Hope everyone on this thread is doing well. Son just submitted his final two apps that were due 11/15. He was very proud to finish with a few days’ cushion. And his grades for the quarter were nearly all A- or better.
Fingers crossed we will all have good news in December and January!
Hi
I am new to CC living in California but Canadian. I have S24 looking to major in Computer Science who would like a school with experiential learning or co-op, nice campus experience (more urban preferred) and ideally good sports scene. He is coming from a rigorous NorCal public high school with UW Gpa 3.57/W 3.77. He has taken 6 APs, ACT of 32. Strong in math and sciences but has ADD and has Bs in humanities. His ECs are 4 years of football, various clubs, job and volunteer.
I am looking for schools no more than 30k all-in as we have 4 kids. We are applying to CSUs, think UCs are out of reach. Are there any other schools that we should consider where he might have access to merit/grants private or public that would be a solid alternative to what we have. I am overwhelmed with the choices and confusing financials for each school. We looked at Oregon State but don’t think he will get WUE so it is out of reach financially.
I know we will not find everything we are looking for but would love to hear any thoughts or ideas/experiences on other places we should consider. Thanks!
I’m not sure if WUE will work as you are not citizens or residents of Calfiornia. But if it did, a school like UN Reno could work.
With those stats, a school like Alabama that doesn’t distinguish from international would work - but it’s not urban.
It would be $20K-ish all in with $28.5K merit on $33K tuition.
Co op you can do most anywhere.
A smaller school at a similar price and in a mid size city would be Alabama Huntsville (UAH). Let’s go suburban.
If WUE worked, Reno, Montana State might be examples for smaller “urban” that could work.
As for ADD, it won’t make budget but you of Arizona has the SALT program for ADD kids.
Good luck
PS - it sounds like you can qualify for WUE based on your previous comment. Oregon State wouldn’t be urban but UNLV, UNR, Montana State, New Mexico, Utah, W Washington - these could work for you.
Thank you so much for these ideas! We are permanent residents so WUE does work
Agree that Utah would fit many of your requirements and WUE comes in right about $30K for tuition, room and board, and is slightly cheaper than full pay at many UCs. His GPA would be borderline for WUE but he will probably get it with that ACT score, my S23 got it with 3.7UW/5 APs/1540 SAT.
Thank you - is that university of Utah or Utah state?
The U - U of Utah.
What about Canadian universities? As a citizen, they should be a lot more affordable. UToronto?
WUE minimum GPA for the University of Utah is currently 3.30 UW (for Fall 2024 per website).
Yes, the U gives a low minimum figure on the website, but it is competitive rather than automatic and typically 3.5+ is needed. You also need to apply by Dec 1 as the merit money runs out and generally isn’t available for later applicants.
If you don’t mind heading further east, this sounds just like the University of Cincinnati. Widely known for their extensive co-op programs, located in right in the middle of Cincinnati, and Big XII sports on campus. There’s a decent chance that the cost will work out to be comparable to CSUs - sticker price for OOS students is around $45k for tuition, room, and board, but a student from Calif with at least 3.5 uGPA is eligible for the National Outreach Award and also Cincinnatus merit ranging from $6k to $24k. Worth a look.
Yep - we are applying to a bunch of Canadian schools but they don’t weight GPA or consider ACT so his ugpa falls a bit short for CS cutoffs.