Gotcha. I confess I don’t know that much about SCU. Appreciate the correction. I was probably skewed in knowing 2 or 3 students (one degree removed) who happen to have been offered the full ride there.
Our school is moving more toward dual enrollment rather than AP.
1 Like
It’s probably pretty rare to be honest, but maybe more very high-level arts (dance, music, etc.) organizations should consider it! This particular organization is well-known and credentialed (stuff like GRAMMY awards through their collaboration with various symphonies, etc.) so maybe that made it easier, but honestly if the experience is rigorous enough as vetted through WASC accreditation (which is a bear of a process! I’ve been through some!), I don’t see why more organizations couldn’t help their devoted students out in that way. It was too late for us to get our HS to accept the credit because the accreditation just came through last year, but I’m sure that by the time her little sister comes along, our HS will be giving a year of arts credit for that level of participation. My daughter spends far more time with this activity (including rigorous performance, memorization, learning music in other languages, music theory, etc.) than she does with any single particular class at high school. I know the same can be said for kids who participate in high level dance, jazz bands, orchestras, etc.
1 Like
I know quite a few students who go to “Saturday school” to learn their parents’ native language and culture. It isn’t just on Saturdays and is a significant time commitment. Not sure if it is already done, but I’m thinking it would be nice for those kids to receive credit for LOTE.
1 Like
While they don’t get credit, there is a place on the UC app where you can list other classes/study you’ve done outside of what appears on your school transcript. My daughter did list such languages there, so while credit would be nice, I think she got admissions “credit” for it, and I think having language knowledge allows you to test into higher levels at college. So it’s not all bad.
1 Like
I love that idea. Someone needs to help guide places like that through accreditation because that would be wonderful. Probably not an easy process, but I would love to see that.
2 Likes
D23 has several classmates at her school alone who received FULL and/or partial merit to SCU and other CA privates who were not eligible for need based aid - 17k is misleading as that is just tuition costs, not R&B + other costs. If you have a high enough GPA + high SAT’s there is plenty of money, even for no need families.
2 Likes
True. And even though my daughter’s chorus wasn’t officially a class so she couldn’t put it there, she did put a note in the additional info section about how it had recently been WASC accredited and that was a reflection of the rigor of the experience. Hopefully that helped.
2 Likes
The only reason D applied to Santa Clara was because we had heard about the generous merit - including full ride scholarships. She ended up waitlisted, so obviously became a non-issue for us, but we were definitely banking on merit had she been accepted.
1 Like
CSUs don’t provide much research opportunities. Its goal is to prepare students for jobs of their choice right after their graduation. So its approach is more practical. UC’s primary focuses are to enhance students’ research analysis and theoretical skills(at least it used to be), and it focus on research and theory.
Some students want to go into Master/PHDs later in their lives. CSU is not good choice for that.
@sushiritto didn’t I see a post from you somewhere about the research opportunities at SLO?
1 Like
What? Many, many, many, many graduates of CSUs go on to get advanced degrees. What you seem to be thinking about is the Cal Poly schools within the system. But plenty of people also get higher degrees after attending those schools.
There are tons of great CSUs that will give you a similar education to a UC. And if not, you can take 2 years of CC to get your general education and prerequisites out of the way, then transfer into a UC (or CSU!).
1 Like
Not sure if there is great emphasis on AP scores. My son took 18 AP’s( 4 in senior year) passed all the 14 exams( before senior year) with mostly 5’s( 5 in all stem courses, Calculus AB, BC, physics 1,2 phys c: E&M, Chemistry, comp. sc. A) and few 4’s.
He has all A’s and took only honors and APs in 10 & 11 th grade. Also took DE for multi variable, linear algebra and some computer courses, lots of great EC’s , very good PIQ’s BUT got waitlisted by UCB, UCLA and UCSD. He is feeling so sad and thinks all his hard work was for nothing.
He has very good OOS options but he would have loved to stay in-state. He will be going to Georgia tech now.
1 Like
As it relates to my D21, yes, but I can’t speak for the entire university in terms of research opportunities.
I believe D21 either saw in her major’s newsletter or possibly it was mentioned in a class, but D21 applied and was accpeted as a volunteer in a graduate student run research project at SLO.
1 Like
Those sorts of attitudes and assumptions are why there is such a problem with people considering CSU’s as an alternative.
5 Likes
This year AP’s did not seem to help much for my DS. He has 11 AP’s(4 in progress), 2 DE (MV calc and linear algebra), 3 CC classes. He got 5’s on all AP’s he has taken(Calc BC, Physics, etc…) He even got an email from the College Board President congratulating him on perfect score(not just a 5, all answers correct) on the COMP SCI A AP test(only 350 in the world). He still couldn’t get in as a CS major(got into 2 with alt major-math) at the 4 UC’s he applied to. 
His EC’s were strong-4 years of working in CS, NMF and 4.7 gpa. CP SLO is looking like his destination and I am very happy with that, but disappointed in the UC system. Congrats to all those who cracked into the CS major at the UC’s.
5 Likes
That is very impressive, particularly the perfect score on CS A.
Very glad my son didn’t not pursue a CS major admission – it seems to be like winning the lottery at highly competitive schools. Too much demand, not enough supply.
4 Likes
I am so sorry to hear he didn’t get into the UCs – he’s obviously so clearly qualified (but I bet SLO is going to be a great school for him!). I think that it really comes down to there not being enough room in CS at the UCs. And THAT is definitely something that the UC system needs to address. I know it’s very hard to get the instruction they need to make programs bigger. But they need to find a way because the demand is very much there, and the kids are qualified. That to me is something that needs immediate attention (vs. needing a pivot away from holistic admission). Wishing your son the best possible experience at SLO. We’ll be visiting next week, looking at it for my daughter who was admitted. I’m excited about it!
2 Likes
Very impressive. He should be very proud of himself.
1 Like
D21, who attends SLO, plans to seek a graduate degree. As mentioned above, she also has a research position and a wonderful local part-time job in her future career field, hopefully. 
Cal Poly also offers many 4+1 degrees or “blended degrees,” where a student can receive a bachelors and masters. There are too many to mention here, but one of the most well-known across the US is Architecture.
4 Likes