Hello! I’m a rising senior looking at colleges, senior summer programs, or scholarships to apply to.
Demographics
Citizenship: US Citizen
State/Location of residency: California, and looking to stay within California for financial reasons
Type of high school: Public
Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): I’m a girl and I am Filipino
Other special factors: First gen to college in us
Intended Major(s)
Computer Science (Interests include Game Development / Data Science if that helps too)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
GPA: 4.10 ?, the site our school uses isn’t showing me weighted/unweighted, just grades from my junior year. I got “4.10” through CaliforniaColleges.Edu, it says that it’s my transcript GPA (last transferred 07/07/2021)
Class Rank: No clue/not provided, can’t email questions until early August
ACT/SAT Scores: None yet, taking it my senior year because we couldn’t during COVID
Coursework
Taking/would have taken by 2022: AP World, AP US History, AP Lang, AP Lit, and AP Calc
Extracurriculars (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
In school:
ASB Student Leadership (No longer participating): schools student leadership program
Color Guard: (No longer participating): performing with the band during football games
Musical Theatre: musical theatre, part of scene design
*Outside School:
Accenture Summer Intern: Learning2Lead Summer Intern at Accenture, they’re paying us and we’re submitting timecards.
Stanford AI4ALL Summer Program: was in Stanford AI4ALL Summer Program for free, still active in the AI4ALL Alumni Community
Hall STEM Initiative Paid Facilitator: used to be student in the Hall STEM Initiative in my freshman year. They taught a local 26-week program in Java. Then I proposed/taught a 10-week program in Python/AI (given stipends, I created the lesson plans)
Built By Girls Wave Advisee: Mentorship Program
1000 Dream Fund’s Mentor Her Program: Another mentorship program (but 1DF has a focus on women in gaming)
Politician Intern: Made calls to get people to vote for a local politician
Placed in 4 Hackathons
Competed in local Field Guard Competition
*Volunteer:
Annual Red Ribbon Volunteer: Drug/Alcohol Awareness Campaigns
Soup Kitchen Volunteer during COVID: Distributed food to the homeless
Bitwise Intro to NLP Workshop Facilitator: led/created free introduction to a natural language processing workshop for high school students, supplying food and tech
Just for context, there are no CS related clubs or courses in my school, so all CS related experiences I listed were outside of school. Also why I don’t have APCS listed
Cost Constraints / Budget
I’m sorry I can’t provide more information but I really haven’t sorted this out yet. My family makes under 40k year if that helps and so I’m really looking for high needs met %'s
I’m not comfortable sharing the list. I have a college list but I’m not sure how high / low I should be aiming or what colleges have programs I may be eligible in that would lessen the cost. I know a lot of California colleges are expensive and competitive, and I am a really ambitious person, I don’t really know how I compare to others so I wanted to get opinions from the forum.
So - I’m a bit unsure of your GPA - you should provide an unweighted - meaning 4 for A, 3 for B, 2 for C.
If you have a 3.9 or higher, you can add Arizona to your list as a likely - at great tuition. With a 3.9, you get $30K off of $37K tuition. With all As, you get $35K off.
I imagine, per your note, you’ll apply to UCs and CSUs.
That said, since your family makes so little and I don’t know your assets, have your folks run the net price calculator for a school that meets need - such as Rice or Dartmouth or Duke - and see how much they expect you to contribute.
Also, take a look at Questbridge to see if you would qualify for that.
For CSUs other than CPSLO, use the weighted-capped version. However, if you have taken college courses, recalculate counting each semester-long college course and grade twice if you are using semesters of high school courses and grades otherwise.
For CPSLO, recalculate including grades from 9th grade as well as 10th-11th grade.
To get estimates of financial aid, you can use the net price calculator at each college’s web site.
Computer science is a more competitive major at many UCs and CSUs.
hi !! i’m also a rising senior from cali. i see your low income which is exactly why i am going to recommend questbridge to you. honestly there are SO MANY colleges outside of CA that are full need met and their fin aid honestly will beat in state UCs or CSU costs. if you haven’t heard of it before, questbridge gives you the opportunity to “match” with some of the most selective universities and LACs in the united states with a full ride scholarship. even if you don’t match as a finalist, you can still get an amazing financial aid package because of your low income and the school’s commitment to meet full need. the application opens super early (probably within the next few weeks) and is due in late sept for finalist consideration. if you have further questions just reply or PM me!
I agree with the other posters above about Questbridge. Also look into smaller private colleges that offer CS. A lot will depend on your SAT/ACT scores. I know that many test centers are open for SAT in Sept and Oct.
Whats your plan for early round 1? ED2? RD?
I note that you wrote you were “first gen to college in US”. It sounds like your parents have a college degree from outside US. If so then be careful. Admissions directors are more interested in finding students who are the first in their families to attend college. If your parents went to college in another country and then immigrated here, it won’t be the same as what they’re looking for. Just be careful with how you phrase this.
Questbridge is a great option but you might be limited if you just want California schools. As stated by @harrypottereatspie , there are plenty of non-California schools where your need will be met.
I also agree that each school will define First Generation so it may or may not help your chances. The UC’s define first generation college students as students with neither parent having a four-year college degree.
Cal States and UC’s will not meet need but you can get the majority of your costs covered based on income through Cal Grants, University grants, Federal aid and work study. Definitely run the NPC’s to get an idea of possible costs as noted by @ucbalumnus.
Another option would be to attend a CA community college and then transfer to a Cal State or UC after 2 years. Although probably not your top option, it is a well known and viable pathway for many California students.
The UC’s offer CS TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee) for the following campuses if you meet the course and GPA requirements: UC Merced, UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz. For the other campuses, you would apply as a regular transfer but if you have a competitive GPA, then they are all possible.
The UC’s publish the Transfer GPA admit ranges by major and campus each year to give you an idea of what you need to succeed.
The Cal states offer priority to local CC transfers and they have the ADT which will give you a GPA bump also if completed.
As noted, what qualifies as “first gen” status varies from school to school, but in most cases, if either parent earned a college degree in any country the child doesn’t qualify for first gen status.
iirc columbia and brown are exceptions to this rule. of course they’re extremely reachy but i don’t know other schools that consider first gen as “first in US”. i’m in a similar situation as OP – my parents went to college in China but i’d be first gen in america.
First generation to college in the US but with parents who have foreign bachelor’s degrees is probably neither rare nor underrepresented among college students.
Indeed, many of the parents in question are from the educational elite who were able to immigrate on skilled worker or graduate student visas initially.
On the other hand, first generation to college (anywhere) is underrepresented among college students.
yeah i understand that :)) it’s just that i know a very small amount of schools count that as first gen. and my parents went to college in china, and came to US but we’re still low income :]
as others note, a little clarity on your GPA would allow us to give more tailored info.
Assuming your UC GPA is what’s reported above UCR and UCSC - as well as SDSU, CSULB, CPP and Chico all have solid CS programs and provide lots of need based aid.
LMU and USD will also probably offer significant aid.
Maybe on paper they say it’s college in the US, but in practice it’s first-gen as used by other schools. Their percentages of first gen are 11-12%, basically the same as other colleges. Knowing the amount of Asians that apply to those colleges whose parents went to college outside of the US and the number rejected, it’s not an advantage. Only if your parents didn’t attend college at all is it an advantage. Again see what they do, not what they say.
Note that another nuance of “first generation to college” is the difference between “attended college” and “graduated with a bachelor’s degree”. Someone who “attended college” may not have completed a program, may have just taken a few courses of interest, or graduated with an associates degree or other certification that was not a bachelor’s degree.
Sorry about the first gen in the us thing. I’m not really sure how to edit the post but my parents went to some college but didn’t finish. I’ve been trying to take it out but I can’t figure out how, this is my first post here I didn’t think I should include it either but I wasn’t sure. Thanks for clearing it up and thank you for the Quest bridge tip, I’ve been looking into it! I can’t do anything about finding accurate GPA information at the moment because my school’s grading site is really unreliable. It’s only showing Junior year grades. I’d have to wait until early August and ask. I have good grades for the most part, straight A’s, but I doubt that’ll clear anything up haha. I plan on submitting before November. I’ve been talking to a mentor and I’m studying for SAT’s. I’ll be trying to take the ACT too. Wish me luck you guys. Even if I don’t get into a top school, I’d be happy with getting accepted to a local college’s honor program so my expenses are paid for.
I don’t think you specifically say you’re first gen unless you bring it up in an essay. iirc, you select level of parent education in college apps, so you could select HS grad or some college but not attained a degree, something like that. Of course - good luck!
definitely look into questbridge !! a word of advice from one rising senior to another – don’t let the sticker price intimidate you. you’re an ambitious person, and obviously you want to aim for top schools. most top schools meet full need so it’s kinda like a full ride (if your income doesn’t change of course). i know for sure that princeton, yale, and brown only QB match people who have an EFC of 0, if you’re into those schools it could be something to think about. i can’t chance or match you but i do have a school suggestion – occidental college near LA, it’s 100% need met but i’ve heard its need aware. it should be a solid match although i am not sure about the caliber of its CS program.
I didn’t think I should include it either but I wasn’t sure. Thanks for clearing it up and thank you for the Quest bridge tip, I’ve been looking into it! I can’t do anything about finding accurate GPA information at the moment because my school’s grading site is really unreliable. It’s only showing Junior year grades. I’d have to wait until early August and ask. I have good grades for the most part, straight A’s, but I doubt that’ll clear anything up haha. I plan on submitting before November. I’ve been talking to a mentor and I’m studying for SAT’s. I’ll be trying to take the ACT too. Wish me luck you guys. Even if I don’t get into a top school, I’d be happy with getting accepted to a local college’s honor program so my expenses are paid for.
Of course - good luck!