I’m looking to major in general bio and go into physical therapy or medical. My gpa is 3.4 unweighted and 3.74 weighted, and my SAT is 1830.
I’ve looked at all these schools and honestly I really can’t decide. Which of these schools would be best for my major? Furthermore, if any of you attended any of these colleges, what do you love/hate about your school? I’d really love to know.
Point Loma Nazarene University
Loyola Marymount University
University of Redlands
Chapman University
Claremont McKenna College
University of La Verne
University of the Pacific
Biola University
Pepperdine University
Occidental College
If you have any other suggestions, I’m open with it too. I don’t really don’t have a preference of location or size, I’d just like a school with good academics and community.
You sren’t anywhere in the ballpark of the stats needed for admission to Claremont McKenna, so drop that one.
Pepperdine is very religious, are you okay with that?
I have not heard of all of these schools. I assume you have checked the websites to make sure they offer your major. I would say your next step should be to run the net price calculators on their financial aid webpage to see what you would be expected to pay.
These are very expensive schools, and with your stats, you wouldn’t get merit aid. Can you afford these schools???
intparent,
I already have plenty of safeties, so I feel confident having a few reaches. But if CMU is way out of my reach, then I’ll consider dropping it.
The religious aspect does not concern me much, but I hear Biola’s mandatory 30 credits of bible studies is a bit of a hassel. Do you know if Pepperdine requires something similar?
aunt bea,
My parents said money isn’t much of a problem because my older sister was able to pay off most of her tuition through financial aid. They told me I can apply anywhere. However, my sister goes to a Cal State, so do you know if financial aid will cover private schools like my parents said, or are they wrong?
Thank you for the responces!
All of those schools run from $45k to $60+k. Can you afford that?
Are you instate to qualify for California grants?
Your grades and tests are not high enough to get merit aid.
I don’t know your income status, but costs of attending are going to be expensive.
Your parents need to tell you how much they can pay.
You need to run the net price calculators. Most of the schools on this list do not meet need, so you will likely find a lot of them unaffordable. Your parents should help you do this. You will get a result that shows what your expected cost of attendance would be at each school. Then determine which ones are affordable, and look harder at those. Each school on this list makes their own decision on FA, so you have to look at each one separately.
The University of La Verne is not real strong on the sciences so you might want to drop it. Occidental is probably a Reach school. University of the Pacific has a strong Bio program but again very pricey. Older son got a priority application and a Presidential Scholarship of $15K but the remaining costs were still $45K and he did not qualify for FA. Opted to go to a UC for $30K instead. A friend’s son is doing undergrad at Cal Baptist and planning on pursuing PT so you might want to check out that school.
I would say proceed with caution and weight your options. Review the school’s financial aid and tutition amount and as well as the academic course work. In private school a lot of times scholarships do not always cover the full cost. See if any of those schools have specific programs and scholarships that fit your needs best. Just do not make a decision in haste.
You don’t need to make the decision today. Apply to a bunch of schools and see what happens. If you are from CA, I’d add a couple of publics to you list. Sonoma is relatively small and feels like a private school in many ways. The cost not being one of them.