Help selecting schools very much appreciated

I am a high school junior in Southern California beginning my college search this summer, and unfortunately I find myself completely clueless. I am just trying to find safe and reaching options based on my credentials. Sorry if this question seems rather open-ended, but I am absolutely sick with worry over my chances, and really any help at all would be appreciated.

GPA:
Not sure which one from transcript to put here, so here is what I have -
Academic, W and UW: 4.23 and 3.57
Total, W and UW: 4.21 and 3.62

AP/Honors Courses:
9: Honors Algebra 2/Trig, Honors Eng I
10: Honors+AP Stats, Honors+AP World History, Honors Eng II
11: Honors+AP Am History, Honors+AP Lang & Comp, Honors+AP CompSci, Honors Precalc, Honors+AP Physics I

New SAT:
Total: 1490
Reading/Writing: 780
Math: 710

Extracurriculars:
This is mainly what has me worried sick. I lack anything to speak of in this regard, which I am ashamed of and regret deeply.
I will be working at my mom’s business this summer or volunteering, so maybe that would be worth something? Please let me know what can be done here.

As for a major, I would like to go into the field of engineering, specifically relating to technology. Computers are my passion and I want to make a career out of working with them.

If I need to provide any more information, please say so. Thanks again for any assistance you can provide.

I will definitely suggest some schools but I need a little more information on what kind of schools you’re looking for. Do you want to stay close to home or go cross-country? How much do you care about the weather (since you live in Southern California, I’m guessing you don’t have much experience with cold weather)? City/suburban/rural? Small (<5000) vs medium (5000<12000) vs large (12000<)? Does cost matter? Public or private? Let me know and we definitely suggest some schools :). Obviously, you don’t have to know everything yet, but there are a bunch of schools out there and I need to rule some out.

What is your budget? How much can your parents afford to pay each year?

Are you looking for small private schools or large state schools? Are you willing to go out of state (OOS) or want to stay in California?

For California Schools: Safety would be your local Cal state
You can check your local Cal State by using this link: http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf

You need to calculate your UC/CSU GPA: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Not all your weighted HS courses will be weighted by the UC’s or CSU’s or even private schools.

What type of environment are you looking for? Is cost an issue?

UC’s like UCSD, UCD, UCI, and UCSB seem like good matches. Also look into University of Washington, UIUC, and UMTC.

You should really expand on your extracurriculars. Do something in addition to working for your mom and join a few clubs in the fall.

@justdreaming

It would be preferable to attend a school in the West, but I will consider going cross-country.

You’re right that I don’t have much experience with the cold, and would probably prefer not to have to deal with it.

Preferably urban/suburban, and medium/large. Cost is not an issue. Preferably public, but I will consider private.

@Gumbymom

Cost is not an issue.

I prefer large state schools to small private schools. Out of state is an option, but staying in state is preferable for me.

My UC GPA is 3.75.

@Dontskipthemoose

Thanks a ton for the recommendations, I will look into them.

What do you have in mind when you say “do something”? Is it volunteering or something else?

I’m assuming you already know a fair amount about the UC’s. Definitely consider UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, and UCD. Also, consider University of Washington, UT Austin, UNC Chapel Hill, Rice, Duke, Wash U, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd (I know it’s small but it’s a Claremont so it feels large), Johns Hopkins, University of Illinois, Vanderbilt, Case Western Reserve. Not sure what you want in terms of social atmosphere but I think I gave you a large variety. Look at the niche website. It gives you a lot of information about the types of students. Tried to avoid schools in New England and the Chicago area as it is really cold there. Try to beef up your extracurriculars this summer. Is there a tech/engineering class at a nearby college that you might be able to take? Join a club or two next fall as well.

Your bet bet at this point is an internship or volunteering in something that you are passionate about. At the worst, maybe you can volunteer at your local library or something. But something tech or engineering related would definitely reinforce your passion for your intended major.

A UC GPA below a 4.0 would be a difficult admit for many of the UC’s even with a competitive SAT score especially for Engineering/STEM/Tech majors.

If you go to a competitive HS, then you might have more leeway on your UC GPA but you will be competing with your peers whom might have much higher GPA’s.

At least for the majority of the UC’s, EC’s are important but GPA/Test scores/HS course rigor and essays are considered very important. If you are looking at the competitive UC’s (UCLA/UCB) then your EC’s will have more of an impact. For the Cal states, EC’s are not considered and for Cal Poly SLO it only has a marginal impact.

Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79:

UCB: 2%
UCLA: 3%
UCSD: 6%
UCD: 15%
UCSB: 14%
UCI: 13%
UCSC: 59%
UCR: 78%
UCM: 92%

For in-state, focus on UC Santa Cruz (very good CS program) and UC Riverside. UCI might be an option depending upon your major and make sure you have an alternate major when applying. You can always apply to several other UC’s but all would be Reaches to High Reaches.

For the Cal States, look at San Diego State, Long Beach, Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona. SLO might be possible if you stay away from CS/ME/EE but look at IT in the Business school or General Engineering which have higher acceptance rates.

UW and UT Austin as OOS for CS/Engineering will be Reaches.

Take a look at the common dataset for any schools of interest to see where you stand stat’s wise (aim for 50th percentile or higher).

Also have your parents run the Net Price Calculators on schools to make sure they are affordable.

I suggest retaking the SAT to get a higher score in Math. Some colleges also require two SAT2 tests (math2 + one science) for admissions to engineering.

Bear in mind that admission rates to UCs for engineering are much lower than the overall published admission rates. The reality is with your GPA, you won’t get into the top UCs (Cal, LA, SD, SB) or SLO engineering. Of the UCs I’d focus on Santa Cruz. I’d also recommend U Santa Clara, especially in CompSci.

So since cost is not an issue, I’d suggest focusing out of state. UT-Austin and UNC are pretty much out of the question as they don’t admit many OOS students to start with, and I’d say Michigan is out too. (Not to say you can’t apply to those, but they’d definitely be “hail mary reaches”.)

For large publics I’d try Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, UIUC, UF, Purdue, OSU. For an easier admit (and rising school), try Alabama.

For small privates, if you can up your math SAT score (and take math2 and a science SAT), then you have a good shot at RPI. They care much more about stats than ECs so you shouldn’t have a problem there. They are very strong in engineering and very tech/computer oriented. A highly regarded nerdy/techy school (my D is in engineering there). In the same vein: Case Western, WPI. All of these have cold winters, but that’s true for many of the good engineering schools.

Rice, Duke, CMU are all great engineering schools but a super reach with your stats. WashU and Vandy also high reaches and aren’t particularly strong in engineering compared to the others anyway; I wouldn’t bother with them. Mudd is out of the question.

You would be a perfect match for RPI. It’s about the best in the engineering sciences for your academic level with no extra-curriculars. RPI will land you a great job; any where you go will know the name RPI. The campus is medium sized so you won’t have trouble making life-long friends. As a safety I’d say go with Stony Brook, WPI and RIT. I turned down Case Western because of the area it’s in. Good luck.

With a 3.75 UCGPA - your UC options are likely to be UCR and UCM. UCSC could break either way - worth an ap but, not in the bag. SDSU, Long Beach, Northridge. Fullerton and CP Pomona (major dependent) are certainly worth a look. Since you want to stay west and in large-ish publics but, cost isn’t an issue, Oregon State and UofO are worth a look.

What sort of majors are you interestedin?

@philbegas

Computer Science is what I am shooting for primarily.

Have you looked at the eligibility indexes at the various schools? Sometimes it’s higher than the school in general. For example at SJSU comp sci has a higher admission standard than other majors.

Lots of kids in CA seem to like Univ of Arizona and U of Colorado Boulder. Both will be safeties. Howeve, I no nothing about their STEM programs

In and around Bay Area and The LA area, CS is the most competitive subject among all schools. With your stat, SJSU or SLO will be a reach. Santa Clara is a possibility, if it is full pay. You may want to look North, Humboldt and Chico State or Schools in Oregon and UWs except Seattle. Obviously, ASU and CU Boulder should be considered as well.