HELP! Chances/ Suggested CA Schools for Scholarships

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>Please forgive my ignorance here, I am trying to help my daughter do some legwork before we start her actual applications next week, her dad and I never went to college. She is a senior in high school, has wanted a medical career since she was 5 years old. She is uncertain if she will try to go for it and be an actual doctor (I think she's scared she will not cut it as far as getting into medical school) Alternately, she may become a Physician's Assistant, Nurse Practictioner, just get her BSN for now, or find some new medical or biotech career along the way. Our dilemna is.. should she shoot for UCLA and UCSD where she has wanted to go for some time, or as her counselor brought up.. maybe choose a private, lower tier school where she could be a big fish in a small pond as they say.. and possibly get good merit money, maybe even a full ride? Unfortunately, we dont have alot of money set aside to help her out. We'd get loans and help her pay as much as possible, but she'd definitely have some significant student loan debt at graduation. So my questions for everyone are these.. How likely is she to get full ride, or pretty juicy scholarship money with her stats, admittedly at a smaller school.. and will choosing a school like this hurt her later should she decide to pursue med school, or a graduate degree? Truthfully, I didnt think she'd be able to consider a full ride, her counselor threw that idea out there. UC Davis has sent her a letter guaranteeing acceptance if she applies early. Thanks so much in advance.. and now for her numbers..</p>

<p>Academic GPA 4.51
Total GPA 4.45
CSU GPA 4.47
Cal Grant GPA 3.79 (unweighted?)
Class rank is 5 of 628 (top 10%)</p>

<p>Her SATs were not great.. she was sick and has since retaken but we dont know results yet. Also taking ACT soon. </p>

<p>SATs.. Crit R 580, Writ 470, Math 660 (SAT II M2 620 and SAT II UH 710)</p>

<p>APs
Language and Comp-B in class got 3 on test
AP US HIST- A in class Got a 3 on test</p>

<p>Honor Society each year
Played Soccer for High School 9th and 10th Grade, Captain of her team both years
(actually played Soccer from age 4 thru 16, from AYSO, to Club, to High School)
Volunteer in Senior Year at Local Hospital Women's Unit
Key Club all four years, participated with them in many local community service events
Tutors local kid twice a week
Volunteers a few hours a month at Saferides as a driver
Won a weeks scholarship at a college science camp from "Women in Science" in Jr High</p>

<p>Thanks so much in advance.. so chances for her UCs and also if known, chances for good choices in California esp if she has a shot at some big help with tuition. THANK YOU!!!!!!!</p>

2

<p>Her GPA is high, but her SAT scores and AP scores are relatively low. Assuming she gets a much better score on the SATs:</p>

<p>Berkley: Low reach
Los Angeles: Match, possibly low reach
San Diego: Match, possibly low reach
Irvine, Santa Cruz, and others: Match, possibly safety</p>

<p>If not: </p>

<p>Berkley: Reach
Los Angeles: Low reach
San Diego: Low reach
Irvine, Santa Cruz, and others: Match</p>

3

<p>thanks for first reply! and bump!</p>

4

<p>Forgot to add she is in AP Calc this year with an A so far, and AP Lit and AP Bio straight A's at this point. Thanks!</p>

5

<p>Hi trueboo! Congratulations to your daughter on her accomplishments so far - I am sure there will be many more in the future.</p>

<p>Is your daughter designated ELC (Eligible in the Local Context)? My guess is that is what the letter from Davis was. As far as I am aware, there is no need to apply early, if she applies by the deadline, is ELC, completes her testing and A-G classes, she will be admitted. She is likely to receive similar letters from several other UCs in the next few weeks (last year it was UCD, UCSB, UCI, UCR and UCM). ELC applicants are often (though not always) offered scholarships of varying amounts at the guaranteed campuses.</p>

<p>As an ELC student her best bet for scholarships is to apply to the five schools I just listed as well as UCSC. The other three UCs (UCB, UCLA and UCSD) will be harder to get merit scholarships from, but she can certainly apply there and see what need-based aid she is awarded. Be sure to fill out the FAFSA as soon after January 1st as possible and make sure her HS submits the Cal Grant GPA before the March deadline. There are also several CSU campuses that would offer scholarships to her, so be sure to investigate those as well: [url=<a href="http://www.csumentor.edu/%5DCSUMentor%5B/url"&gt;http://www.csumentor.edu/]CSUMentor[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>Her counselor's suggestion to investigate lower-ranked private schools is an excellent one.</p>

6

<p>Some information to start researching private-school scholarships: Check out the "stickied" threads at the top of the financial aid forum (<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/&lt;/a> ) , and check this thread by a mom who found full-rides for both her kids: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>Alamemom,
Thanks for your thoughtful reply and also my first responder, thank you so much. Really helps to have a direction! I plan to dig in on the research of from the links you gave me! Anyone else with anything to add, re specific private schools in California that are historically generous with scholarships also would be great! Good luck to all.
~trueboo</p>

8

<p>Hi guys,
I am reposting my original question with an update and would really really appreciate any new feedback.. please note the new SAT scores listed in this update below the original ones.. Thank you so much!!!!</p>

<hr>

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>Please forgive my ignorance here, I am trying to help my daughter do some legwork before we start her actual applications next week, her dad and I never went to college. (Her grandparents both UCLA grads though so does that matter for anything?) She is a senior in high school, has wanted a medical career since she was 5 years old. She is uncertain if she will try to go for it and be an actual doctor (I think she's scared she will not cut it as far as getting into medical school) Alternately, she may become a Physician's Assistant, Nurse Practictioner, just get her BSN for now, or find some new medical or biotech career along the way. Our dilemna is.. should she shoot for UCLA and UCSD where she has wanted to go for some time, or as her counselor brought up.. maybe choose a private, lower tier school where she could be a big fish in a small pond as they say.. and possibly get good merit money, maybe even a full ride? Unfortunately, we dont have alot of money set aside to help her out. Yet we wouldnt qualify for need based aid either I dont think. We'd get loans and help her pay as much as possible, but she'd definitely have some significant student loan debt at graduation. So my questions for everyone are these.. How likely is she to get full ride, or pretty juicy scholarship money with her stats, admittedly at a smaller school.. and will choosing a school like this hurt her later should she decide to pursue med school, or a graduate degree? Truthfully, I didnt think she'd be able to consider a full ride, her counselor threw that idea out there. UC Davis has sent her a letter guaranteeing acceptance if she applies early. Thanks so much in advance.. and now for her numbers..</p>

<p>Academic GPA 4.51
Total GPA 4.45
CSU GPA 4.47
Cal Grant GPA 3.79 (unweighted?)
Class rank is 5 of 628 (top 10%)</p>

<p>Her SATs were not great.. she was sick and has since retaken but we dont know results yet. Also taking ACT soon. </p>

<p>SATs.. Crit R 580, Writ 470, Math 660 (SAT II M2 620 and SAT II UH 710)
NEW SCORES FOR SECOND SAT ATTEMPT: 600, 580, 660 (same order, 1840 total)
ACT test is this saturday..</p>

<p>APs
Language and Comp-B in class got 3 on test
AP US HIST- A in class Got a 3 on test
This year.. AP Calc, AP Lit, AP bio, regular Physics, straight A's so far. </p>

<p>Honor Society each year
Played Soccer for High School 9th and 10th Grade, Captain of her team both years
(actually played Soccer from age 4 thru 16, from AYSO, to Club, to High School)
Volunteer in Senior Year at Local Hospital Women's Unit 6 hrs a week
Key Club all four years,group leader
Participated with them in many local community service events
Tutors local kid twice a week
Volunteers a few hours a month at Saferides as a driver
Won a weeks scholarship at a college for science camp from American Association of University Women in Jr High</p>

<p>Thanks so much in advance.. so chances for her UCs and also if known, chances for good choices in California esp if she has a shot at some big help with tuition. THANK YOU!!!!!!!</p>