<p>(Cross posted with your post, above!!)</p>
<p>I might be adding another dimension here: I think you need to know clearly from your parents what their financial expectations are. You might already know, and you surely don't need to share that here, but I'm just saying to factor that element into the advice you get on a board like this.</p>
<p>Since you had both private and public schools on your list, people reading might be assuming finances are not in your way, or that your folks have encouraged you to go ahead and apply to private schools, too. In that case, Alexa makes a good point to consider widening your geographic horizons. This could be the time in your life to see something other than California, is what I think alexa's suggestion meant to me.</p>
<p>If, however, you'll be needing financial help or lower tuition bills, then it's not just a matter of where your SAT's would lead you to, but also what your family can afford.
And there are travel costs to get around by plane. Plus emotional realities of how near or far from your family you might be during the next 4 years. </p>
<p>Finances and emotional/family feelings also factor in to a decision whether or not to look beyond your home state.</p>
<p>There's a very large difference in tuition between a place like NYU and an what an instate resident pays for a UC. But if you need or can get financial aid from a private college, the differential in tuition plus travel costs might be quite worth it to you. </p>
<p>Without knowing your family's needs and situation, I wanted to simply raise that flag now. Be sure to be in close communication with your family now, while you make the list.</p>
<p>Every year there are some on CC who didn't do that, and apply to both public and private colleges (or more/less inexpensive places). When the results come in and it's time to choose, that's NOT the time to hear your parents say, "But we only intended to send you to a school that would cost us less than X" or "we are delighted you got into that fancy college but we'll be run over by a truck before we'd consider sending you 3,000 miles away, so: no."</p>
<p>Sometimes students also put colleges on their lists as emotional or financial "stretchers" for their families, thinking if I get in there, THEN we'll face that conversation. That's okay but realize what you're doing when you put something on the list that would greatly surprise your parents. </p>
<p>Also, some parents say, "Apply to the privates and publics. If you get into both, WE"LL SEE how the financial aid packages compare and what kinds of aid the private will give you." Sometimes students only remember the first sentence of that conversation, which causes heartache later on.</p>
<p>But if you've already been through that discussion with your family, and they support the idea of your applying to private colleges on the West Coast, then I agree with alexla to think if you want to open up your scope to consider out-of-state schools as well. Perhaps there are private colleges in Oregon or Washington state, or any other region of the country. </p>
<p>That given, there are folks who really feel so loyal and comfortable in their home state, that that IS reason to stay in place there. </p>
<p>Only you know. But my point is: be in CLOSE COMMUNICATION with your family NOW as you make the list.</p>
<p>PS, What happened to us was funny and informative to others, perhaps. The older 2 wanted liberal arts majors. We said we have limited resources, and living in the Northeast there were so many choices it was more than they could even deal with! We said, just just apply to schools within an 8 hour drive, so we can afford the transportation costs.
Within that geographic range were publics, privates in all kinds of categories. The older 2 each found their happy place: great private schools with enough financial aid we could afford them, and off they went. </p>
<p>The youngest had a whole different idea. He wanted to major in film/screenwriting so he had his eye on California. We had told the older two, "don't apply west of the Mississippi River.." but this didn't make sense for the youngest, given his desired major. So he applied on the East and West coasts, to an instate public and private schools on both coasts. Of all the luck, his best academic offering and strongest financial aid came from a place in California. Even factoring in the airfares, we were better off sending him there.
In his case, by "stretching" us emotionally and including 2 California schools on his list, he ended up getting there after all. But if the financial aid had not been forthcoming from the California school, he also would have understood if we had to say, "No, sorry, you'lll just have to take Choice #2 of the ones that accepted you here in the East, and someday you'll get to California on your own steam." You can see the emotional difference. If we had to say "no" to the distant private school that took him (and thankfully we could say "yes" due to the partial support they offered), he would have been crushed. "I got into there, and now you say I can't GO???!!!"</p>
<p>So this is the time to get on the same page as your parents with the lists. </p>
<p>I can understand how families would say, "Apply to a private; apply to a distant location...and we'll see what kind of aid they offer to COMPARE." That's different than your getting a clean go-ahead to apply anywhere in the country or on the economic scale that your SAT's might suggest.</p>
<p>I'm mindful that there are also families in the USA who can actually write a check for $40K or $50K annually without batting an eye. They have the kind of resources so that this feels like just another utility bill might feel to me, as a middle-class parent. </p>
<p>That's the meaning of that phrase that parents throw out: "if finances are of no issue for you..." If that's your situation, you have tremendous economic freedom (and I hope you treasure it!) to apply anywhere you wish. Otherwise, be in close understanding of your parents' words so you aren't upset later. </p>
<p>And good luck, wherever you apply.</p>
<p>adding as an edit after reading your post above, "PS, The weather thing is a real factor for some. My son hates being cold so he's a natural for California.
We agree never to discuss the weather by phone, because he's out there in 80 degree weather while I'm shoveling snow. I also never tease him about the wildfires because I know that's very serious stuff, too. </p>
<p>It's good you've traveled and know something about what you might like; urban in the East is very different than urban/suburban in the West, that's for sure. You'll be living at a college for 4 years so you want to imagine feeling happy there. You have to wake up and want to go out each day to study and pursue. It will be your temporary home. So if you can't imagine yourself in a certain place, no matter how ideal it may be for you academically, it's not for you as a person.</p>
<p>LOL, personal needs do matter. My Dad got into Harvard in 1945 and turned it down, because he'd just been away fighting in WWII and wanted to live at home! (He went as a commuter to Johns Hopkins U instead, and felt he had a remarkable education there). He had had enough of being far from home at that moment. All he wanted was his mom's cooking and to hear his siblings argue in the living room! After fighting in a war, that made more sense to him than going off to Harvard. I'm just saying that a person's ideas about their well-being make a difference in what choices they will entertain, and that is fine.</p>