What College suits me and what are my chances?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello guys, I'm an incoming senior in High School and I'v been thinking about college seriously for quite a while. Junior year I kept researching olleges and more importantly majors that would interest me. I decided that an engineering or business major would be good for me. The problem is, although iv'e been searching for many, I can't come up with a college that suits me. Iknow, I know, before you tell me that it comes down to me, I just want ideas of where to start looking. My current stats are as follows:</p>

<p>3.4/3.8 gpa u/w (transfered from a rigorous highschool and my gpa has ben going up since from about a 3.1 to where it is now. Last 2 semesters i got 3.8/4.3 u/w so i am optimistic about brignign it up to a 3.6 hopefully.</p>

<p>3 AP classes, and 3 more next year ( Human Geography, World history, AP Language, and next year, AP Stats, AP Calulus, AP Psychology and possibly AP Literature)</p>

<p>SAT : 1610 (taken only one time without lots of study, planning to take it 3 more times after dedicated studying and pick the best score)</p>

<p>ACT : 21 Composite (same as SAT)</p>

<p>EC's: Baseball for 3 years, 1 of them Varsity
Future Business Leaders Of America 1 year (looking to join next year too)
Be a Leader Foundation 1 year (looking to join next year too)</p>

<p>Community Service : About 30 hours</p>

<p>Recommendation Letters: I have not gotten any yet but I am positive they will be strong. I have good strong relationships with all my teachers who have recommended me for many programs and opportunities.</p>

<p>Along with all of these statistics, I live in Arizona so I have been searching around the are, mostly A and CA.
My Family's financial status is not very good. (no money saved up for college)
I want to go to the best possible college and am willing to work hard to improve my stats such as gpa and standarized tests. I was lloking at Cal Poly SLO and the average admitted is about 3.6 gpa and 1700 sat. Im sure that with practice and 3 tries I can reach and even surpass that score. It is very good for engineering and also very cheap so I thought that was one option. However, CAL Pomona is closer to home, but how would it compare to SLO? is it still good at engineering?
I know this was a lot, and my resume isn't the best but because of that I want to be informed and will take all the advice i can to improve my chances at stronger colleges. Thank you in advanced :)</p>

2

<p>Cal Poly Pomona is excellent for engineering. But you’re out of state, so note that there are non-resident fees tacked onto the regular tuition at $248 extra per unit. I assume SLO is similar, so these schools may be out of your price bracket. You may do better financially with an AZ school.</p>

3

<p>While CSUs including the Cal Polys are not that expensive for out-of-state students, if you can afford very little, they are likely to be out of reach financially.</p>

<p>You can check the net price calculators at various schools to see if they are likely to be affordable to you.</p>

4

<p>The stats for admitted students mostly reflect instate students. OOS students have to have higher stats.</p>

<p>Since your family can’t pay much, OOS Calif publics would not be affordable. Your instate publics will likely be your most affordable choices.</p>

5

<p>I agree with what mom2collegekids said about the CA publics not being affordable for you. I would recommend either sticking with AZ instate options or find some private colleges with good financial aid. Just based on what you said, your family should qualify for decent aid. Your stats would indicate that you need to stick with less competitive schools to have a good shot at acceptance and any merit aid. Try some college search websites to see what schools might be doable for you. </p>

<p>Before you get too far along, you should really estimate your potential financial aid. Go to FAFSA4caster: <a href=“https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm[/url]”>https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm&lt;/a&gt;. That will give you a better idea of what you can afford with no college savings.</p>