I’m currently a high school junior in Socal and I’ve been thinking about what universities I want to apply to. My main choices are of course the UCs, LA, SD, and Berkeley (I want to major in ChemE). I don’t really have any clue on what safeties I should apply to to make sure I have a good chance of getting into them, because even with UCR I’ve seen people rejected with great stats. Anyone have any suggestions?
Stats:
ACT: 35C 10W
SAT Subject Tests: Bio 780, taking Math II and Chem this year
APs: Bio(5)
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.61 W
Classes this year: AP Chem, AP Calc BC, AP English, AP Spanish, Honors History
ECs: Piano CM for 11 years with senior medallion next year, do research at CSUN with biochem prof, volunteered in Ukraine with refugees (my parents are from there), math honors society at school, president and co-founder of my school’s literary magazine, in community choir for 8 years and on choir board, like 120 hours volunteering at community center
Yes, “even with UCR I’ve seen people rejected with great stats”…is tough to get in now and getting harder every year at this fastest growing UC of them all for a reason! Your stats look very good…you have many options.
The schools listed by @“aunt bea” would make good safeties however, Cal poly Pomona could be a safety but not Cal Poly SLO for any Engineering plus SLO does not offer Chemical Engineering as a major.
What about University of Nevada - Reno or Oregon State? Those are semi-popular ‘likely’ schools for kids from the Bay Area at least (along with U of Oregon but I just looked and they don’t have a Chem Eng degree). I’m sure other folks will have ideas further away as well.
Among state universities in California, all UCs except UCSC and UCM offer chemical engineering. The CSUs with chemical engineering are CPP, CSULB, and SJSU.
The four private schools in California with chemical engineering include Stanford, USC, Caltech, and California Baptist, which do not look like possible safeties (except possibly California Baptist if you are Baptist and wanting a religious school).
Cost constraints? Some out-of-state public universities are relatively easy to get into, but cost may be an issue unless you can afford the list prices or prices after merit scholarships. For example, both University of Arizona and Arizona State University offer chemical engineering and are not hard to get into, but you need to investigate what they are likely to cost after scholarships.
Out of state “safeties” which would cost the same or less than California in state options include ASU, with its excellent honors program, and UNM. At either you are likely to qualify for in-state tuition or possibly full tuition with your stats. There are many very qualified CA students at both campuses for reasons of cost and greater chances of admission.
As you know, it’s harder to get accepted for engineering than arts and sciences so it’s good that you are researching safeties, even with your superb record.
University of Nevada-Reno has ChemE and offers the WUE discount to Californians. Estimated yearly cost of attendance under the WUE program is $27,442, which compares favorably to CA-resident rates at UCs (although the UCs might be more likely to offer additional financial aid, depending on your famlly income). For example, the estimated yearly cost of attendance at UC Davis is $30,297 for off-campus or $35,361 for on-campus.
Oregon State has ChemE, but no longer offers the WUE discount, so it would probably be significantly more expensive.
According to the WUE website, the following out-of-state schools offer both ChemE and the WUE discount:
Colorado State University
University of Idaho
Montana State University, Bozeman
University of Nevada, Reno
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
New Mexico State University
University of New Mexico
University of North Dakota
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
University of Utah
Washington State University
University of Wyoming
As with UNR, some of these schools could actually be less expensive than in-state tuition at a UC, especially since your stats may qualify for additional merit aid on top of the WUE discount.