As you saw from the title I applied to 6 in state schools and 1 out of state
In state:
UCR
UCI
SDSU
UCSD
CPP
CSLB
Out of state:
Univ. of Oregon
(Got accepted, but it would be 65k a year, not an option I can afford)
I got denied by every school for instate for CS. I have a 3.66 GPA with multiple CS and Cyber accomplishments including certifications from MTA. I thought those would help me distinguish myself from other CS students, but clearly not. Reason for low GPA is I had a rough sophomore year with bullying, put me into depression and the brink of suicide. I isolated myself and caused my grades to drop to both semesters being a 3.1 GPA. Besides that my GPA every other semester has been above a 3.75. What do I do next.
My options are a CC or trade school. But the problem is I need somewhere to stay, my parents claim they will stay here for me, but they have been wanting to move for years to their dream home out of state. I don’t want to burden them another 2 years of me because they have already done their job of parenting and teaching me. The only CC with housing in my state near me would be 37k a year, which I’m not about to drop 70k after Financial aid on 2 years at a CC.
If anyone has any good suggestions or ideas please help me out. I really want to end up somewhere decent in life, and I just need guidance from other peers.
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I’m not a peer but I am a parent. It will be ok. I know that the college decision seems huge right now but in the end no-one remembers who started at a cc. I know so many highly successful people (including my husband) who started at cc and have great careers. Can you commit to just one year of cc and live with your parents? I would just let your parents do this for you. Twelve months is not a long time for them to stay and it will let you get great grades to transfer into a school at the end of the year. I don’t live in CA but I’ve heard the state is a terrible for in state students as far as admission. Are there any schools in your state that have rolling admissions?
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I could, I would just feel really bad for keeping them here. Problem is that the UC’s and most Cal states only accept transfers for 3rd years (Juniors) or the amount of credits needed would calculate to finishing 2 years of college. I would overload myself trying to fit all of that into 1 year.
The only schools with rolling admissions are very low ranked and most do not offer the CS major and or their credits aren’t eligible to be transferred to a 4 year UC school.
Your rumors are true, very few good options for anyone in the Computer Science/Engineering field below a 3.8 GPA.
It is definitely not the end of the world. Look at community colleges near your home with a transfer agreement to a California state college that has the major you want. You can probably get all your gen eds and your comp sci major prereqs done quickly, over the summer, fall, spring, and summer semesters, so that you can enter the state college as a junior in Sept 2022.
Look at the accepted CLEP classes for the gen ed requirements at that community college. Then look at the website modernstates.org. They have the lectures recorded, by good teachers, and then they give you a voucher to take the CLEP exam for free. You can dig into those starting now (as long as you make sure your high school grades don’t suffer too much). Your goal is to get as many of the gen eds done by CLEP exam as your community college will offer. Make sure that they would be accepted by the state college, too. If you are transferring with your AS degree, the state college will probably accept any CLEP classes that the community college accepted for the AS, because they’ll accept the AS as containing all your gen eds.
This may not be such a bad thing. You could conceivably get your 4 yr degree in 3 years, and very inexpensively. And the job market for your major is fantastic.
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I am currently a CC student in California and honestly, CC has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. It allowed me to take my lower division classes at a lower cost, and I was able to work. This is my last semester before transferring and you have the option of TAG for some of the UC schools, which is an amazing opportunity. I would suggest going to CC and finding a cheap apartment to rent nearby and split it with other students. You can check facebook groups for students at the school or apartments.com to find local apartments.
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I will definitely look into this.
Thank you very much!
will do!
Thank you very much for the advice!
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have you looked at schools in other states with tuition cheaper than your in-state CC, like NC? some still have rolling admissions.
What are NC schools. Not being rude, I genuinely don’t know what those are.
Like I said previously to “sandlappermom” The only schools with rolling admissions are very low ranked and most do not offer the CS major and or their credits aren’t eligible to be transferred to a 4 year UC school.
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North Carolina, I was using that as an example of a state that has affordable, good 4 year schools. Sorry, I didn’t catch that your ultimate goal was to transfer to a 4 year UC school. I mistakenly read that as your in state CC were not good. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.
No need to apologize! mistakes happen all of the time.
I wish maybe that happened on one my college applications xD. It Would be great to get an acceptance lol.
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There are schools still taking applications for fall. You can google that. As you said, they are lower ranked but they could be worth a look. Are you set on staying in California? Can you move with your parents and apply for college next year in the new state?
Not an option, cant move with them.
Ive been looking to try and find some 4 year with potential, but not alot of them have anything to offer thats even “okay” within CS.
Yea gotta stay within CA just for mainly cost wise and best CS schools within the West coast.
Did you look at the WUE exchange schools? Montana, Utah, Wyoming? Maybe won’t work this year but next? If you go to a CC in California you’d be considered a transfer and then the scholarship money would be different, but still there.
You can hope to go to one of the schools you’d prefer as a transfer in two years, but maybe you’d do better going to entirely different school right from the start.
Don’t you get the option of going to another UC school like Merced if you don’t get into the UCs you applied to? Not sure how that works.
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The UC ELC eligibility is only for the top 9% of HS students and UC Merced is only guaranteed if they have room. CS tends to be filled by regular applicants so ELC referral applicants are not admitted if there are no spots available.
@LilFruch: Would your parents allow a Gap year so you can live at home and work for a year, then reapply to a more realistic college list for CS? Many Cal states that would work for you in the next application cycle like Chico State, Sac State, San Francisco State, Cal State East Bay etc… Also look at Arizona State, University of Nevada Las Vegas or Reno and some of the WUE schools.
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I actually had never heard of the WUE, thank you!
I don’t know if I want to exactly go up to those states as they are very different from my native state. But I will definitely do some research on the WUE
Nope, I wish that was true though for Uc’s
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My parents will kill me if I take a Gap year lol. so that is not an option sadly.
What about California community colleges on or next to 4 year campuses. Davis and cal poly SLO come to mind. Enroll in the cc for very little and use the college resources for finding off campus housing. One of my S21’s friends is doing that after a rejection from cal poly. No on campus housing, but still in a college town and can find college room mates.
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hmm I actually never thought of that. Ill take that into mind when researching which CC to go to.
Thank you!
CS is tough. My son was rejected by so many schools. We talked about this together, but he did not really care about colleges. He only wanted to study CS, and he did not mind to go to CC to study CS. Luckily he was accepted to one of UC schools. Just stick to what you are best at, and what your passion is seeking for. I would recommend to take as many class as you can, and transfer to one of UCs. You may be able to graduate earlier than other kids because many classes are impacted.
Good luck!!
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