the help, it’s making me all warm and fuzzy to know people want to help me.</p>
<p>You also need to know bank account and investment accounts balances (but probably not retirement accounts). Not sure what else… you really should have your parents sit with you while you do it so if questions come up that you aren’t sure about they can help you know if they have certain types of assets or not. But good that your mom is willing to give you the tax returns to start the process! </p>
<p>I am confused about your list – are you saying they would be ashamed of the list you gave? I get the last one (party schools or bad reputations)… but in terms of affordability and reality given your GPA & scores, the first three may very well end up being some of your better options. There is nothing wrong with public colleges – just because some of the funding comes from state taxpayers does not make a college a bad choice!</p>
<p>Loading up on AP classes senior year is not going to bring your GPA up in a meaningful way for colleges. First of all, they’ll only see your first semester grades. Second of all, if you already have a 3.41, are you sure that you can handle taking 7 AP classes in your senior year? You may end up tanking your GPA rather than raising it.</p>
<p>People have already mentioned your counselor is wrong and gave a list of schools I would’ve, too (UPS, Whitman, Willamette). I also thought of Lewis & Clark, George Fox, Walla Walla University, Gonzaga, Seattle Pacific and Seattle University.</p>
<p>You did well in college and an 1800-2000 SAT score would be something to be proud of. But your parents may need to adjust their expectations, as very elite universities are difficult to gain admission to AND private colleges tend to be significantly more expensive than public colleges if they don’t offer 100% of financial need - which they tend not to if they are not in those top 10-20% of elite colleges.</p>
<p>Also, the bias against public colleges is frankly a bit absurd. The UCs, for example, are some of the most well-reputed universities public <em>or</em> private. And the CSUs are generally a well-regarded public university system that is often the very best choice for CA public school students, and students go on to do great things - there’s a guy in my cohort at Columbia’s PhD program who went to SFSU for undergrad, and I met a professor from University of Minnesota the other day who went to SFSU for undergrad, too. So please please apply to some CSUs if you don’t think are competitive for UCs. If you need significant financial aid, they are likely to be the most affordable choice for you in the absence of large merit scholarships (which with a 3.41 you are not extremely competitive for), and you don’t want to get into a situation in which April 2015 rolls around and you can’t afford any of the colleges on your list. You could potentially transfer from a CSU into a UC later if you do well in school.</p>
<p>@intparent
I was very naive about colleges, and I only started my college search today. 
I looked at Humbolt, and I think it’s a very nice college. For my parents, it’s all about their pride and what they can say to their “friends” when they’re talking about where they sent their sons and daughters too, so it was a list generated from misconceptions and ignorance.</p>
<p>At this point, I’m letting go of the unrealistically high expectations my parents have, and stop suffocating from their hopes of a “miracle”. I want to start visiting schools, and Occidental came up a lot, and it’s a college I’ve heard of and would be proud to be in, and someone else suggested UAlabama for their generous scholarships and grants.</p>
<p>Your list was very helpful, and I glanced at each one, and I hope I can find something more fit for me once my results come out. :)</p>
<p>@juillet
Thank you for your wonderful comment. I don’t know how to ediit my OP, but I learned so much in one day. As I mentioned to intparent, it’s my first day of college search and I didn’t know the potential and quality of the colleges that my parents would “look down upon”. In the long run, it’s if I can be happy and find my course and succeed, right? So I decided to ignore their expectations and start facing reality.
I visited CSULA, and I kind of generalized CSU’s as bustling, Community-College-like atmosphere with crowded, large classrooms. I did a little more research, and CSU atmospheres fluctuate depending where they are, and I had no idea.</p>
<p>With my parent’s financial support being projected as minimal, I want to be somewhere where I won’t be buried by the horrendous <em>gasp</em> Student. Loans.</p>
<p>CSU Los Angeles is completely different from Humboldt State, CSU Monterrey Bay, or any number of Cal States which have higher than average residential populations. It is generally considered one of the academically weakest Cal States as it attempts to educate the products of the “famed” LAUSD.
You may also want to look into UC Merced although it’s in the middle of ugly nowhere. You will get in, and if you qualify for blue and gold, get substantial grant aid.</p>
<p>You can prepare a substantial “brag list” for almost all of the schools that have been suggested. Seriously, just read some of the admissions brochures if you want to “sell” the school to either your parents or their friends. </p>
<p>My child is graduating as a chemistry major in May from Willamette. H.S. GPA was around yours. She received a very generous merit scholarship, putting the cost close to the UCs. She was also able to get an additional considerable scholarship this year. Definitely think about applying there. Willamette looks at your application holistically and GPA will only be one aspect. Also, as a Korean female from southern California interested in sciences, you offer ethnic and geographical diversity to a predominately caucasian student body from WA, OR and Northern Ca/Bay Area. Look closely at Willamette, Puget Sound and Lewis and Clark. All are respectable liberal arts colleges in the rainy northwest that would provide you with an excellent undergraduate education, and possibly enough merit aid to attend. Whitman and Reed sound like reaches, but Linfield and University of Portland come to mind as possibilities. I am glad you are starting the search now, it gives you plenty of time to research the colleges and raise your test scores (take the ACT). Good Luck.</p>
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<p>Actually, CSUs often have smaller primary classes than UCs at the lower division level, since they have fewer graduate students to allow for having a huge lecture by a faculty member supplemented by numerous TA-led discussions. CCs also tend to have smaller primary classes. However, CSUs and CCs may make more use of adjunct faculty at the lower division level.</p>
<p>Many CSUs are heavily commuter oriented. Those which are more residential include Humboldt, Monterey Bay, San Luis Obispo, and Sonoma. Several others like San Jose and Pomona are a mix of residents and commuters. You can check the “campus life” tab for each school on <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com”>http://www.collegedata.com</a> and note the percentage of frosh living in the dorms as a proxy for resident students (the overall percentage is much lower because most upperclass students move off-campus even if they reside near campus rather than commute from their parents’ homes).</p>
<p><a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; indicates that if you get a 32 on the ACT or 1400 on the SAT CR+M, you can get a full ride to Louisiana Tech.</p>
<p><a href=“American Chemical Society”>American Chemical Society; can help you find chemistry degree programs approved by the American Chemical Society.</p>
<p>If chemical engineering is of interest, you can check for degree programs accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology here: <a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx</a></p>
<p>Lots of great points here - @UCB beat me to the comment on most CSUs offer a more intimate learning environment in GE than is typical at a UC. </p>
<p>I think you’d be shocked (in a good way) by a Sonoma or Chico campus tour.</p>
<p>Another thing to think about - several CSUs offer honors programs you could definitely qualify for. They may give your parents some bragging rights and generally have a separate application process and well published admission standards. Here are links to a few I am familiar with:
<a href=“University Honors Program – Chico State”>http://www.csuchico.edu/honors/</a>
<a href=“http://www.csus.edu/honorsprogram/”>http://www.csus.edu/honorsprogram/</a>
<a href=“University Honors | California State University Long Beach”>University Honors | California State University Long Beach;
<p>I would recommend that you try to access the schools’ Net Price Calculators via each college’s page on the BigFuture College Board web site. Many of the schools participate in their NPC network, which means that if you create an account and use it when you run the NPC, after you enter your financial information once, it will automatically fill in every other school’s NPC who is using the same system. If the school doesn’t participate, the “net price” link will just redirect to the college web page’s private NPC and you’ll have to type everything in again.</p>
<p>Typing it all in is tedious, especially at the beginning of your search when you are comparing lots and lots of schools. So the CollegeBoard system is very convenient!</p>
<p>As annoying as it is, don’t skip this step. We were really surprised to find that schools we considered “peers” often had widely varying results on the NPC.</p>
<p>Hi guys!! So my SAT scores are out- kinda different from what I was expecting of my breakdown, but I get another chance in the fall, right? This WAS my first SAT, so don’t expect much!
CR: 610
Math: 670
Writing: 640</p>
<p>Tell your parents you need to have a clear idea about what they are willing to contribute for college. No point wasting your time and money with schools that you won’t be able to afford and aren’t likely to get any scholarship from.</p>
<p>I disagree strongly with the person who said the unweighted GPA was most important. Every college I looked at with my son (more than twenty, in all) declared that curricular rigor was the first thing they looked at. They all have systems for weighting GPAs. My son’s unweighted GPA was just over 3.3, but the UCs weighted it high enough for him to get into Davis and UCSD from out of state. We are from the East Coast, but Willamette offered him a very nice scholarship. I’d say that your APs should help a lot. He was accepted at Occidental (with a scholarship) and Pitzer (with no aid). Pitzer’s acceptance rate is under 15% now, and they have very little aid available, so I’d say your chances are better at Oxy. Try Whittier, also. They have a pretty high acceptance rate. They would have been a safety for my son, had he applied - the admissions office there practically promised him admission, with a likely merit scholarship, when we visited.</p>
<p>^ That is really a case of YMMV. Each school weights elements differently in admissions. I took a quick look at an old spreadsheet I put together of the weighting for admissions for Public U flagships and it was pretty even split between GPA and Rigor as to which was higher weighted. You can look up the weighting used on the Common Data Set for each school, section C7.</p>
<p>@"Erin’s Dad" What’s a YMMV? I wonder if my AP’s raise my chance at all from other 3.4 students
@woogzmama I went to visit Oxy, and it seemed a pretty high reach for me. I’m not top 20% in my classes nor is my SAT over 2070. (I commented that my score is 1930) I would loved to have been your son, it’s awesome that he got admitted to schools I want to go to.
@mathyone My parents are still “If you go to a good college we will work something out” on me… It’s really frustrating and I can’t make them understand. 
But based on their taxes and income, I’m thinking about 30,000 combined. I myself have 11,000 saved up…</p>
<p>UC are a special case as they have a specific formula they use that is public. For other schools you want to look at UW in combination with rigor seems best way to get a relative feel for where the student is.</p>
<p>YMMV = Your mileage may vary = my most pet peeve advertising phrase ever = means you may get diff results</p>