<p>We live in Ohio. My daughter wants to attend college in California. She has a 3.8 grade point and so far a 27 on the ACT. No extracurriculars. Best subjects math and science, also with an interest and talent for art. Not sure what she wants to do. What would be the most appropriate universities to explore in California that she would most likely be accepted into? Let's pretend money is not an issue.</p>
<p>Are you asking about privates or publics?</p>
<p>There are a number of privates that might accept her…Redlands, LMU, USF, USD, etc. As for publics, well, the Calif schools want kids who’ll pay full freight OOS rates. Many of the Cal States might accept her. As for the UCs…the mid to lower tier UCs might accept her.</p>
<p>Why pretend money isn’t an issue. If it is an issue, your D needs to know that so she doesn’t get her hopes up for schools that won’t be affordable.</p>
<p>However, if you can happily pay $50k-60k per year, then she’ll certainly find schools that will accept her.</p>
<p>Agree completely with mom2collegekids…have to start the college search with money as a primary factor.
When your daughter says “California”, what is she hoping for? Urban nightlife in San Francisco, surfing in Santa Barbara, equestrian programs in farm country, year round sunshine in San Diego…</p>
<p>Well, let’s assume money’s no object: I think Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA are significant reaches. As a full-pay out of state student, I think your daughter could get into Santa Barbara, Davis, Santa Cruz and probably the ‘lower’ UCs. Keep in mind that graduating in 4 years has become harder at the UCs due to class cuts, so your daughter might need to spend a couple summers in summer school. </p>
<p>Since Cal States are in the same fiscal boat, and don’t have nearly the reputation of the UCs, I don’t think it makes much sense to pay OOS tuition for any of them. </p>
<p>That leaves a lot of private schools that would happily accept her: I’d recommend you check out Santa Clara University, University of San Francisco, Occidental, Pepperdine and San Diego University. You should also consider looking into the Claremont Colleges consortium (Claremont-Mckenna, Scrippts, Pomona and Pitzer) though that ACT score may be too low for these. Good luck - lots of schools, a big state, and a big price tag. Lots to consider :)</p>
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<p>I don’t know where this claim keeps coming from, but <a href=“http://statfinder.ucop.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://statfinder.ucop.edu</a> has shown steadily increasing four year graduation rates from 1991 to 2009, even as UC has been steadily de-funded by the state. Berkeley and UCLA have four year graduation rates around 70%, which few public universities can match. (In general, however, it appears that four year graduation rates tend to correlate heavily to admissions selectivity and cost of attendance.)</p>
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<p>Out of state cost of CSU is considerably lower (about $20,000 per year less) than for UC; some CSUs are excellent values for some subjects (e.g. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for engineering).</p>
<p>However, budget issues appear to be impacting some CSUs’ class availability, although some, like Pomona (another Cal Poly), Fresno, San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Stanislaus, and Northridge, have four year graduation pledge programs (agree to follow your major’s course plan and not need remedial courses in exchange for priority registration to ensure that you will not have to delay graduation due to classes being too full or unavailable). Another disadvantage is that CSUs admit by major; changing major requires applying to do so and is likely difficult for impacted majors.</p>
<p>Many of the CSUs are commuter-heavy schools which may not provide as much of the “residential college experience” as some other schools. Also, the students at CSUs tend to favor preprofessional majors more so than liberal arts majors (this is probably typical of less selective state universities serving a heavily commuter student population).</p>
<p>I would like to add, as a UC student, that it seems to be widespread myth that you may have difficulty graduating in 4 years because it can be hard to take classes in your major.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that everyone graduates in 4 years. From talking to graduates / students, I believe that the type of people who take longer than 4 years to graduate tend to fall into the following camps:
- Double major.
- Switched major in junior year, or middle of sophomore year (depends, some majors have more requirements).
- Did not plan ahead / put off academic requirements to the last year.</p>
<p>I think that if you plan ahead, and if you have a general idea of what kind of major you want to do (e.g. ‘science’, or ‘engineering’ or ‘literature’) so you can get the broader requirements done first, you should be able to graduate easily in 4 years.</p>
<p>A fourth category of late graduation tends to more commonly apply to the less selective UCs and the CSUs (and less selective universities everywhere): student needs remedial courses. Note that this was common at Berkeley a few decades ago, but is no longer common with greatly increased admissions selectivity.</p>
<p>A fifth category that I recall was common was students who voluntarily took lighter course loads (12-13 credit units per semester instead of averaging 15 per semester). However, UCs including Berkeley now have significantly higher costs, so there is more financial incentive now to graduate on time. Higher admissions selectivity now likely means that students are more likely to be able to handle a 15+ credit unit load each semester instead of having to back down to 12-13 credit units.</p>
<p>If she wants to go to school in Cali, look at USC, Claremont schools and Stanford.
Those are the only semi-affordable places in the whole state for OOSers</p>
<p>In addition to the other schools, have you also looked into Chapman University in Orange, CA? She may qualify for their merit-scholarship. Chapman is a private school and quite selective. I know you’ve mentioned she doesn’t have any extracurricular, but does she have other talents, such as music, dance, film, work experience or any skills, etc.? Keep in mind that most universities are also looking for extracurricular or talent in addition to grades and scores. Good luck in your search!</p>
<p>why California? California is a a big pile of problems! maybe she should expand her horizons and check out Rice University in Tx or Rollins, Stetson, or Eckerd College in Florida.</p>
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<p>With a 27 ACT, that’s quite an understatement.</p>
<p>(Not that a 27 ACT is anything to be ashamed of - it puts her in the 88th percentile nationwide - but it won’t even get her considered at the most selective schools.)</p>
<p>happily accept her…Santa Clara University</p>
<p>With an ACT 27, SCU is iffy. SCU has become more difficult to get into. If you’re a URM and attended a Catholic high, then it’s a little easier with an ACT 27. But if you’re not a URM and from a public, then an ACT 27 is iffy for SCU. An ACT 27 is at the bottom of the middle quartile…not a great place to be for applicants.</p>
<p>Stanford, UCLA and Cal are more than “significant reaches”…they’d be likely impossible unless the OP’s D is actually a male URM.</p>
<p>If she wants to go to school in Cali, look at USC, Claremont schools and Stanford.
Those are the only semi-affordable places in the whole state for OOSers</p>
<p>Wavy…those may be “affordable” for those who qualify for lots of FA like you did, but for those with little “need”, those wouldn’t be. And, with an ACT 27, those schools would be big reaches. USC rejected a bunch of kids with ACT 32s with high GPAs this last 2 app cycles. And, the Claremont schools are also hard to get into…and something tells me that the Claremont schools aren’t what this young lady is looking for.</p>
<p>“Those are the only semi-affordable places in the whole state for OOSers”</p>
<p>More than a little dramatic I think. One of my daughter’s friends is going into her second year at the University of San Francisco. She was a good student with somewhat higher standardized test scores than the OPs daughter (but excellent ECs) and received a very good FA package from USF.</p>
<p>More than a little dramatic I think. One of my daughter’s friends is going into her second year at the University of San Francisco. She was a good student with somewhat higher standardized test scores than the OPs daughter (but excellent ECs) and received a very good FA package from USF.</p>
<p>Was any/much of the FA pkg merit-based? My nieces and nephews got good pkgs from USF, but nearly all their aid was merit-based.</p>
<p>the problem that this student would face is that the schools that give the best need based aid often require higher scores, and her stats aren’t high enough for good-sized merit at some of the mentioned schools.</p>
<p>Chapman may be a good choice…good with both merit and need based aid.</p>
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<p>Depends on what the OOSers can actually afford. Those who can afford the list prices (or with the minimal OOS financial aid available) at UC or CSU have more choices (note that CSU list price is not that expensive, even for OOS).</p>
<p>Chapman
Univ of the Pacific
Pitzer
Univ of San Diego
Redlands
U San Francisco</p>
<p>All seem like viable starting points. As for aid, I’ve come to the moderately depressing conclusion that it’s more of a crap shoot than admissions, but your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I’m sorry that I failed to look at her stats before I posted about those schools…
I was just noting that those are the only schools I was able to afford from a numbers game…</p>
<p>Pepperdine, Chapman, Santa Clara, U of San Diego, apart from the lower-ranked UC’s, such us, Irvine, Santa Cruz, Riverside and Merced.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. We are well aware she probably couldn’t get into the higher ranked schools which are pretty selective. And it’s not that money is or isn’t an issue. she has some significant savings, though not enough for a 50k a year college for four years without some assistance. California for the weather with a particular preference for Southern California. it’s not a blind choice. We’ve been there. I lived there when I was a kid. We were looking at CalPoly Pomona, Riverside or Fullerton, but we would prefer more of a residential school, not a commuter school, given she would need to live on campus.</p>
<p>We are well aware that she does not have the credentials to get into a higher ranked school, given how selective they are. And it’s not that money is or isn’t an issue. She has some significant savings but not enough for a 50k a year school for four years without assistance. An important factor is a more residential, less commuter school, and state wide she does prefer Southern California, for the climate. not a blind choice. We’ve been there and I lived there when I was a kid. Personally, I believe Ohio has excellant universities within her reach, but there you go. So, more input on the residential aspect, Southern California, and financial assitance at private schools, which I’ve found here in Ohio anyway, she seems to like better-smaller, better teacher/student ratio, smaller campuses, etc.</p>