<p>I come from one of the stop Math and Science schools in the nation and I live in Southern California. I am 100% Guatemalan(Hispanic) and I have decent grades : 3.59 UW, 3.758 W.
Both of my parents were born and raised in Guatemala and never had the chance to go to school past elementary school. I will be the first generation in my family to go to college, since my sister barely made it out of High School. I've been in AVID all 4 years of my high school career. My parents income in extremely low so I will need a lot of financial help to be able to afford college. My sat isn't that high (1670 as my super score and a 1610 highest only form one test date), i've always been a terrible test taker. I got a 4 on my spanish AP language test, and an 800 on my spanish SAT ll's. Im applying as a Biological science major (emphasis in physiology) for most of the schools I'm thinking of applying to. Where do I have a good chance of getting into?</p>
<p>Hi and welcome to CC and the Hispanic Students forum!</p>
<p>Since you haven’t mentioned it, I assume you haven’t applied through Questbridge? I also assume that you are not a NHRP scholar?</p>
<p>You would still be first gen even if your sister had attended college, because it is based only on the educational history of your parents.</p>
<p>What schools are on your current list?</p>
<p>Hi Loriel,</p>
<p>That’s great that you’re at one of the top math and science schools in the nation and you have a strong GPA. It’s too bad you didn’t know about Questbridge before now. That would be a great program to work with.</p>
<p>What is AVID? What schools does your high school counselor think would be good matches for you? I assume that you’ve got a decent counselor, being that you’re in such a highly regarded school. What school(s) are you interested in? I think there are probably some good Cal State schools you could get into, and possibly some UC schools, as well.</p>
<p>What is questbridge? NHRP? I am pretty much interested in schools that can give me alot of help financially
Currently on my list I have: UCLA, UC irvine, UC Davis, UC santabarbara, cal state Long Beach, cal state San Marcos, cal state San Luis obispo , cal state east bay , university of Oregon, university of Washington in Seattle, Whitman college, Texas Christian university, Whitman college, university of the pacific, university of San Diego, university of San Francisco… Any suggestions on what I should add or take out?</p>
<p>AViD is basically a program for students who are in the academic middle of their class whose teacher from earlier schools ( in my case middle school) believe that they have potential in becoming one of the students in the higher range, so our avid instructors push us on the right path to becoming better students. Only some students are selected and they have to keep their gpa at a certain level each year to keep the spot on avid.</p>
<p>One little note , I want to go to medical school after college as well to persue my career as a forensic pathologist.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention , I have been in CSF for 4 years , and have been president of the Spanish Honor Society at my school for the past 2 years consecutively.</p>
<p>Welcome! I’m guessing you know race doesn’t really play a role in California publics, although context and adversity does. Is that weighted GPA you UC GPA? UCLA and Cal Poly SLO are tough, and UCI, UC Davis and UCSB are getting there.</p>
<p>UCLA freshman profile
<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof11.htm[/url]”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof11.htm</a></p>
<p>UCI it freshman profile.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/files/irvine.pdf[/url]”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/files/irvine.pdf</a></p>
<p>UC Davis
<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/files/davis.pdf[/url]”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/files/davis.pdf</a></p>
<p>UC Santa Babs
<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/files/santabarbara.pdf[/url]”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/campuses/files/santabarbara.pdf</a></p>
<p>You might want to add Loyola Marymount to your list. It get’s high marks for things like graduating hispanic students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.edtrust.org/dc/publication/big-gaps-small-gaps-in-serving-hispanic-students[/url]”>http://www.edtrust.org/dc/publication/big-gaps-small-gaps-in-serving-hispanic-students</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://newsroom.lmu.edu/newsroompressreleases/LMU_Among_the_Most_Successful_Universities_at_Graduating__Hispanics_and_African-Americans.htm?DateTime=634170337200000000&PageMode=View[/url]”>http://newsroom.lmu.edu/newsroompressreleases/LMU_Among_the_Most_Successful_Universities_at_Graduating__Hispanics_and_African-Americans.htm?DateTime=634170337200000000&PageMode=View</a></p>
<p>Also…
<a href=“http://cse.lmu.edu/programs/access.htm[/url]”>http://cse.lmu.edu/programs/access.htm</a></p>
<p>Expensive though, and I don’t think they will meet “need”, but there are merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>The GPA I posted is the gpa that is shown on my transcript for grades 9-12. Is there a difference between UC gpa and my normal highschool weighted and unweighted gpa ?</p>
<p>I have a ton of extra curriculars, leadership opportunities/positions, and community service hours if that helps with anything</p>
<p>I will defer to our members from CA to comment on the CA publics. </p>
<p>Questbridge is an admissions and scholarship program for low income students, but unfortunately, the application period for current senior has passed. </p>
<p>NHRP is the National Hispanic Recognition Program, it is an honor that is based on PSAT score, gpa and Hispanic background. While no merit scholarships are available directly through NHRP, many schools offer institutional scholarships for NHRP scholars. Most scholars have been already been notified; there are links to threads about this program on the Resources sticky thread.</p>
<p>Have you checked WUE schools?:</p>
<p>[Western</a> Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) | Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education](<a href=“http://wiche.edu/wue]Western”>http://wiche.edu/wue)</p>
<p>OOS publics that have agreements with CA will generally cost about 1.5x what it costs IS students for tuition. If a college is listed, you MUST go to their website and confirm that they have an agreement with CA and determine how their WUE policy works–while some automatically take students, others only take students in certain majors, and some work more like a scholarship program and are very competitive. Some of these colleges may have merit opportunities beyond WUE.</p>
<p>UC GPA. Generally10th and !1th grade “A-G”'s.</p>
<p>[University</a> of California - Calculating GPA](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/q-and-a/calculating-gpa/index.html)</p>
<p>CSU’s tend to only count math and reading SAT scores </p>
<p><a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
<p>SLO may be a little different. I think they include 9th grade.</p>
<p>SLO’s selection criteria by major. I hear it is hard to change your major.
<a href=“http://admissions.calpoly.edu/apply/fcriteria[/url]”>Cal Poly Admissions;
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, I know 2 kids there now and it can be an issue, they seem fairly regimented compared to the other CA publics.</p>
<p>Have you thought about considering other types of schools?
If you decide to look at private schools outside (or even in) California, there are many that have great financial aid, where travel is taken into consideration and 100% of need is promised to be met.
You should take a look at the Claremont McKenna Colleges if you really want to stay in California. I think it’d also be helpful to visit and tour there and some of the public, very large UCs to give you a better feel for what kind of school you like.
I’m from California and also Guatemalan and after visiting a mix of schools I realized that I’d prefer to attend a small liberal arts school. Financial aid is also a factor for my family but as I said, most school have great financial aid.
E-mail me if you have any questions!
It’s so awesome to know someone else that’s a first-generation college student and Guatemalan.
Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>CMC is ONE of the Claremont consortium colleges.</p>
<p>These schools have in the past met full financial need. Ask your counselor which schools you will have the best chance for acceptance…
Beloit College
Boston College
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Claremont McKenna College
College of the Holy Cross
Columbia University
Cooper Union
Cornell University
Davidson College
Denison University
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Johns Hopkins University
Knox College
Lawrence University
Middlebury College
Northwestern University
Olin College
Pomona College
Rice University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Trinity College
University of Chicago
University of Miami
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
Vassar College
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Amherst College
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
MIT
Princeton University
Yale University</p>
<p>^A couple of things to remember about schools that meet full need:</p>
<p>It is the school who decides your need, and it is not always an amount that the family finds affordable.</p>
<p>Except for a handful of no loan schools, need is comprised of grants, loans and WS. Loans can range a small to a very large part of the FA package.</p>
<p>My son received his PSAT score today, and it looks like he will qualify to be a NHRP Scholar. Does he have to take the SAT to be eligible for NHRP scholarships? He was actually thinking of taking the ACT instead? Thank you for your help.</p>
<p>No he doesn’t, please go to the Resources sticky thread, it contains a link to a NHRP thread which provides a link to the NHRP website that has all of the requirements listed. The Resources sticky thread also has a link to and a thread w/NHRP scholarships.</p>
<p>Please feel free to use the New thread button, that way other members will have a better idea of the topic of your question(s).</p>