Good Colleges in CA

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi ! I'm currently a Junior and I'm starting to get really worried about colleges. I live in CA and I want to go to UC's. But you know.. no one knows what's going to happen! So, for safety, i'm trying to get to know other colleges that aren't that famous or competitive. I know that Pepperdine is a good one but i'm not that religious so.. :o
Oh here's my grades and stuff:</p>

<p>Sophomore classes: AP WH, chem, pre-ap eng, alg2, spanish2, dance
this year: AP eng, AP psych, AP enviromental science, AP ush, spanish3,pre-calc</p>

<p>i got 4.13 unweighted last yr, 4.0 weighted.</p>

<p>EC: 1year leadership ( only one :c) president in Interact club.
played piano for 10 yrs
1yr clarinet ( probably won't help much lol)
youtuber ( is this going to help..?)
40 hrs of service hrs( planning to get 200 at least)</p>

<p>and didn't take SAT yet. might be taking it on december ! but my practice test went from
1350 to 1800. idk if i was lucky to get 1800 or not but it's a pretty bad score still :/
i'm going to study to get it up to 2100 at least(:
anyways i'm thinking about majoring in business type and some kind of music. maybe music composition or something. I'm not really interested in medical school or anything. I don't want to be a doctor or a lawyer.. but my asian parents want me to haha.</p>

<p>anyways, what are some good schools in CA? except stanford & UC's.</p>

2

<p>Aside from the UC’s, for publics Cal Poly SLO is excellent. Maybe even better than some of the lower-ranked UC’s. For small private LAC’s, look at the Claremont Colleges (Claremont, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, etc.)</p>

3

<p>Bearing in mind that both Claremont and Harvey Mudd recently topped the list of most expensive colleges in the US…</p>

4

<p>You know that the UCs only use the grades from the sophomore and junior year, and your sophomore grades are excellent. If you keep this up you will have no trouble getting into at least some UCs. </p>

<p>CSU Northridge is very good for both business and music. It may be a safety for you.</p>

<p>For business, Claremont is very good. </p>

<p>Even though you’re not religious, you might feel comfortable at the Catholic schools such as University of San Diego. The Catholic schools tend to be more liberal than, say, Pepperdine. Also a school like California Lutheran in Thousand Oaks would be a safety for you, and they have a good business school and have many non-Christians. (Plus they give merit aid.) You will get a couple of required religion courses at these schools but there are many course options to choose from and you should have no trouble finding something you are comfortable with.</p>

5

<p>Don’t be worried. You sound on track to be UC qualified, so you just make a good application and see if you get into the more selective ones, put a couple of the less selective and you are good. Focus on your classes and doing well.</p>

<p>Head over to the SAT[preparation section and read the pinned threads with study guide tips. If you work at it you have a good chance to up your score.
[SAT</a> Preparation - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/]SAT”>SAT Preparation - College Confidential Forums)</p>

6

<p>A 4.0 unweighed should reliably get you into UCR and UCM. </p>

<p>Despite that, consider USC, CKC, Cal Poly.</p>

7

<p>You may want to consider Chapman and LMU. Neither are particularly religious. </p>

<p>SDSU’s b-school is also extremely reputable and the social scene at San Diego State trumps almost every other CSU. No idea about its music program.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>All 5 Claremont colleges also are on the following list:
[63</a> Colleges With the Best Financial Aid - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37244545/63-colleges-with-the-best-financial-aid/]63”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37244545/63-colleges-with-the-best-financial-aid/)</p>

<p>Pomona’s net cost after average need-based aid is about $20K.
However, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, and CMK are more selective schools than the UCs.</p>

<p>If your standard for “good schools” is Stanford & the UCs (or the Claremonts), then you’ll have more/better selection outside California. </p>

<p>It will be very challenging to raise SAT scores from ~1800 to 2100 or above. See: <a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/retake[/url]”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board;

</p>

<p>So, you might want to try the ACT. Better yet, broaden your search to include test-optional schools in and outside CA.</p>