<p>Hi I'm a rising senior at a public HS in NJ and for the past year or so I've been exploring colleges and majors and UCB really really really caught my interest! ):</p>
<p>However here's the situation: UCB is a school in Cali/West Coast and being that it is a public school, I heard things such as UCs favoring California students.</p>
<p>For my current position, my GPA and SAT Scores are not horrible, however they are not in par to UCB's standards (in my opinion). I do believe I have the grades to get into schools like Purdue, Rutgers, UIUC, and maybe RPI if I do apply for ED.</p>
<p>But my question is, would it be stupid or pointless of me of even thinking of going to a school in California, probably a CCC or a lower tier UC and then transferring to UCB? Or do you think it's more reasonable to go into one of the schools mentioned above (Purdue, Rutgers, UIUC, etc.) and try transferring from there? I heard many things how the UC's favor transfers from CCC, then UCs, then OOS CC, and then OOS Universities/Colleges.</p>
<p>Unless you are willing to pay a lot, the hard part may be out of state tuition, as both UCs and CCs in California will charge more (and not likely to offer financial aid that covers the out of state surcharge).</p>
<p>UC does have higher minimum eligibility for out of state students, but Berkeley is selective enough for freshmen that the minimum UC eligibility is not relevant for anyone with a realistic chance of getting into Berkeley.</p>
<p>Hey thanks for your reply! I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>And I briefly mentioned this idea to my parents and they said they were willing to move to Cali if something like this DID happen. So tuition wise I’m sure my parents are able to pay for 2 years OOS. </p>
<p>And as for your last question, not to sound off arrogant or like an elitist, but
I’m not sure how OOS view Rutgers as a College/University, but in NJ, many people think of it as a ‘mediocre’ school. To be quite honest, aside from Berkeley having a wonderful engineering program and having a name, I just have this random penchant towards that school. But please don’t think of me negatively, I am no way trying to say Rutgers is a bad school, I just straight out don’t want to go there.</p>
<p>If your parents are willing to move to California and can pay for your schooling (without struggling) I’d say only do the CCC route if you have a backup plan. Let’s say you apply to UC Berkeley as a junior transfer and get rejected. Would you consider going to another UC or even CSU instead? Sacrificing your first two years of college for the <em>chance</em> to transfer to UC Berkeley is a big risk, especially if you could go to those other schools you mentioned for your entire undergraduate career.</p>
<p>After living in CA for a year, you will become an instate student…so you’ll have to pay out of state tuition for your first year, but the last 3 will be instate. Your application for UCB will also be as a CA resident. OOS tuition for a CCC btw, is still relatively low. </p>
<p>Since UCB only does junior transfers, you would only get to spend 2 years there. Do you really want to go there that badly when you could get accepted to other schools straight from high school?</p>
<p>I always thought Rutgers was a great school…but maybe that’s just the view from my department?</p>
<p>^I got accepted to berkeley and I took a period off for both semesters of my final year. as long as you have loads of ap credits to make yourself not look like a slacker, it doesn’t really matter</p>
<p>Would it be safer to transfer as a junior from a different school OOS then?
And obviously I would be applying to several schools out from the CCC if i did decide to go to a CCC for two years, not just solely UCB. I wouldn’t mind majoring in the science field, most likely physics or biophysics at UCLA, UCD, or UCSD. </p>
<p>How have CCC student’s done in transferring to other schools outside of California?</p>
<p>And to Shannon13, I’m not sure where you are from, but NJ student’s really do take Rutgers for granted. Aside from the pharmacy program and MAYBE engineering and business, Rutgers is just known as the college that is like high school all over again.</p>
<p>I do notice an “anywhere but Rutgers” sentiment from a lot of NJ students, which is baffling. Rutgers is a perfectly good school, and has a top reputation in some subjects like CS, English, history, math, physics, and philosophy.</p>
<p>Well that’s why I’m still putting a lot of time and effort in researching and looking up statistics/info about this whole situation and whether or not it’s a risk worth taking.</p>
<p>On a side note, I obviously know the gravity of this situation cause I’m only given a <em>chance</em> to get into UCB, but if it’s a chance that’s much higher than OOS residents, I might as well take it. I’m still planning things out. My weighted GPA is around a 3.8 and my unweighted is not known but it is most likely around 3.5 or 3.6. My rank did not come out yet but it is probably going to be around a low 70 or high 60 in class of 330ish. My SAT I is a 2100, and I got a 700 on Physics and 720 on Math 2C. I’m gonna retake physics and 2c again. Sorry for not clarifying these specs from the start; I assumed that you CCer’s would kind of get the gist of from the schools that I mentioned, but I totally forgot that it’s different throughout the whole country. </p>
<p>Also on a side note, please don’t get this mixed up as me trying to find a way to just not put in effort while I’m still in high school or even if I do end up going to a CC. I’m still going to continue to try my best to perform well academically and socially throughout the school. </p>
<p>I have been thinking a lot on this and I did develop more reasons as to why I should go towards the west coast for my own personal reasons, rather than just being “selfish.” I won’t post it here unless you guys are legitimately concerned or curious, which I highly doubt because I feel like I would just be wasting your times.</p>
<p>Yeah thanks for the advice. I definitely will be looking more into what’s happening within the state of California so I can get a better understanding of the whole budget cut situation.</p>