<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I'm a rising senior looking for colleges, and I'm considering California right now because of its climate (so much sun!). I'm hoping to major in computer science, around a 3.86 (before AP grade bumps go in, hopefully I'll have a 3.89 or 3.90?) GPA, 2220 SAT, 33 ACT, class rank unknown. Right now I'm hoping to get some merit aid. Can anybody suggest any schools? I'm looking at Berkeley, UCLA, etc. Any other recommendations would be great. Thank you!</p>
<p>you may be able to get into any of them, but can your family afford them?</p>
<p>whatās your state? have you run the net price calculators? you wonāt get merit from a UC if youāre oos.</p>
<p>Do you have any size preferences? Assuming you have good ECs, the Claremont Consortium is definitely worth looking into. USC is probably already on your radar, and would probably be a low reach. Occidental (Oxy) would be a low match/safety for you and you might get merit aid at LMU. </p>
<p>I agree that if you are not in-state (I donāt think you are) the UCs may not be great options. They will not offer you need-based aid, and I think only UCSC offers merit aid to OOS students (and it is only about $5000/year if memory serves). Unless your family can comfortably pay ~$250,000, look at privates. </p>
<p>Yeah sorry forgot to mention that part. Iām OOS, and Iām looking for merit aid, so privates yes. Iām already familiar with the typical UC (Cal/LA) and USC. Iām looking into Claremont (Harvey Mudd) as well. However, right now I need to find privates that can give me merit aid with my stats. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>USD (University of San Diego) might be an option. I am not sure about merit aid but check it out. Also look at Santa Clara and Occidental which was mentioned by @butterfreesndā.</p>
<p>Are you aware that Berkeley and UCLA are not private? ā¦you say you are looking at these, know you need privates and then mention them again. Just want to be sure- itās a common mistake</p>
<p>@Sdgal2ā Donāt worry yes Iām aware, thanks for the reminder tho. Itās because right now Iām only looking at publics that I want to explore my privates options :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The sun also rises in AZ NM TX LA MS AL GA SC FL</p>
<p>Yeah, but unfortunately Iāve ruled out the South for some reasons and Arizona has no beach 
Haha</p>
<p>You probably wonāt get merit aid from Mudd with your stats (if you are accepted). </p>
<p>Whatās your background in CS? Berkeley EECS looks at demonstrated interest in your major, but if thatās an issue you should have a solid shot in L&S CS (which is a bit more hassle to declare your major, but the same quality of education).</p>
<p>Besides inherent interest (like self study stuff), AP Comp Sci class and some computing challenge. Iām probably going to aim for a L&S CS because I have heard that Berkeley EECS is very competitive. </p>
<p>OK, but you know you wonāt get merit aid, so your family is okay with $55k per year?</p>
<p><<<
Iāll have a 3.89 or 3.90?) GPA, 2220 SAT, 33 ACT, class rank unknown. Right now Iām hoping to get some merit aid. Can anybody suggest any schools? Iām looking at Berkeley, UCLA, etc. Any other recommendations would be great. Thank you!
<<<</p>
<p>youāre not going to get merit at the UCs. Your stats arent high enough for merit at USC or other top privates</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay?</p>
<p>as a CS major, youāre not going to have time for the beach, so having that as a reqt is short-sighted. I went to a UC that was close to the beach and I NEVER went during the school yearā¦and I am a beach-lover (one of those crazies that used to bake with baby oilā¦yikes). </p>
<p>Beach time is for summer, and you can go anywhere for that.</p>
<p>USD would give you about $20k of meritā¦bringing cost down to about $38k or so.</p>
<p>we need to know how much your family will pay so we will know how much merit you need. If your family can only contribute $15k per year, then you need full-tuition awards.</p>
<p>Tell us your complete situation so you wont end up with a bunch of unaffordable schools.</p>
<p>what is your home state?</p>
<p>You say that your budget is around what uwash costs. have your parents said that they will pay for all of Uwashās costs or are you guessing. ASK them. Too many kids assume that their flagship is their safety and that their families will payā¦then they later sadly find out that their parents cant/wont pay that much. Some think they can just take out loans, but then find out that they can only borrow $5500ā¦not much.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Depends on the Southern school. Alabama is loaded with OOS students, so it doesnt have a culture that a person needs to adjust toā¦unless you find friendly people shocking. lol</p>
<p>weāre from Calf, now living in Alabama. Both of my kids went to Bama and loved it. no culture shock at all.</p>
<p>bama would give you free tuition plus 2500 per year for CS. Remaining costs would be about $12k per year.
Bama has a new Science and Engineering Complex 900,000 sq ft of new STEM spaceā¦gorgeous and state of the art.
<a href=āFacilities ā College of Engineering | The University of Alabamaā>http://eng.ua.edu/buildings/</a></p>
<p>Since this is a board that hopefully offers advice and sheds light on ways the OP may not be awareā¦ </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OP:</p>
<p>This is undoubtedly true wrt merit at UC, because this is saved for instate students. But there are other ways to attend school at UC, but they would be a bit unusual. It would be harder to obtain residency through your parents, but there are a good no. of oos students who do gain independence, work, and obtain residency themselves while attending community college in CA and later transfer to UC. (Be careful of costs to cc as a non-resident.) There are some very good ccās in CA that have a good no. of intāl and oos students.</p>
<p>And just because you donāt obtain merit from UC itself, doesnāt mean that you cannot obtain merit from outside of it, as others from oos have done outside of the u itself.</p>
<p>USC could probably would offer you merit, but probably not a full ride. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids, though much of her advice is undoubtedly helpful, can come across to me as intransigent. The things she has says about UC, UCLA in specific, shows to me that she knows little about UC. For instance she said that UCLA was āconcrete cityscape,ā which couldnāt be anything further from the truth. This after she claimed that she and her son visited the campus. So, if I were you @orangemaple ā¦ I would discount greatly the vast majority of what she says about UC, particularly since she has some sort of vendetta against the U itself. Run with what she says wrt merit in general, but keep away from her advice to UC ā because nothing is as black and white as what she says wrt UC.</p>
<p>Iāve known CS majors who loved the beach and would attend it whenever they had the chance. In fact, some where surfers who had to get their fix early EVERY morning before they went to class and on the weekends also. One even hoped to join the circuit and had CS as a somewhat of a fallback.</p>
<p>So beach, whatever activities are quite doable. About five of the UCās are within five miles of the beach, with SD, SB, and SC (Santa Cruz) effectively āon the beachā ā shore/bluffs-above themselves, There are other ways to live your California dream. Good luckā¦ </p>
<p>I find mom2collegekids offers some of the best advice on these forums.</p>
<p>^ Read what I stated, @simba9 ā¦</p>
<p>I said, in general yes. I said specifically wrt UC, no. I go after her, each and every time she says something against UC, because she clearly has a vendetta against the U. </p>
<p>READ, COMPREHENDā¦ </p>
<p>OP clearly stated the south is OUT. I donāt have anything against her pushing her Alabam agenda ā we all push our own ā but this ran contrary to OPās wishes, forcing the issue. Besides, which, a lot of junk about UC is robotic spiel. Got it?</p>
<p>easy now, @drax12. you made your point. :)>- </p>