Also, since you are local to SJSU, our guidance counselors claim that they will favor a local student over a non local all other things being equal. I don’t remember you mentioning which country you came from? But, San Jose as you know from living here, has such a diverse population with various communities that other geographic locations can lack. You may miss that if you leave. It is well regarded and also impacted as others want to go there. The tuition is not the expensive part…its the rent!!! If you get along with your parents and they are ok with you staying there…consider your options.
Also, I forgot to mention that some of the local CCs are giving the first year tuition free to local graduating seniors. That would save you around 6K on SJSU. But, I have heard that going to CC can take students on average 1 year longer.
CSU’s give local in-service area applicants priority admission to their local CSU but does not guarantee specific majors especially if they are impacted.
Here is the local in-service areas for the CSU’s: http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/
For SJSU, this seems to change a bit every year but, for now, "Local’ applicants get a .20 bump in their GPA. That equates to 160 (SAT) Eligibility Index points.
You will likely qualify for a Cal Grant in addition to federal aid.
UC’s will take your circumstances into account and you have a decent shot at UCSC and UCR.
Sjsu is a good bet UNLESS you apply for CS.
Finally, you can attend cc foe 2-3 years then transfer to a UC. In that case, you take and bank (save) your federal loans and use them for your last years.
I was thinking of applying to Santa Clara University ( I heard they offer a generous amount of grants and scholarship) and to UC Davis. Also, just to try it out for fun. I’m planning to apply to Stanford(Chances are random honestly, maybe I’m one of those 1% LOL) Like I said, if all else fails. I’ll just go community. In fact, what my parents had in mind was that I go to community and then transfer BUT if a school offers a huge amount of scholarship, much more a full ride then why not. Next year, I’m going to be the president of French Club and I dropped all other club participation to a minimum because I’ll be focusing on my dying club. Wish me luck.
Also, when does the Gates Millenium Scholarship and the coca cola scholarship open???
Santa Clara is actually ranked as one of the worst in the entire country in terms of providing aid for lower income/working class families. They have some merit scholarships for full pay families but that won’t help you.
You need to make a better list.
Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Davis, SJSU, community college - that’s not a sufficient list.
CSU’s require you to apply to a major - do you know which major and do you have the score to get in due to impaction?
CC is a good safety for a CA student, but you can apply to several UC’s at once, so maximize your odds.
Run the NPC on all 4-year colleges. Bring the results to your parents to see if they’re affordable.
Is 3.5 your UCGPA?
Can you retake the SAT?
Santa Clara does NOT offer significant merit aid. Our S had much higher STATs than you but received slightly over 50% merit award offer, leaving a LOT more to pay. Since you are trying to find a low cost U, I’d take that U off the table and not bother applying. I agree that you need a much better list. Stanford is a lottery, even for the best students, so don’t really think of Stanford other than as buying a lottery ticket. This leaves you with community college, SJSU, and UCDavis. Are you happy with all of those three?
Even if you are happy with just UCD, SJSU, and CC, it’s really not enough, even for a CA student.
UCD is a reach, SJSU has very different thresholds depending on major. Adding UCSC and one more CSU would not require extra work since completing the application for UCD would make the one for UCSC and same since for CSU Mentor.
Alright. I’ll try to make a much more comprehensive list. Thanks for all the advice. So far this is my list; SJSU, Stanford, UC Davis, UCSC, UCB, CSU Sacramento, Santa Clara University, UCM, De Anza College and Evergreen. I feel like I should add more CSU’s… Comments
My kiddo is a Santa Clara graduate. The students whomget top merit there are very tippy top students. SCU dies not meet full need. You can keep it on your list…if you understand that it most likely won’t be affordable.
Stanford, UCB, are most definitely reaches in terms if admission.
Honestly…maybe I’m jaded…but I onlynsee one safety on your list (academic likely, financially doable, you would,attend) and that is De Anza.
I would add a non-impacted CSU campus for another safety: Dominguez Hills, Channel Islands, Stanislaus, East Bay or Bakersfield.
What about Sonoma? The campus is very pretty and it’s very residential for a csu.
Flagging the above post.
quite frankly, I just picked the universities that I know of because I don’t know the other colleges that @Gumbymom mentioned such as Stanislaus. Sonoma, for me, is quite a terrifying place to study seeing as it has been in the news a few times already. @Gumbymom WDYM a non-impacted CSU campus???
A non-impacted campus makes a good safety since they are easier admits than impacted campuses and you would be non-local for all CSU’s except SJSU. Non-local applicants do not get priority in their admissions so if a community college is not to your liking, having a non-impacted CSU as a backup to SJSU would give you another option.
Good news, you’re in California, graduating from a California high school. You’ll have lots of choices. Go talk to your guidance counselor about the different financial aid programs and what you need to do to get into the best school for you. Then DO it. Make sure you meet all the deadlines for applications and FA. Do not worry about the most prestigious, just get in and get it paid for.
@Gumbymom but what is a non-impacted campus???
@twoinanddone Counselor is really grouchy LOL. I’ll try my best! Thanks everyone for the advices 