Please help me decide on which colleges to apply to

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi all, I am new to this forum so please excuse improper formatting - I was unable to find a guide to post formatting in this "college search" section. </p>

<p>As of now I am going into my senior year in high school and am completely lost in the college selection process. While I would love to attend the best college that I could be admitted to, the reality of the situation is that my family does not have the money. We reside in a very low financial bracket, and because of this I will be shouldering the entirety of my college expenses and would rather not find myself suffocating beneath a seemingly insurmountable sum of dept upon graduation. </p>

<p>Taking my situation into regard, I ask the knowledgeable minds of CC this: which school would you recommend I attend, balancing in consideration the prestige of said institution and reality.</p>

<p>Major:
Mechanical Engineering</p>

<p>My qualifications are as follows. Please let me know if I omitted any relevant information. </p>

<p>GPA:
3.85 Unweighted
~4.2 Weighted</p>

<p>SAT:
1980
CR: 710
M: 620
W: 650</p>

<p>ACT:
28
E: 28
M: 28
R: 30
Sci: 26
W: 9</p>

<p>Classes:
All honors with the exception of English Freshman and Sophomore year.
One trimester of each APUSH and AP Chemistry Junior year, and AP Language and composition with a 5 on the AP test.</p>

<p>Sports:
3 Years of Track and Field (as of completion of senior year)
1 year of football
1 year of rugby (club)
1 year of row team (club)</p>

<p>Clubs:
Robotics club
Treasurer of Auto Club
NHS</p>

<p>I am a white, nonreligious (I do not wish to attend a university with a religious affiliation), male and I live in California but am set on moving out of state for university. Ideally I would like to attend a school in or near the snow, and because of this I am drawn to University of Utah or Boise State. While both of these schools are attainable financially, neither seems to have the campus atmosphere that I desire due to the fact that they are largely commuter oriented. Ideally I would like the school which I decide to attend to have a healthy sense of school pride, and through this a vibrant party scene which would provide an escape from the shell which I recede into if not properly stimulated.</p>

2

<p>If you are from a low income family in California, the UCs are likely to offer good financial aid.</p>

<p>Most out of state publics do not offer good financial aid. But some offer large merit scholarships:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>The only UC I am really interested in is UC Santa Cruz, but they don’t have the best engineering programs. As for the full ride scholarships, I qualify for quite a few of those but Alabama isn’t too appealing of a place to live.</p>

<p>I’ve lived in SLO my entire life, so Cal Poly SLO is off my list as well. It’s a shame, but I really can’t stand the thought of living here for another four years.</p>

4

<p>Snow with engineering and your stats? Take at look at Clarkson U in NY…</p>

5

<p>No idea if that’s true or not about UC Santa Cruz’s engineering program, but you might want to consider UC Davis. It’s fairly close to Lake Tahoe, and its engineering is great.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>UCSC has computer engineering, electrical engineering, and a location within driving distance of Silicon Valley. But no mechanical engineering.</p>

<p>Given that you come from a low income family who needs either very good financial aid, or a very large merit scholarship, you cannot afford to be too picky, because your stated preferences may be shutting yourself out of having any safeties. Most good financial aid schools other than California publics are highly selective and cannot be counted on as safeties; if you are unwilling to go for big merit scholarship schools, you won’t find any big merit safeties. If you have no four year school safeties, your default safety would likely be Cuesta College.</p>

<p>Unless you want to use Cuesta College as your safety, find a four year school safety as the first school to put on your application list. You must be certain of admission, and certain that you can afford it, for it to be a safety.</p>

7

<p>NAU-Flagstaff. Northern Arizona offers mechanical engineering. But I’m not so sure what sort of financial aid you will get as an OOS student.</p>

8

<p>Taking this into consideration, I will loosen my criteria. Would it be safe to say that if I apply to UC Davis and UCSB I could count on one of these schools being a safety? I am pretty far below the average SAT math score for admission to UCSB engineering program (average being 685 according to [Facts</a> | UCSB College of Engineering](<a href=“http://engineering.ucsb.edu/prospective_undergraduates/facts]Facts”>http://engineering.ucsb.edu/prospective_undergraduates/facts)), but my CR+M score is spot on, my GPA is over .13 above the average, and I qualified for ELC which has ~97% admittance to UCSB. </p>

<p>Even though I would qualify for almost no merit scholarships at UCSB, would the financial aid still make it worthwhile to apply to as a safety?</p>

9

<p>If you’re far below the math score required for UCSB then it’s not a safety.</p>

10

<p>But it’s not required. That is the average score admitted to the engineering department. 560 is the 25th percentile and 680 is the 75th percentile of all students admitted. I guess I was more asking if they look at the cr+m or each score individually?</p>

11

<p>Sorry, I meant average math score. It’s still not a safety, even though the UCs generally don’t place much emphasis on the SATs.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for clearing that up. I find it a little odd hat I can so readily find average SAT scores from UCSB engineering, but nothing at all about ACT. I am retaking the SAT in October and will (hopefully) raise my math score to an appropriate level.</p>

13

<p>If you want a real UC safety, UC Merced offers mechanical engineering. It’s about to undergo ABET Accreditation review, and I’d be surprised if it weren’t approved. UC Riverside also offers mech E.</p>

14

<p>I have automatic admittance to CP SLO if I apply, so that can be my last resort. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions for OOS schools that I could apply for healthy merit scholarships from?</p>

15

<p>Look for schools that participate in the Western Undergraduate Exchange program, which takes the in-state price and adds 50 percent. In other words if a school charges $5k for in-state and $13k for out of state, with WUE you would pay $7.5k.</p>

<p>[WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/search1.jsp]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/search1.jsp)</p>

16

<p>You should get into UCSB and UCD. A CR+M score of 1330 is wayyy above the 75th percentile. </p>

<p>UCSB should be a no-brainer choice. It has better engineering program and its near Isla Vista. Gotta party everyday.</p>

17

<p>How exactly does OOS financial aid work? Am I correct in assuming that I would get less aid from a OOS school if I take advantage of a WUE scholarship than if I attend a UC, or is this assumption unfounded?</p>

18

<p>What you really want to know is the net price after applying financial aid and scholarships (including any WUE discounts). Net price includes any amount that your parents are expected to put up in cash or loans, and anything you are expected to put up from student loans and/or work earnings.</p>

<p>Go to each school’s web page and put “net price calculator” (or “financial aid estimate” for some UCs) in the search box. Then put your family financial information into it and see what the net price comes out to be.</p>

<p>Realistically, you want the net price to be no more than $9,000 plus whatever your parents are willing to contribute. $9,000 would be what you can cover with a $5,500 Stafford loan and $3,500 work earnings. Many students prefer a lower student contribution.</p>

<p>Note that at many UCs, the engineering divisions or majors are more selective than the school overall. I.e. the overall HS GPA and test score profiles may underestimate the school’s selectivity if you apply for engineering.</p>

19

<p>Thank you ucbalumnus, this is very helpful. This puts UCSB at $9,300 and UC Davis at $10,300.</p>

<p>As for OOS schools, can I simply subtract the total scholarship (WUE, merit aid) value I qualify for from the total remaining value in the net price calculator, or would I receive less financial aid due to the fact that I qualify for these scholarships?</p>

20

<p>University of New Mexico in Albuquerque has a good ME dept., is quite near snow and ski areas, and offers some great scholarships for Calif. residents. If your high school, or one nearby, is offering a college fair soon, the rep that attends for UNM is very well informed about scholarship opportunities and will also give you his e-mail so you can apply to the school for free. With your stats, I believe you automatically qualify for some decent scholarships, so it might be a good place to at least check out.</p>