What do I need to do more to get into UCSD

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

My dream school is UCSD and I’m planning to major in Computer Science. I’m super stressed out about not doing enough sophomore year. I would just like to know what I need to do more to improve my chances on getting accepted. I’m currently a sophomore in a magnet school in Las Vegas.
GPA (8 classes each semester):
Freshman year - straight As but 1 B in Biology second semester, only 2 honors classes though
Sophomore year (only looking at first semester because I’m still in the middle of second semester) - straight As but 1 B in Chemistry Honors first semester, 5 honors classes, no AP

Currently with Freshman year and Sophomore year(semester 1) calculated on my transcript, my unweighted GPA is 3.929 and weighted 4.154.

For Junior year, I’m planning on taking 3 AP classes, AP Literature, AP Psychology, and APUSH.

EC:
Volunteer at a local museum and have around 65+ hours currently
Crossfit during the summer
I’m competing in Crossfit Opens this year

I also applied at this school for Chinese tutoring, a part time job at In-N-Out, and a summer job at City of Las Vegas, and attending classes for a week at iDTech during the summer.

For Junior year, I’m planning on joining DECA, Speech and Debate, Student Council, and Robotics.
I missed out on an opportunity on applying for NHS, but I wish I applied.

first generation college student also.

With the stats I have currently, I know it might be hard to tell cause I’m still in the middle of Sophomore year in high school, but what schools would I be able to get accepted into if I keep this up throughout the remainder of high school.

2

First question: can your parents afford the OOS tuition rates.
UCSD is a publicly funded university which means that you have to pay full fees as a non-resident. There is no financial aid for non-residents so paying $62K per year is very pricey.
Ask your parents what they can afford.

3

There is no financial aid? How will I establish residency to be able to earn financial aid? I lived in Cali for 5 years before moving here the summer before 8th grade. My grandpa still lives there too, does that have anything to do with it?

4

If you are under 24 and not an independent, you derive your residency from where your parents live. You cannot use your Grandfather to get CA residency. Come here a year before attending any school, be completely independent with no help from family, get a job, pay for housing etc… and hen apply for CA residency.

https://students.ucsd.edu/finances/fees/residence/criteria.html

Consider CA private schools where in-state residency is not a consideration.

5

Do your own research but, i think you will find it almost impossible to gain residency in CA as a student. Your best shot is moving here and graduating from a CA high school.

With high stats though, you would likely be awarded significant scholarships at LMU and USD, two so cal privates with solid CS programs.

Since you are in Nevada, you should also look at WUE schools, Western public schools who provide tuition discounts to applicants from Western states. UCM and several of the CSUs participate. Cal Poly Pomona is really solid in this area. Here’s a list.
http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all

6

Are there any schools that provide a good computer science program that is a WUE school, and also provides good financial aid or scholarships? I really don’t want to go in-state for college because my only two options are UNLV and UNR, while they’re not bad schools, I feel like I can do better than that. I heard that University of Washington is a good school, but does it have a good computer science program or financial aid?

7

Actually I just took a look at Cal Poly Pomona and it looks affordable with financial aid and other grants. I heard UNR in-state in Nevada also has a good computer science program. The cost to go to UNR is almost half of going to Cal Poly Pomona. Do you think I should just stay in state if I get accepted to go to both schools?

8

in addition to CP Pomona, Chico, East Bay, Northridge, and Sac have solid CS programs. Colorado State, Wash State, Boise ,and U of Utah have reputable programs in other states. It is pretty hard to come by financial aid at a public school as an OOS student.

Just about all of them offer some merit scholarships but, the application process varies by school.

FWIW - I have heard UNR has a decent CS program.

9

On average with scholarships and grants, how much should I expect to have to pay from the schools that you just listed on there?

10

Between zero and a LOT - it really depends on your situation and many have essays you submit so, they are pretty subjective.

Apply broadly and see what happens. Ideally, you will get into several schools, then make the decision that is right for you. Don’t worry about picking just one yet.

11

Make sure you check each WUE schools list of available majors since some impacted and competitive majors may be excluded from WUE applicants.
http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp

12

My S has applied to a number of WUE schools (not for CS). Our experience is that they are all still more expensive than in-state options, with the exception of Univ. of Wyoming, which is a great deal (but not sure for CS).

With the bleed over of CA tech companies into the Reno area, I’d think CS at UNR should only get stronger. Lots of CA kids go there too.

13

If you are a Nevada resident, then is unlikely that any out-of-state school will be able to match the cost of UNR or UNLV.

Those are probably the next most affordable options. However, the best-known and most popular public schools in the West don’t typically participate in the WUE program. For example, most UCs (including UCSD) are out. They aren’t going to offer discounted OOS tuition, if they get plenty of applicants willing to pay the full OOS rate.

If you have strong stats (including test scores), then you should probably also apply to some private colleges and universities, not just state schools. The “sticker price” for a private school may seem high, but it will be discounted by financial aid; only the very wealthiest families actually pay the full rate.

The privates won’t care about your state of residency. So the University of San Diego (private) will offer you financial aid, even if UC San Diego (state) won’t. USD may or may not be affordable for you after that financial aid, but it might be worth a shot if you want to attend college in San Diego.

The top privates for CS in California (Stanford, USC, Caltech, Mudd) offer the best aid, but are also very difficult to get into. The next tier down for privates are schools like Santa Clara U, Loyola Marymount U, U San Diego, or U Pacific. For CS, the best of these is Santa Clara, which is located in the heart of Silicon Valley.

If you are wiling to travel, you might also apply to some private schools in the Northeastern US. You would likely gain an edge for geographic diversity, because they don’t typically get a lot of applicants from Nevada. It is hard to say what schools would be a match for you at this point, though, because you have no test scores.

14

@Corbett So would you recommend me to just go to college in-state which I will end up in University of Nevada, Reno, compared to going to schools like Santa Clara U?

15

No. I would recommend that you apply to a variety of schools and see what kind of offers you get. Do some comparison shopping.

You might still end up at UNR, and that would be OK. But you might also get admitted to a more selective private school that offers enough financial aid to be affordable, and that might be better. There are no guarantees, but it’s worth a try.

So definitely apply to UNR and UNLV. Those would probably be your safeties and your least expensive options.

If you want to go to school in California, then pick some private schools that match your stats and apply to them as well. The CA privates will probably cost more than UNR/UNLV, but they will probably also offer you some financial aid, and so they could still be affordable. Also consider applying to private schools in other parts of the country (Midwest, Northeast, South), where a Nevada applicant will get points for adding geographic diversity.

You could certainly also apply to UCSD or other UCs, but be aware that your family will have to pay $60,000+ per year, with no financial aid. So they may not be affordable, even if you do get in. None of the UCs will offer you any financial aid (except for UC Merced, which currently offers the WUE discount).

A private school like SCU, on the other hand, probably will offer you financial aid. And by the way, SCU engineering students have higher stats than UCSD engineering students:

http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/7791/screen/19?school_name=Santa+Clara+University
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/7704/screen/19?school_name=University+of+California%2C+San+Diego

If UCSD won’t offer you any financial aid, then why not apply to another very strong CS school in California that will ?