I’m a rising senior living in Japan. My dad is in the military, so we’re just stationed here.
Anyways, I would like to major in computer engineering or computer science, and I have been looking for a college that suits me. Because of the situation with my dad in the military, I’m not sure if I have any state residency. I think it might be Missouri, but I’m not so sure.
So I am trying to find a college in California or Florida.
-My GPA is a 4.0 and 4.3 weighted.
-My SAT is 1830 (planning to retake)
-I would like it if the college was close to a big city.
-I don’t have a preference when it comes to the size of the school
Hope you guys are able to help! Thanks.
Cost is important, so I would try to get a number before you begin applying to colleges. That being said, you might want to look into Cal State (Fresno, CA), San Francisco State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Florida State, or Embry Riddle.
Overall, there are more high quality schools in California then in Florida since California is bigger and they have many state funded universities (all of which are good quality) Although Florida does has some nice options as well.
In California since you want to be near a big city, I would recommend Ucal-Berkley, UCLA or USC. Berkley is the highly regarded flagship state school of California and is located in close proximity to San Francisco. It might be the best public institution in the US. UCLA isn’t quite as good as Berkley but still a top 30 school and a top 10 public school. Finally, the University of Southern California is located in Los Angeles and is one of the top private schools in the country. You can’t go wrong with any of those 3, but you might need to raise your SAT to get in.
In Florida, I would recommend only one school, The University of Miami. (UF is good, but i wouldn’t recommend it to you since its quite literally in the middle of nowhere). Miami is a good school and is really up in coming. Close proximity to the beach, although i don’t know if Miami is a big enough city for you.
Hope this helped
Why California or Florida? U of Alabama gives full tuition with good grades.
If you are not a CA resident, the UC’s will cost around $55K/year to attend. Little to no financial aid for an OOS applicant. Also, your SAT is low for a decent chance at UCLA/UCB. You need a 2100+ SAT score and the acceptance rate for CS/CE is less than 10% at these schools. The Cal States mentioned would be a better option especially SJSU and financial the cost of the Cal states would be around $36K/year.
I don’t have to worry about cost, I am covered.
OK well you have to decide between CE or CS for some schools where you have to apply by department. The CA publics are pretty straightforward Look at the 8 UCs and the 23 CSU near where you want to be. Maybe do a cut for these CSU’s: SJSU, Fullerton, SDSU, Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, Long Beach. There are some privates to look at USC, SCU come to mind.
If you can afford the tuition then Santa Clara and USC are good for Computer Engineering and Computer Science.
Of course the UCs are great but if you pay OOS price then the private colleges are better for your money.
I don’t know all the details but, CA has some special tuition waivers for veterans and their dependents. Coming in from Japan, you may or may not qualify but it is worth a look:
https://registrar.ucdavis.edu/tuition/residence/students-new/military.cfm
Tuition waivers cover you if your parent was/is disabled due to service-connected disability. Also if your parent wasn’t a resident of California or Florida, you can’t claim instate residency to either.
Since your parent can afford $55K per year, apply freely to any California or Florida university.