QOTD: I’m really hoping to avoid a 5th year. If it looks inevitable (which is likely in engineering) I will encourage him to take summer classes close to home…as long as those classes fill requirements and transfer properly.
QOTD part II: Will most colleges accept credits earned over the summer at a local state university?
@STEM2017 in our case the kids worked with their school ahead of time to ensure that the credits would transfer and fulfill the needed credits.
In one case, gen ed it was easy as the college has a relationship with the CC. In the other one class at the CC was able to replace three (sequence) at the college. That one was a battle to get approved and diploma in hand but we suspect the issue was more on the follow through if our student than the college itself.
Bottom line is it varies. Most schools have an in residence requirement for the last 2 years/upper division so only allow a certain number of upper division to count and transfer regardless of whether they fulfill credit requirements or not (i.e. 30 of the last 45 credits must be earned at the college).
5th year - seems likely if he sticks with EECS.
Very helpful @eandesmom. These are things to think about.
Other than co-op or attending a state school where an impacted major limits access to courses, why do people think it will take more than four years to complete college?
QOTD: planning for 4 years (at a few schools S might be able to do a masters too - depends how they place him/give credit for college level work done at his HS).
Even in non impacted majors the Cal states and UC’s are so crowded that students just can’t get the classes they need to complete everything in 4 years. I went to SDSU and it took 5, which was typical. UC’s used to have a better 4 year graduation rate, but I think they’ve become so impacted it’s no guarantee. The upper CSU’s and all UC’s have 4 year graduation rates in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60 percents. Not great odds.
Doesn’t that defeat any financial incentive for CA kids to go to a state school? That’s very unfortunate that the graduation rates are so low.
D had an interview with an alum from one of the programs she is applying to this week, and the alum said she took 5 years to complete the program, another top choice school has a 5th year co-term. Neither of these schools gives fifth year FA. So, the fifth year possibility makes me nervous. Since we are half pay, a fifth year would cost as much as 2 of the first four years. I want her to be able to take courses just because they are interesting and/or study abroad and/or do a double major and not be stressed out. So, I better start saving. Fortunately, I have 4 years to pull together these funds. #:-S
@paveyourpath yes, it’s a consideration. Small privates with merit aide and better faculty to student ratios may come out to be considerably cheaper for undergrad when it’s all said and done. Add to that the fact that CA schools have gotten so hard to get into, flagships are ivy level stats, and it’s driving lots of kids to look elsewhere.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Congrats. I wonder if all invites have gone out? Where do you live? We were planning to go check out Univ of South Carolina if the invite came but nothing yet. My kid probably will take a gap year any way to study abroad for one year IF he receives a Study Abroad Scholarship. Therefore, he has not accepted any offer of admission yet. So far, REA from Stanford, one all paid scholarship from a public school, a decent scholarship from another public school and UCLA and UC Berkeley results pending. Had no energy to apply to HYP because he wants to avoid cold weather. But he is more concerned about whether he will get into a Study Abroad Program which is free for one year.
I hope in future high school graduates can “study and learn together” via internet and not have to attend colleges. Too much hoopla and expenses. Lol
@websensation I have no idea, but Inwould guess yes. They say that you have just a few days to RSVP bc they will invite others to complete the pool.
Fwiw, have you heard of Minerva? Definitely not free, but they travel and study online.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Yes, I heard of it. But if not free, not interested. Gotta save all the money in case he wants to attend Stanford in future. Lol Stanford should run its own Online Undergraduate College and charge only $20K per year without any financial aid, and charge $100K to international students. They will have so many international kids applying. Lol
When did you hear? Did the Fedex truck come by?
You all talking about year 5, but we have to fund for years 5-8 :((
Yes. She had it by 9 am Thursday morning.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Congrats again. If my kid really wanted to pursue IB, he would have gone to USC on Lieber and Cooper scholarships even without McNair/Horseshoe scholarship but he’s more interested in IR/East Asian Studies. I noticed from looking at Naviance stats that fewer students at my kid’s HS are applying to UCLA and UC Berkeley each year because it’s getting tougher and tougher to get into these two. I also noticed that to date, no student from my kid’s HS ever attended USC (Univ of South Carolina) even though 5 to 9 students apply annually and around 70% of who applied get accepted. Instead, many of them end up attending University of Southern California for their business school. I think it must be due to their regional preferences and getting 50% off Univ of Southern CA’s tuition as NM Finalists; but if Univ of Southern CA really wanted to attract top students, they should start offering 100% free tuition IMO. Then, a lot of kids who would normally attend UCLA/UCB and even Stanford would go to Univ of Southern CA in droves.
@socalmom007 I agree with you. I heard from students who attended UCB that it’s very, very competitive and hard to get into classes you want. It’s gotten so tough that students with near perfect stats (2350 SAT) are forced to go to UCSD instead because they are rejected from UCLA and UCB engineering schools. Ridiculous. But I would say it’s even more difficult to get into Pomona or Harvey Mudd colleges. I have no hesitation in saying that it’s even more difficult to get into Harvey Mudd than Stanford, and Pomona is slightly easier to get into than Stanford for most students. It also would not surprise me for some students to get into Stanford but get denied from UC Berkeley.
I have drilled into my kids that college in our household is to be completed in 4 years. I very strenuously objected to my D applying to any California state school because I did not want her on the five-year plan. California has some great schools, and I would have a different opinion if I was a California resident paying in state tuition.
The instate tuition is good, but still over 30k a year all in coa. 30k + a year to be in lecture halls with 400 students. D17 applied to several UC’s, we’ll see where the she gets in. UCLA and Berkeley are out of the question, she likely won’t get into UCSD or UCSB, she may get into UCD or UCI… big maybe. She’ll probably get into UCSC, and wouldn’t be interested in UCR or UCM… sigh… it’s a tough situation for those instate, we have top schools, our kids just can’t go there.
@socalmom007 IMO UCI harder to get into than UCSB. UCI campus not that good; doesn’t feel like a college campus. I have been to many UC campuses on official visits, and my order of preferences by their campuses is:
UCLA: I liked UCLA more after visit.
UC Davis: Liked it more after visit.
UC Berkeley: Liked it less after visit.
UCSD/UCSB: Liked UCSD more after visit. UCSB is what I expected; smaller than I thought.
UCSC:
Last: UC Irvine. Every time I go there, I say to myself “They need to make their campus better.”
At least CA offers an easy way to go to good UC after paying the dues at one of feeder schools for 2 years. That might be a better way to go if your daughter doesn’t care about attending one of good feeder schools.