<p>Hi</p>
<p>I am an International student at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Mathematics and/or Industrial Engineering.</p>
<p>Due to the rising value of the dollar, (approx 20% increase vs my home currency in the last 4 months), I cannot afford to continue at Berkeley after this year. I would appreciate greatly if you could recommend some other good schools for me to transfer to, with a total annual cost <=$35,000.</p>
<p>The only good school I can think of currently is Virginia Tech. What kind of a GPA do I need at Berkeley to be able to get into Virginia Tech? Also, I applied there and was accepted, but chose not to attend. Will that have an adverse effect on my application?
And is it really a big step down to go to Virginia Tech after Berkeley even if I get good grades there?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Take a look at the University of Minnesota. You get an excellent education for a real bargain. Out-of-state tuition for the year is $14,634 and room-and-board around $7,280.</p>
<p>It’s a big step down for the weather though…</p>
<p>I have never considered U Minnesota; looking into it now.</p>
<p>Also, in case it is applicable, my stats are as follows:
SAT I : 2040 (720M, 700W, 620CR)
SAT II : 750 Chem, 800 Math IIC
High School: Mostly As
A LOT of good extra-curriculars</p>
<p>Interested in either Industrial Engg/Math/Computer Science.</p>
<p>There is one more vital point: Provided I am able to maintain a good GPA, I absolutely MUST be able to get a good job(I guess not Berkeley level, but ..) upon graduation; for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>Sorry about your situtation. </p>
<p>Your HS stats are excellent. However, for transfer, colleges will put more weight on your college record than your HS record. I believe with a solid B average and the compelling reason you have, you can transfer easily to a lot of other solid schools for math/industrial engineering. </p>
<p>What are your career ambitions? Do you plan to continue living in the US after graduation or return to your home country? I wouldn’t worry too much about job prospects right now…Going from Berkeley to one of the colleges I mention below is not going to be the huge step down you think, especially if you plan to stay in the US.</p>
<p>Attending a school outside of California should help with other expenses. Here are a list of other colleges to consider:
Georgia Tech<br>
Purdue
Wisconsin
Penn State
Virginia Tech
Minnesota
Texas A&M<br>
North Carolina State</p>
<p>Perhaps you can apply to some privates, if your college grades are really strong:
Northwestern
Stanford</p>
<p>Financial aid for internationals may be more generous.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>New York is the most generous I’ve seen in not charging OOS students a lot of tuition.</p>
<p>Two highly regarded (Top 100) SUNY campuses are Bingamton and Stony Brook. Tuition, Room and Board, and Fees at both is around $21,500. That figure does not count books, personal expenses, or travel expenses. If you add those in it is still under $25,000 all in. That should be about $27,000 less than Berkeley’s all-in costs (also called Cost of Attendance).</p>
<p>Therefore, Minnesota and SUNY appear to both be options with all in costs at around $25,000. Mineesota is of course more well known and higher rated, so if you aren’t completely turned of by cold weather, that looks like your best option. </p>
<p>I just looked up Engineering rankings, and Minnesota is #25 and Stony Brook #66 per USNWR.</p>
<p>Here is a very informative old post about life at Stony Brook: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/suny-stony-brook/545919-i-just-graduated-stony-brook.html?highlight=Stony+Brook+engineering[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/suny-stony-brook/545919-i-just-graduated-stony-brook.html?highlight=Stony+Brook+engineering</a></p>
<p>op - </p>
<p>I just noticed your first interest is Math. In that case, I think Stony Brook deserves a careful look… it might even be better than Minnesota… not familiar with the Math rankings.</p>
<p>Thanks UCBChemEGrad, DunninLA.</p>
<p>If I end up doing Math, it’d probably be Math with a concentration in either Operations Research or Computer Science.</p>
<p>UCBChemEGrad, I do intend to stay in the United States atleast until I’m through with Grad School, one year or which my parents should be able to pay for if I transfer.</p>
<p>Do you think I should consider applying to Liberal Arts Colleges that provide International students with funding?
But then again, I don’t want to get into the whole applications bit. Just want to apply to 4/5(maximum!) schools and be done with it.</p>
<p>DunninLA, Stony Brook looks like an interesting prospect, but do you think it’s worth going to Stony Brook over UM/VT? Do they offer International students scholarships?</p>
<p>Don’t bother with LACs. They don’t even have what you want to study. As for FA from top schools, you want to look for those thare are “need-blind” policy FOR INTERNATIONALS; otherwise the chance of getting FA from is so slim that you shouldn’t waste time on them. Don’t waste time on Northwestern which is NOT need-blind for internationals. You have to be truly exceptional to get it (the international pool is already competitive without FA and I remember reading that only 5% of the internationals get FA). There aren’t really that many collleges that are need-blind for internationals.
Don’t waste time on Stanford either. The transfer admit rate is like 2% if I remember correctly!!</p>
<p>Given this, I think you should focus on the ones with sticker price that is within your budget so you don’t need to rely on FA. If you want FA, then look for 2nd-tier schools.</p>
<p>Definitely try Georgia Tech. #1 in industrial engineering and I believe it’s relatively cheap even without any FA.</p>
<p>It might be possible to drop out of Berkeley, attend California community college for a year or a year and a half, and then re-enroll in Berkeley. I would seriously look into this as an option.</p>
<p>^But I think it’d be my last resort if I were the OP. I have a cousin that just got her AA from a community college in CA and I helped her before with some of her assignments. Based on what she told me, you are pretty much on your own with community colleges. You learn from self-study, not inside the classroom. Some of her classes were complete joke (she took a “computer” class and it’s about learning basic skills in excel which she already knew). Most of her peers were not motivated and serious. Also, without even the tuition, the living expense in the Bay Area is still high. There’s no guarantee that the IE department is going to take you back even with stellar grades from CC.</p>
<p>Minnesota’s got a first-rate math department, too. US News ranks it #17 nationally—ahead of SUNY-Stony Brook at 24, also a strong program. These are graduate program rankings; US News doesn’t rank math programs at the undergrad level. But these rankings do reflect the relative perceived strengths of the faculties.</p>
<p>Re: GA TEch: per this link: [Georgia</a> Institute of Technology :: Financial Aid :: Cost of Attendance](<a href=“Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid”>Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid) , GA Tech is $33,000 Tuition, Room&Board and Fees. All-in it’s about $36,500 (adding $1,200 for transportation which they don’t list), which is an additional $11,000 compared to Minnesota or SUNY Stony Brook.</p>
<p>OP, it looks to me like Minnesota would be your best avenue to pursue. Stony Brook second, unless as I say long, cold winters affect your emotional disposition. I’m surprised such quality institutions can be so affordable at the list price.</p>
<p>There should be subforums on this website for both Minnesota and Stony Brook. did you real the post by the Stony Brook math/applied math grad that I linked for you?</p>
<p>^I guess GATech is more pricey than I expected. But it’s still over $10,000 cheaper than Berkeley and it’s not a step-down for IE. GA Tech is also very prestigious in the south, where the job opportunities are more than the NE. The problem is it’s too close to the OP’s maximum budget. This is not comforting considering the current state of world economy.</p>
<p>OP,
Your family may want to put some funds in your US bank account if there’s a reason to believe the currency of your home country is gonna drop more. Dropping 20% in 4 months seems to indicate a very unstable economy. However, people here are worrying about their money in the banks too!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s not necessarily true. If I were OP I would look into this carefully.</p>
<p>Community College isn’t a viable option for me unfortunately.</p>
<p>Stony Brook looks quite decent, but isn’t it almost completely a commuter school?</p>
<p>And Georgia Tech is an absolutely brilliant school, but the cost is too close to my budget for comfort.</p>
<p>UCBChemE, any idea about off campus housing prices around the campus? I don’t mind moving off campus if that’ll save about $500 a month..</p>
<p>Re: Stony Brook: it is 50% commuter, 50% living on campus. So that means the on-campus community is about 7,000 students. A very nice size.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts on Minnesota?</p>
<p>Nice list tomslawsky – FYI U of Minn changed its OOS tuition policy for 2008 freshmen… lowered it by about $8.000.</p>