Hi, I am currently a California High School Junior with a GPA of 4.2 and SAT 1400 ( 630 on reading and 770 on Math) and I want to get into the best software engineering schools possible. However, my situation is a lot different than other students because 1st, I am an Chinese immigrant who just moved here 4 years ago, and I am not really good with my English (630 on the SAT reading), and I know colleges set the limit for Asian boys a lot higher. 2nd, my parents are not paying for my college, so I have to find a way to pay myself. 3rd, I am in a school where they offers a lot of AP classes and there’s a lot of students taking 5-6 ap classes. So my 4.2 GPA does not stand out that much. Which Software engineering Schools are the best for me? Help!!!
Santa Clara University has a great computer science program. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is also a great engineering school, and you have a great chance of getting in. UC Santa Cruz is also well-known for their computer science program, and you would definitely get in. Don’t worry! All three schools I mentioned are great schools for your major and you have a very good chance of being admitted.
looks like all those 3 are pretty good schools!
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Thanks so much! Yeah I was also thinking about Union University to pay off pay tuition since it is totally free, do you think I should go or I can get in? And do you have any other out of-California colleges? (My parents are making lower than 25,000$ together,I would be so glad if it is tuition free)
Not OOS but SJSU has both CS and SE. If your low income, the CA publics could be very generous with FA. Since you state you will need to pay for school, you need to look at all costs beside tuition. For OOS, you will need room/board/transportation/health insurance/books etc… You need to target schools that will give you need-based and merit aid. Look at University of Alabama. Are there any Cal states or UC’s nearby where you can commute?
Also check these links: http://www.thecollegesolution.com/list-of-colleges-that-meet-100-of-financial-need/
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Run the Net price calculators and all schools to get an estimate on costs.
UCs: check net price calculator for each campus – likely to be in affordability range if you take a federal direct loan ($5,500) and contribute some of your work earnings.
CSUs: any that you can commute to are likely to be cheaper than UCs, but others may cost more than UCs. Net price calculator: http://www.csumentor.edu/finaid/pais/
Full rides from the following lists (but check school web sites since some have changed):
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
If you don’t want to a lot of debt after school, I would recommend a cal state university. Most Cal States have computer engineering majors, the polys come top of the list I believe, San Luis and Pomona that is. Also, if you’re very passionate about that field, the growth potential is incredible and the software industry has so much demand that there are graduates every year…so as long as you do good in school, your college choice should not largely determine if you’ll get a job or not.
UC’s are very expensive…have you thought of starting out at a community college and then moving onto a UC or CalState? That way you would finish in 2 years your lower level prereqs and you might be able to work and pay for the classes or get a loan which would be significantly cheaper than what you’d need for a UC.
A local CSU or a 2 yr JC then transferring to a CSU will be your cheapest option. CS is a very marketable degree and you will not need a brand name school to get a job like finance or investment banking will. Honestly if you do want to go to a CSU go to a community college first. You’ll save a lot of money that way. With financial aid and commuting to a CSU for 2 years you will probably graduate debt free if you work part time during the school year and full time over summer. Which CSU is local to you? UCs can offer good FA but the spread out locations of campuses may mean you can’t commute depending where you live. The UCs also have a lot of “associated costs”. Student clubs and orgs at least at UCLA all have dues that can be hundreds of dollars for the entire year.