Good schools for a 3.8 GPA and 1330 SAT (I live in California) but could maybe go out of state.
What year are you in high school? What do you want to study? What’s your financial situation? Is your GPA weighted or unweighted? What size school are you interested in? Are there schools you have already decided you like or don’t like, and why?
You mentioned in your other post that you received application fee waivers due to family income. What if any is the amount of money that your family will contribute toward tuition? You have to run the Net Price Calculator on the out of state schools that you already applied to. There are some schools that are need based that could help with cost, but may still be not enough. Your guidance counselor should be able to show you a list to see if there are any that you would be able to get into with your stats.
Above post is important. If your family’s financial situation is such that you qualify for a good amount of aid, it may actually cost less to attend a private school than your state school offerings in CA. I know my brother’s kids both went to private schools for approximately the same as in state CA. They received some scholarship and work study packages that reduced the cost by over 50%.
You need to know your FAFSA (Federal system for financial aid - google FAFSA and it will steer you to their site. You have to sign up for this anyway to get any federal loans, etc. Additionally, each school will have their Net Price Calculator on their website. Some will also require the CSS Profile (google it) which may be more generous than the FAFSA equation for aid- varies by school.
I recommend getting a handle on these numbers before you get to serious about the actual school so you know what’s realistic. Stinks to get accepted to a school that you simply can’t afford. Of course you’ll never know about merit aid until you get accepted but don’t assume any merit unless you apply to schools that have automatic merit based on objective data (GPA, SAT, etc.). They exist. For the rest of them, focus on schools that will likely provide the aid you need. If you happen to get merit, so be it. That won’t likely stack but could reduce loan amounts.
Best of luck!
To help you, we need to know:::
What’s your UCGPA?
Are you retaking the SAT?
Are you a senior?
What’s your EFC? What can your parents afford?
If you want a small school, you might qualify for a generous scholarship from Whittier. Otherwise, UCSC sounds like a very good fit.