<p>The 1st thing to do is to stop posting identical questions in different forums ...</p>
<p>I'm sorry. But I am really worried about this. I dont want to make a wrong choice and regret it for the rest of my life on it.</p>
<p>Either way you go, you won't regret it the rest of your life. You have two good options.</p>
<p>If you really want people here to Tell You What To Do:</p>
<p>Go to UCSD.</p>
<p>If the award is unpredictable, how do I now I can afford it? and what can we do if the amount of money we need to pay is more than we can afford? According to the current estimated award, I still have to work for Federal work-study. Therefore, I'm assuming that I still need to work for work-study during my junior year and senior year. There is no time I can study, do work-study and work for another job at the same time. Any suggenstions?</p>
<p>Since you are not interested in the dorm life I would choose the Comm College then transfer. You are much more likely to get in on a transfer from a community college than from a 4 year. Community colleges are set up to prepare students for transfers and are much less expensive for general ed.
My neighbor is an engineering graduate from UCSD (I live in SD). He loved UCSD but feels it would have been better to do his first two years at a Community College. Not only would it have been cheaper but he would have had a better time in general ed courses such as English. As an engineering major, Eng Comp and Lit were not his strong points but he was competing with students who were English majors. And he would have beat them in Math and science courses but they didn't have to take the ones he did.<br>
A friend is dean of science at CSUSM and he said that if my son wanted to transfer to a UC it would be MUCH better to start at a Com College than a 4 year.</p>
<p>But I heard transfer to UCLA from CC requires lots of honor programs, which is as hard as the courses in UC. So I think it would have been the same if your neighbor went to CC, since engineering does require a lot more units than other majors.</p>
<p>If you go to CC you don't know for certain if you'll be able to transfer into the UC system. If you choose UCSD now, you're in for sure.</p>
<p>I called them, and they said they cannot make any changes at this point, and they already gave me the max amount of gift aid. And no, they cannot tell me if it's going to be better or worse after my sophomore year.
So...I'm stuck.</p>
<p>LOANS
WORK-STUDY</p>
<p>scary~</p>
<p>After reading all the posts today, I changed my mind on what you should do. I get the impression that you don't know what you want except that you want to go to UCLA so badly, you'd do anything to get there. At first, you said you were going to major in engineering and then say that if you transfer from jc that you would change to applied mathematics to have a better chance of getting in to UCLA. If my daughter told me she didn't know what she wanted, I would say just go to junior college for 2 years and figure out what you want and then make a choice. So don't go to UCSD unless you are sure what you want. Going to a good school that you really don't want to be at and placing a financial hardship on your family will only likely caused more costs in your ultimate goals when you finally figure what you want. Almost every kid my daughter knows that was so set on going to a certain school was disappointed one way or another. Whether it was admission, financial aid given or misrepresentation of expectations. Don't get set on one school. Its only undergrad.</p>
<p>um...
Like I said, I set my heart on UCLA only becuase it's close to my house so I dont have to face a serious financial issue. I am interested in Math and Computer. I haven't taken any high level cource in Physics or Chemistry, so I can't say anything about it at this point.
That's why I will major in either computer or engineering.
If I go for UCSD, I need to take $6600 loans, which will be added up to like 30k after four years. I don't know how long takes me to pay it off. And I have to do work-study for $2800, which is 10 hours per week. I am wondering if I can concentrate on my education and work so much at the same time. If I screw up my grades, I guess my gift aid will decrease too.
If I go for PCC, I am not sure if I will risk majoring in competitive field, like computer engineering. Like people said, I have to make sure I will be able to transfer after two years. Major becomes another problem.
Either way has pros and cons. It's a tough choice.</p>
<p>O_o
good afternoon</p>
<p>Crap!
Uc Berkeley Accepted Me!!!
All Confused Now</p>
<p>If you think you can afford Berkeley, I would seeeriously consider going.
Have you visited? I really liked the campus.</p>
<p>what?
I heard the campus is really, really old and the neigborhood is extremely dirty.
UCSD and UCLA is much prettier than UCB. (I heard)</p>
<p>Congratulations on Berkeley.</p>
<p>well i would seriously consider visiting and not relying on what people tell you.</p>
<p>I got accepted to Berkeley spring semester, which would require that I go to PCC for one semester and then goign to Berkeley in spring of 09, but no way I would do that. Personally, its because I hate the atmosphere and weather at Berkeley, but again, thats just me.</p>
<p>And i also love UCLA, so I'll be going there. </p>
<p>It seems as if you're leaning a lot towards PCC-UCLA. It IS really really difficult to transfer from SD to LA, since they'll probably be more inclined towards transfers from CCs, but as long as you're willing to work hard you can make anything work. Get good enough grades, and you'll get into LA. same with transfering from SD. But since you have Berkeley... ... well its up to you :D</p>
<p>[personally, since i'm more of an instant gratification person i'd go with Berkeley, but it is really up to you]</p>
<p>and grats to you :D</p>