Sorry about the many posts – just very anxious about college applications.
I am a senior this year, and my unweighted GPA is 3.79 (Rogerhub; only 10th-11th grades) and my weighted is 4.05 (also by Rogerhub), capped is the same 4.05
SAT is 1390
Extracurriculars: Spanish Club for all 4 years, German club for all 4 years, Asian Tradition and Culture Club for 1 year (was the secretary for the club).
I have accumulated a list of colleges that I am interested in. Most of the colleges I will apply to the Biology major as my first primary one, and my alternate will be Business (with the exception of UC Berkeley which I will apply to their Bus + Bio program).
Colleges are all in California because I am a CA resident, and I want to limit myself to cali schools due to the out-of-state tuition rate, as well as my parents will not be paying for my tuition. They have mentioned loaning me $$, but they haven’t clarified that yet.
So, thanks for reading this lengthy post! Please suggest some California schools that have relatively cheaper tuition!! Let me know which schools are likely to accept me with my stats, and thank you so much!
My list …
Expensive: All the UC Schools, Occidental, Santa Clara University
On the cheaper side: CSU Long Beach, San Diego, San Jose, East Bay, San Francisco
If you need to borrow 100% of your college COA, then consider attending a local community college / junior college for your first two years as incurring substantial debt for undergraduate study of biology would not be wise.
You may be eligible for academic merit scholarships at some residential schools. Consider the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. This school is often referred to as Ole Miss.
Mississippi State is another school to consider as you may qualify for merit aid.
I assume that you will not qualify for financial aid since your parents are willing to lend you the money to attend college.
So if money is the issue, you’re CA only is a bit off base.
Look at U of Arizona and Arizona State, UNR if you want to be close, U of Utah, and other schools in the Western Tuition Exchange which will limit you to 150% of in state tuition.
U of A has a very competitive merit offering - depending on your G9-11 GPA - likely $20K off at your grade 10-11 GPA if that held in G9.
If you’re willing to go farther, look at Alabama, MS State, Arkansas.
Why biology, if you’re interested in something business-adjacent? As others have said, bio is competitive to get into, and it has terrible employment prospects without a graduate or professional degree.
If you want something that combines STEM and business, I would recommend that you take a close look at the Packaging major at SJSU. The name doesn’t exactly sell it, but it’s a really interesting interdisciplinary major with elements of business/management/advertising plus design/engineering/materials science. Graduates get excellent jobs right out of undergrad; it’s an important field with significant environmental implications. Department and classes are small with lots of individual attention, and acceptance rates are fairly high (unlike bio and business). Bachelor of Science in Packaging | Nutrition, Food Science, and Packaging Cal Poly SLO has this major too, with two different concentrations - one leans more toward STEM and the other more toward business.
CSU Monterey Bay would be a safety, and they have a business school. Easy access from the South Bay, and a nice setting. Concentrations for the BSBA include:
A concentration like Agribusiness with a biology minor could be a great combination if you’re interested in applying a bio background in that field.
I assume that what you’re saying is that you will not qualify for need-based aid anywhere, based on your parents’ income/assets, but that they also won’t pay for your education, or if they do you’ll be expected to pay them back. If this is the case, I’d say that even UC’s are too pricey; the CC-to-UC path would be smarter if you badly want a UC degree, and at any rate your freshman admissions prospects at UC’s are so-so anyway. I’d focus on CSU’s if you want to stay in-state, or WUE schools that also offer merit and would come in around the same price as CSU’s, or other non-WUE OOS publics that offer big merit.
Whatever you do, don’t do a straight bio degree and come out in debt.
Are you interested in marine bio? Cal Maritime has an Oceanography program that is also career development focused Oceanography Program - CSUM and they have a Business Administration major (and minor) as well.
with a 4.05. i think most of the UCs are going to be a reach. UCR and UCM are likely, USCS will be a coin-toss and the rest are pretty unlikely. CPSLO is also a reach. The rest of CSUs are probably accessible for most majors.
Privates like LMU and USD will probably offer merit aid.
I’d start with a more detailed understanding of your parents budget. If they can’t/won’t cover your live-away expense, starting at a CC or commuting to your local CSU are both viable options.