<p>First of all, God bless you for stepping in and helping out. </p>
<p>The goal right now is to get her some acceptances so she has choices in the Spring. A local CC can always be a fallback if she can’t afford or is uncomfortable with where she’s been accepted.</p>
<p>As others note, you’ve got a little time to submit aps for the CSUs and UCs. With her stats, I’d wouldn’t spend too much time on the UCs, compelling story or not, i don’t think she’ll be competitive anywhere but Merced (by far, the cheapest UC to live near). Also - financial aid from CA public Us will probably not include room and board so, staying relatively local will keep her expenses manageable. </p>
<p>Privates can be more generous but thier aps can be time consuming, you don’t have a lot of time to investigate, court, write essays, etc. I know U of the Pacific has no application fee so, you might as well apply. The list of privates above is good, I’d add St Mary’s Moraga and maybe Loyola Marymount and USF. Even with financial aid, you gotta get there and back, which is expensive if you have to fly. Think 500 mile circle.</p>
<p>CSU San Marcos and USD are obvious ones she should apply to. Since SDSU is her ‘local’ school, i think i’d apply even though the SAT will be late. UCM and maybe UCR can’t hurt. She can apply undeclared figure out the major after she gets there. Perhaps Univ Nevada LV and Reno, they are known to be aggressive with aid for CA students - long but doable drive for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Don’t loose sight that a CC is a viable option if she doesn’t get into a school that is a good fit.</p>
<p>Again I applaud you taking the time and energy to help this young lady out. </p>
<p>She can apply to SDSU, but with her stats she will probably not get in even as a local kid. I think local kids out of high school have GPAs in the 3.8 range for SDSU. There is nothing wrong with starting at one of the local community colleges and transferring. They have a lot of support for students that are low income and a lot of help if she ends up struggling with classes. I think the UCs would be a big stretch with her stats. I would have her focus on CSU schools and have the cc’s as a backup plan if she doesn’t get in somewhere she likes or can afford.</p>
<p>Some of the East-coast colleges will actually count the plane ticket in COA and adjust financial aid accordingly.
I’m speaking East coast because many of these have deep pockets AND want geographical diversity AND want URM students AND have special policies for first gen students. Connecticut College, for instance, would be a strong contender, as would Hamilton - by this, I mean, a great “reach” pick. While her GPA isn’t in the ballpark - and she WOULD need better scores - they are holistic and make allowances for personal circumstances. You’d be able to write a letter of recommendation since you’ve known the family for a long time (in case the GC is overworked and can’t highlight what matters). Has she taken SAT subjects?
Other possibilities: Goucher, Hobart&William Smith, Muhlenberg. Run the NPCs.
While community college is a possibility, for lower-income/first-gen students, it actually matters - in terms of graduation rate, career opportunities, support&resources available - whether they attend a strong, 4-year college or not.
UCs are likely to be more generous to a lower-income student than a CSUs. In addition, they’re holistic whereas CSUs will only take into account GPA X SAT score, with some weight for curriculum strength if the major is impacted.
Even if SDSU is not a possibility, Chico State and Sonoma are - and they’re more residential, so she wouldn’t be all alone on campus ;-). </p>
<p>She has only taken the PSAT-no other test. So she’ll only have the SAT unless she can take the subject tests in January for some schools.</p>
<p>I need to really look at all her stats-PSAT and transcripts-to get some realistic ideas of reach schools. I imagine her SAT will be higher just by virtue of being older and knowing more. She really is an intelligent young woman.</p>
<p>Yes-she totally is comfortable with the community college. I think the one advantage to a four year is that you live on campus (except for the local schools) and you’re with others who are working towards that same goal of graduating on four years. It’s easy to “go astray” at a community college as my husband can attest to.</p>
<p>Many of the CSUs are heavily commuter. CSUMB, CSUCI, HSU, and SSU are probably more residential than other CSUs; UCs tend to be more residential.</p>
<p>If she wants the residential 4 year experience,she should definitely apply to Chico, Sonoma and Humboldt. She will need a decent SAT to make it into Chico. The bar is a little lower at the other schools. All 3 are a long way from San Diego, in more ways than one. </p>
<p>Channel Islands has a similar percentage of frosh living in the dorm as Chico (61% versus 62%), but is closer to San Diego and non-impacted for non-nursing frosh applicants (no SAT/ACT needed if applicant has a >= 3.0 CSU-weighted GPA).</p>
<p>So my young friend saw her counselor last week, but counselor never said anything about the fee waiver and the fact that she needed to input information into College Board somehow as evidence of low income. So my friend, the mom, calls College Board today and they say sorry, you need the counselor to do that. Well school’s on break this week and today’s the late deadline. Ugh. So I will be paying for the registration. This is a decent high school, too. I don’t know why the counselor didn’t input this info when my friend took the PSAT. Quite frustrating, but oh well. It needs to be done if she wants to apply to colleges.</p>
<p>NCalRant, would love to know more about your comment, “in more ways than one.” Please expand!</p>
<p>I’ll certainly add these schools, but I now worry that she doesn’t have the fee waiver set in place and the apps are due before she gets back to school. I don’t want to have to pay for apps. Not sure what to do. Can I assume that apps for colleges are different in their fee waiver guidelines? Even if the college counselor hasn’t done anything? She has the free lunch paperwork to prove they’re low income.</p>
<p>I dropped off a Blue Book for my young friend to study, but I am going to try and tutor her-ouch. I am no SAT scholar. I’m thinking of getting my current HS senior to help with it since he scored well enough (2230) to know more than me!</p>
<p>yes, tutoring by your current HS senior would probably be better for both of them
Is there any way you can contact the counselor? That’s a HUGE problem if, essentially, what the counselor did prevents a student from applying to her instate schools! (Yes, you’re covering it, but that’s not my point). The counselor should rectify the problem ASAP, and even if the students don’t have class, there may well be an inservice day today or tomorrow - call to check. This is truly horrible when a person who’s paid to help kids get into college does something that effectively does the opposite!! </p>
<p>My understanding (not first-hand, though), is that fee waivers do not cover late registration- either they do not cover at all or do not cover the late registration premium. If the former is true, it may be why the counselor did not offer a fee waiver.</p>
<p>Right-I figured I would cover the late fee, but hadn’t planned to cover the whole $70.</p>
<p>I’ll try to track down the counselor. I know they sent emails, but my friend is babysitting today, so I won’t hear from her until early afternoon as to whether or not they heard back from the counselor. </p>
<p>I mean weather, surroundings, people, pretty much everything. </p>
<p>The ocean in NCal is COLD. SSU is 30 min from the coast but, you’ll need a wet-suit. It is a small school (8000, i think) and kind of focused on teaching and nursing - though there are many degrees offered. On a tour, you could easily be convinced it is private. It feels cut off from Cotati and Rhonert Park though many students do live there. Though residential, it feels like more people commute from family homes in Petaluma and Santa Rosa than commute to Chico or HSU. I believe it is still the only CA Public U to offer a Wine Biz degree. The weather at SSU is not unlike SanDiego.Never too hot or too cold. If you need some big-city, SF is a 50 miles or so. Housing is all apartment style, there is a brand new dining commons. Most students are from N Cal, many go home on the weekends. Unlike the other 2, you’d probably want a car. </p>
<p>Humboldt is a world unto itself. Well integrated into Arcata but, very isolated (5 hour drive on a windy road) from any real metro areas,. Similar in size to Sonoma, it has a really cool, hippie vibe - they have outstanding forestry and bio programs. The area has a proud lumber and marijuana history. Nobody goes home on the weekends because it is so damned far. The weather can be gloomy and damp much of the year. You won’t want to put a toe in the Pacific. She will love it or hate it. It is hard to believe it is in the same state as San Diego. People come from all over CA. I don’t know much about the dorms. Once you are there, you wouldn’t need a car day-to-day.</p>
<p>Chico has about 2x the student population of SSU or HSU (still about 1/2 SDSU) and it gets HOT (100+) from May through September, it about 100 miles from Sacramento and several hours from the Pacific, The city of Chico has about 100k residents and grew up around the CSU, they simply flow together in the middle of town. Despite its size, it is the most selective of the three and the only one with an Honors program. Most of the dorms are old school - doubles with a common hall. The dining commons is fairly new and offers a good variety. Probably best known for its business program but, most programs, including several engineering disciplines are well respected. Something like 90% of the 15k undergrads live within a 3 mile radius of the school. That creates a very lively weekend scene. It is 2nd oldest campus in the system (125 years i think) and it has many beautiful brick buildings and mature Oaks to show for it. A surprising number of SoCal residents attend. Other than getting there, no car required. </p>
<p>I can’t think of a SoCal school to compare any of them to.</p>
