Should I increase my college list, I only have 5???

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Rising senior
I am thinking of majoring in Business and/or International Relations, or Business with an international focus. I want to minor in Chinese.</p>

<p>My List of Schools (in order of preference all in California) I am only looking at schools in California, I don't want to go too far from home.
1. Stanford
2. USC
3. Santa Clara
4. UC Berkeley
5. San Jose State (only as a safety)</p>

<p>I know my college list is fairly short, what universities in California are good in Business and/or International Relations?</p>

<p>What about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo? I heard it was a pretty good school.</p>

<p>SATs
June: 1820 M:620 CR:600 W:600 w/9 essay</p>

<p>I will be retaking it again. I will probably take only 1 SAT II, in US History.</p>

<p>GPA and academic rigor
Unweighted 3.8
Weighted 4.2</p>

<p>Junior Year
AP English Language
AP US History
Honors Pre-Cal</p>

<p>Senior Year
AP English Literature
AP Art History
AP Calculus AB</p>

<p>My school doesn't offer that many AP classes until JUNIOR year and I took 5 out of the 7 that we offer.</p>

<p>ECs
3 years of football, 1 year varsity over 600+ hours of practicing. We were Regional Champions in our portion of the state. ( I won't be playing football senior year)</p>

<p>Chinese Club 4 years. I was also a dancer/performer for our annual fundraising dinner.</p>

<p>Tutor at Kumon Learning Center (Since April of Junior year) I tutor kids ages 5-14. Twice a week for 5 hours. Over 100+ hours.</p>

<p>Volunteer on a hospital on air force base. I will only have 56 hours by the end of the summer but I think the football and job make up for that.</p>

<p>A tutor to high school students who did not pass the CAHSEE (california high school exit exam). For 2 weeks for 1 hour a day.</p>

<p>I know the ECs kinda look weak but football was major chunk of my time. I probably some more tutoring for kids in my high school.</p>

2

<p>My recommendation considering your SAT is on the low end
apply to UCSC, UCSB and UCSD too </p>

<p>UCSC is a fun school I have heard from many friends and I also heard from friends that the social atmosphere is the best in NorCal for universities
so add UCSC to your list
Id say ud prolly get into Santa Clara and SJSU for sure
but the other schools are iffy
thats just my suggestion</p>

3

<p>I would say that you should definitely apply to maybe two more schools that are matches or safeties. The problem with your list is that Stanford, USC, and UCB are high reaches with your SAT score. You should be fine for SJSU and Santa Clara is probably a low match for you as well. If you are content attending either school then you may be fine. In admissions you really never know so I would add at least one or safety or match. Unfortunately I do not know much about Cali schools for a suggestion. Possibly UC Riverside or Merced?</p>

4

<p>Based on [SJSU</a> Admission](<a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1014.html]SJSU”>http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1014.html) , it was not that hard to get into SJSU for majors in international business or Chinese for fall 2012.</p>

<p>Since you consider SJSU as your safety, is it affordable, and do you like it? These must be satisfied for a school to be your safety. If you have a safety, then the rest of your application list need only consist of schools that you may choose over your safety (a student whose first choice is a safety need not apply anywhere else – but needs to make sure that it really is a safety).</p>

<p>Cal Poly SLO is considered good for most preprofessional majors. It is also quite competitive for admissions. See <a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>Cal Poly Admissions;

<p>Berkeley is probably a low-to-mid reach. USC is supposedly rather test score oriented, so it may be more of a reach for you even though it is generally considered a bit less selective than Berkeley or UCLA, which emphasize high school grades more. Stanford is an extreme reach – you probably need your SAT scores to average 750+ per section to have some reasonable chance.</p>

5

<p>Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC are reaches (Stanford may be out of reach). Santa Clara is a great match, and SJSU is a good safety. I agree that it would be worth applying to a couple more UCs, perhaps UCSB, UCSC, UCD and UCI. Cal Poly is also excellent.</p>

6

<p>Stanford, Cal, and USC are all high reaches for you. maybe pick one and get rid of the others. Why waste time and money applying to schools where you don’t have a chance unless you have some amazing hook or you get a much higher score. </p>

<p>Add some more UCs as the others have suggested and also some CSUs.</p>

<p>Do you have an affordable safety? Do you know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered for San Jose? If not, then it’s not a safety for you. Do you know if your parents will pay all costs for San Jose?</p>

7

<p>@mom2collegekids </p>

<p>I know Stanford is a very high reach. Cal is a high reach. But I don’t see how USC is a high reach. </p>

<p>I know its a reach but USC is not a Stanford or even a Cal, when compared academically. I know USC is on the rise but it will take years (or maybe never) for USC to be on the level of Stanford or Cal. </p>

<p>I’ll probably add UC Davis and Cal Poly SLO. As other safeties. I know Davis is no safety for some people. </p>

<p>Yes, SJSU is affordable for me. Most likely I will get some financial aid from them and tuition at a CSU is rougly 10K per year give or take a few grand.</p>

8

<p>USC is on the level of Cal right now
and will probably be harder to get into in the near future</p>

9

<p>^^^ Are you kidding???
Cal has 10x more nobel laureates than USC does. I think USC only has 1. Compared to Cal’s 15+ or so. </p>

<p>USC is on the rise but only because of it being a private school. If it weren’t for the UC budget cuts Cal would still be in the thick of it. (And they are in it)</p>

10

<p>USC has become highly selective in recent years. I have a relative that USC rejected with a much higher SAT, higher GPA, and great ECs. His parent is a USC alum. He was also a full-pay student. His parents were shocked at his rejection. Both UCLA and Cal accepted him, but USC rejected him. </p>

<p>Right now, those who don’t have a 2100+ SAT and don’t have a hook will find that USC is a high reach. </p>

<p>I’m from Calif…I can remember a time when anyone with decent stats could get into USC. Times have changed. </p>

<p>Your SAT is in the LOWER quartile for USC…that’s the quartile for athletes and special hooked admits. The bottom quartile is SAT 1930 and below.</p>

11

<p>What does nobel laureates have to do with admissions?
USC accepts 23%
Cal accepts 21%</p>

<p>USC has higher average test scores
Cal has slightly higher GPAs</p>

12

<p>Have you looked at Chapman? Their business degree offers an international emphasis.There a quite a few Chinese classes-don’t know if a minor is offered. Also, it’s a nice town and they are sometimes quite generous with merit aid.</p>

13

<p>Maybe USF? San Francisco is a great place for business and I just toured last week and they talked about how great internship opportunities are with the finincial district like 4 miles away</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>Middle 50% range: 1930-2230</p>

<p>Your scores are below the lower quartile range. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s a high reach for you.</p>

<p>lol Nobel laureates. Thanks for the good laugh OP.</p>

15

<p>Based on this: <a href=“http://www.pvhigh.com/C_CCC/pdf/CCC_Student_Profile.pdf[/url]”>http://www.pvhigh.com/C_CCC/pdf/CCC_Student_Profile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
USC is very slightly less selective than Berkeley or UCLA.</p>

<p>However, UCs and USC may emphasize different aspects. USC is often thought to emphasize test scores more than UCs do relative to grades, so USC may be more of a reach for you because your test scores are not as strong as your grades.</p>

16

<p>Take look at some of the other UCs. If you are applying to one, it’s easy to apply to more. And I agree with the others that Stanford is well out of reach, and USC and Berkeley are high reaches.</p>