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<p>NCSU’s common data set indicates that it would not be a safety for you.</p>
<p>With your relatively low GPA, you cannot afford to be that picky when choosing safety schools. Remember that the Alabama schools will be inexpensive enough with their scholarships that you should be able to buy plenty of airline tickets back home with the money saved.</p>
<p>The state universities in California do not include freshman year grades in GPA calculations, but are further away and more expensive than the Alabama schools (and even your sophomore/junior GPA is not going to get into Berkeley or other well known campus, though if chemical engineering does not surge in popularity next year at San Jose State, you are likely to get in there).</p>