School recommendations in LA area?

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello everyone, </p>

<p>I am a transfer student looking to add to my list of schools to apply to. I was first at UC Berkeley, but left due to mental health and financial reasons. I've turned myself around at a local CC. My question is if anyone has schools they recommend me to apply to. I'm a chemical engineering major living in Torrance. I kind of need to stay in the area because I need to commute for monetary reasons. </p>

<p>So far, this is my lists of schools. Both are top because I also love how they structure their programs and what they have to offer. </p>

<p>USC
Cal Poly Pomona</p>

<p>Anyone have recommendations? I'm looking at Marymount, Cal State Long Beach, UC Irvine (I'm wary of the UC system, and I remember not really liking the vibe at Irvine in high school. This may change. Also not sure how well ranked it is in engineering). There's Occidental, Whittier and Pepperdine in the area as well, but I don't know about them and I don't think they offer engineering. UCLA felt too similar to Berkeley for my tastes. </p>

<p>Copy pasta from an old thread</p>

<p>Background
Gender: Female
Race: Asian
College: UC Berkeley 1st year Chemical Engineering major
High School: large well ranked public school</p>

<p>HIGH SCHOOL STUFF.</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.94
Weighted GPA: 4.76
Rank: no rankings at high school</p>

<p>ACT Score:
Composite: 34
Math: 32
Reading:34
English: 35
Science: 35</p>

<p>SAT II:
Chemistry: 790
Math II: 780
Biology-M: 750</p>

<p>AP Scores:
Japanese Language: 5
Chemistry: 5
Environmental Science: 5
Biology: 5
English Lang AP: 5
Physics B AP: 3(yeah I stopped caring senior year after I picked Berkeley and saw none of them actually counted. Hooray for random bubbling?)
French AP: 3
Calculus AB: 4</p>

<p>ECs/Volunteering:
Ballet for 11 years at one studio: Accepted into top ballet schools in the nation to stay year round. Refused so I could study.
Internship at The Aerospace Corporation in high school.
Ballet: Teacher Assistant and Rehearsal Assistant after I got injured senior year.
Library volunteer: 3 years
Captain: Ocean Science Bowl. Founding member as well.- 3 years
Co-Captain: Science Bowl-1 year
Piano: 10 years
NHS
JNHS</p>

<p>Awards:
1st Place The Aerospace Corporation Science Fair (Junior)
Finalist and Honorable Mention L.A. County Science Fair (Junior year)
2nd Place Palos Verdes Peninsula Science and Engineering Fair (senior)
1st Place Los Angeles County Science Fair (senior year)
3rd Place California State Science Fair (Senior year)
Intel ISEF finalist (senior year)
Marymount Book Award
National Merit Commended Student </p>

<p>Berkeley GPA: 2.67 (from 12 units. I know. Painful)</p>

<p>El Camino College GPA :4.0, might get a B in Physics this semester</p>

2

<p>bump? 10 characters? </p>

<p>Haha or does no one have recommendations?</p>

3

<p>Lol I live in Torrance, Glendale, and LA. Pepperdine DON’T unless you want the commute all the way to malibu on the 1 … lol. I would look into USC UCLA UCSD =] I say USC though =D lol how can you stand El co? so many people no parking its mess …</p>

4

<p>Haha I just park on the street and carpool with a friend. And I’ve had some of the greatest science and math professors there. Much better than those I had at Berkeley :slight_smile: And Yeah, Pepperdine commute would be kind of hard. I drove to Pomona today, and while not enjoyable, it’s doable.</p>

5

<p>What about Occidental?</p>

6

<p>@mochabubble girl … cal poly is even worse … While I stay at glendale from glendale to Pomona is 30 min drive … from torrance… i don’t even want to think about it … i think usc and ucla are your best choices for prestige education and location, perferably usc having it beeing located just before downtown so traffic isnt TOO bad itll take what 15 - 20 min to get to school not a bad commute …</p>

7

<p>Occidental doesn’t have an engineering program, and I’d rather not grab a chemistry degree. They’re just too unemployable. As for UCLA, I just dislike the atmosphere there. Too similar to UC Berkeley when I visited. I am still considering it though. </p>

<p>Anyone know how CSULB is doing in engineering rankings?</p>

8

<p>You’ll commute to school due to monetary reasons? And yet have private schools listed?</p>

<p>Anyhow, if you’re into prestige, UCLA is the best game in town. Why do you think it’s like UCB? If you’re referring to diversity, it’s not the same as Cal. If you’re referring to anecdotal “cut-throat” atmosphere of Cal, I never noticed it at UCLA. </p>

<p>If you can care less about prestige and more concerned about personal finances, CSULB is the place to go.</p>

9

<p>^ Granted but some privates have VERY generous FA. Few of my friends attend USC paying only a few thousand maybe 2 to 3k a semester.</p>

10

<p>I guess this forum wasn’t the best place to ask this, as noted by the answers I’m getting here. I’ll take my search elsewhere.</p>