Help me pick a safety in California

State Forums
1

Hi guys, as of now I am applying to nine schools, 3 of which are match/safety. I want to just have a safety safety so I know I’m going somewhere. I’m looking for something in a big city and I want to major in computer science or cse. I’m looking for schools in California, but if there’s any out of state schools that will give automatic scholarships for my stats, please let me know about those too!

STATS
SAT - 1590
Math 2 - 800
Bio M - 760

ACADEMICS

9th Grade:
Health - B+
College and Career Planning - B-
Spanish 2 - A- (first semester), A (second semester)
Dance - A, A
Honors Biology - B, A-
Honors English 1 - A-, A
Honors World History - A, A+
Honors Algebra 2/Trig - A, A

Summer before 10th grade:
Science and Engineering Academy at UCSB
Art Ancient to Gothic - A (at a community college)

10th Grade:
Spanish 3 - A, A-
AP European History - A, A-, got a 5 on the AP test
Dance - A, A-
AP Biology - A, A-, got a 4 on the AP test
Honors Precalculus - A, A
Honors Chemistry - A, A-
Honors English 2 - A, A

Summer before 11th grade:
Brown Environmental Leadership Lab
Spanish Service Adventure in Costa Rica through GLA

11th grade:
AP American History - A, A-
AP Language/Composition - B+, A-
AP Physics C - A-, A
AP Calc BC - A-, A-
AP Chemistry - A-, A

GPA: 3.9 UW, 4.6 W
Rank: top 10%

Summer before 12th:
Sustainable Summer environmental programs in New York and Costa Rica

I’m taking these courses right now in senior year:
AP Econ
AP Stats
AP Lit - might drop for honors English second semester but idk
AP Psych
AP Comp Sci A
Dual Enrollment Differential Equations first semester
hopefully Dual Enrollment Linear Algebra second semester if I get off the waitlist

So that’s all my academic stuff, moving on to EC’s.

Online journalism club, in a leadership position - 9, 10, 11
Conservation Club - VP - 10, 11, 12
Founded a science camp for kids at my local library - 11, 12
Team captain at a prominent science organization - 10, 11, 12
Interning at a lab at UCI - 11, 12
Tutoring at my local library - 9, 10, 11, 12

So yeah thats basically it. I’m an asian girl in cali if that makes a difference. ill answer any questions in case what I wrote is a bit confusing

2

What schools do you have on your list?
What is your college budget since Safety schools need to be affordable?

3

I have 5 UCs, Stanford, Caltech, USC, and UPenn. I would prefer something less than 50k a year.

4

For The UCs, I’m doing UCB, UCLA, UCI, UCSB, and UCSD. Should I add any more to the list?

5

My S liked Chapman a lot. They have merit that might bring it to under 50K.

6

You probably want to add at least one of UCSC, UCR, UCM to have at least one likely UC.

7

@ucbalumnus My dad recommended adding Davis so is that ok?

8

I would call UC Davis a solid Match/Low Match not a Safety since I have seen high stat applicants get waitlisted at several Mid-tier UC’s in the past.

UC Santa Cruz or Riverside, San Jose State (great CS program), San Diego State (apply for the Webers Honor College), Arizona State (apply to Barrett Honors college and you should get merit) are some other possibilities

9

SDSU is a good candidate

10

@nomood A couple of points that might help with your decision making:
UCD offers CS in both the College of Engineering as well as the College of Letters & Science. https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/

For UCSD where you are asked to choose a non capped alternative major, you might look at Cognitive Science as an alternative major. http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/undergraduates/major/index.html

11

@Gumbymom I think I’ll actually just apply to all the uc campuses

@NCalRent I’ll also look into San Diego state.

@lkg4answers I don’t have a burning desire to go to ucsd, so if I don’t get in for computer science I’ll just go somewhere else.

12

University of Washington-Seattle has a great CS program, but competitive. The school also has a comprehensive list of majors if you should change your mind on your intended major. Cost is around 50K without financial aid. You have good stats. Good luck.

13

But note that CS there is very competitive (no way can it be a safety for CS), and getting into CS is very difficult if you are admitted in some other major and want to change into CS. Also, many other majors there are limited access due to capacity limits.

14

@ucbalumnus if Washington Seattle isn’t a safety then I won’t apply. I’m just lookingfor something easy to apply to so I have an acceptancw to somewhere at least.

15

yes, I know UW’s CS is very competitive and not a safety school for CS. I just mentioned UW only because the cost is about 50K and OP is looking at <50K for out of state schools.

16

@UCBUSCalum oh that makes more sense. Even though I’m looking for out of state schools with scholarships, I still want them to be safeties.

However, that’s not my main priority, my biggest goal is finding a not too expensive safety in California

17

Also, UW’s CS is very competitive due to the hi tech companies in the Seattle area, especially Microsoft, Amazon, etc. and many large companies such as Boeing, Nordstrom’s, Starbucks, etc. in addition to start-ups and others, which means many job opportunities.

18

At this point I think I’ll go with San Diego state but if you guys have any other recommendations please let me know!

19

not in CA but have you looked at the WUE schools? Univ. of Utah for example is excellent in CS and offers discounted tuition to CA students with high stats (by application). I think ASU is on the WUE list too.

CS at UCDavis is very good in both the Engineering and A&S schools. I would think twice about applying to ALL UCs. I do believe the schools discuss admits and you may get knocked out of one UC you prefer since another one is going to accept you. No evidence for this but it is a widely discussed rumor. Only apply to the ones you would like to attend.

20

I would second the recommendation of Arizona State U, with the addition of Barrett Honors College.
The have a wide range of excellent CS concentrations to choose from.
As an added bonus, ASU is a rolling admission school, so if you apply via their simple ASU application (rather than the Common App) you’ll likely hear back from them in just a few weeks. Unlike most OOS schools, ASU awards merit aid to OOS students.
The Barrett application deadline is in January.
So you can get accepted to ASU Tempe, and have the comfort of know that you’ve got a great school to attend if need be, then be more relaxed about fulfilling the requirements for the separate, secondary Barrett app.