I’m a half Mexican/half Pacific Islander female (if that affects anything). I’m going into my senior year, and I need to soon determine which colleges to apply to. I have a 3.89W/3.47UW/3.3UC GPA and a 1310 (out of 1600) SAT score. I’m a California resident, so I’m mostly interested in public colleges in my state like UCs/Cal States/other state schools. Does anyone have any ideas which schools would give me the best chances of getting accepted while still giving me a good quality education? Financial aid would be great, but isn’t entirely necessary.
Assuming you’ve completed the a-g courses, you are a strong candidate for most programs at nearly all of the CSU campuses. Your UC GPA is going to make all the UC’s except UCM and perhaps UCR a stretch.
What do you plan to study?
What are you looking for in a college?
(size, climate, setting, sports, % residential, etc)
@NCalRent I’ve been trying to figure out a major since freshman year, but I haven’t found anything I’m passionate about yet, so I was planning on going in undecided. Would that lower my chances more? I’m fine with any size college. I’d like to be somewhere with warmer temperatures, and I really love the beach, so something by any beaches sounds wonderful. I run, but I don’t plan on joining any teams in college so sports don’t matter all that much to me. Sorry if I sound dumb, but what do you mean by % residential?
I dont know what part of California you are from, but most of our public universities are not near beaches. The exceptions being Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. (UCSD is on a cliff overlooking the beaches but it takes effort to get down there; there is a lot of fog that takes a while to burn off, so the water and area do get chilly).
You may want to take a look at some of the privates, given that you are URM with decent scores: like USD, USC, Loyola Marymount, Chapman, Pt. Loma Nazarene (is on the beach). They may provide good funding for you if you qualify.
There are many schools within driving distance of the beach (15-20 mins) such as SDSU, CSULB, Cal Poly SLO, USD etc…
For many CSU’s, Undecided/Undeclared is an impacted major and at Cal Poly SLO you have to declare a major.
Link for impacted majors: http://www.paly.net/sites/default/files/csu%20impactedprogramsmatrix%2015.pdf
All the suggestions above are good ^^^^^ and being a URM will give you no advantage at any CSU’s or UC’s, but as @aunt bea pointed out, it could help with the private schools.
Are you sure you calculate your UC/CSU GPA correctly? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
For the Cal States, calculate your Eligibility index (CSU GPA x800) + (SAT Math+CR).
Also any EC’s or awards? Once you have checked your GPA and calculated your EI, please repost for further suggestions.
By % residential, i mean the concentration of students living on or very near campus. Some, like Cal Poly SLO, Chico and Sonoma have high density of students who walk/skateboard/bike to class. If you see someone 18-22 on town, they are probably a fellow student.
Others like LA, Sac, San Jose and SF are surrounded by major metro areas so, most of the student body commutes. Campus can get pretty quiet off hours, it can be harder to make friends, etc.Conversely, you are in a metro area - with employment, entertainment and distraction opportunities,
One isn’t better than the other - they just offer the student a very different experience.
As far as CSUs - Based on your interests and qualifications, Long Beach, Monterrey, Channel Islands, SF San Marcos, Humboldt and Sonoma would be worth a look.
I also think you have an outside shot at UCSC but, with a 3.3 UCGPA, I wouldn’t count on it.
Privates like USD and LMU are also options - but could be expensive.
Take a couple of official tours while school is in session. Pick a varying size and environment. They will help you categorize schools you haven’t toured.
Good luck.
@Gumbymom I plugged my information into the website, and turns out my UC gpa is actually 3.55! My EI is 4150. I noticed that for a few schools, like CSULB, CSUF, SDSU, SJSU, and SLO all of their majors are impacted, does that mean it would be unwise to still apply? I did orchestra 9th and 10th grade, until I moved and my new school didn’t have an orchestra program. I’ve ran track since freshman year (varsity since sophomore year). I joined NHS last year and plan on becoming an inducted member this coming year. I completed close to 30 hours of community service with them so far. I’ve volunteered at my church every Sunday with Early Childhood kids for about an hour and a half since freshman year. I haven’t received any awards.
@“aunt bea” Thanks for the information about private schools 
@NCalRent Thank you so much for your help!
Your EI is within range for all the schools listed so worth an application but higher criteria is needed for impacted majors. If you want a specfic major, you should than apply to it, since many competitive/impacted majors are difficult to switch into later. Always go for a direct admit if possible.
EI thresholds for all the schools will fluctuate, year to year, depending upon the competitiveness of each in-coming Freshman class. SJSU list their thresholds for each major so you can gauge your chances.
http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/static/admission/frosh-f2015impact.html
SLO uses MCA points instead of the EI for admissions, so you want to calculate your MCA points. Depending upon your major at SLO, the higher the MCA points (max 5000), the better.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/1694769-confused-about-mca-score.html
For the UC’s, UCM/UCR and UCSC would be good target schools. If you want to reach a bit higher, UCI is also possible. Just remember 6 of the 9 UC campuses have average UC GPA’s above 4.0 and the UC’s are very GPA focused.
@Gumbymom I really wish I’d been more mindful about all of this the past two years because at this point it’s too late to change anything. Thank you anyways for all of this information! You’re an angel O:-)
@kim2017: You still have several very good options. I have one son at a CSU and another at a UC, both very happy with their choices. As California residents, we are very lucky to have so many choices when it comes to Universities.
Good luck.
Are you keen on public colleges because you like the large size? Or is it because they are more affordable?
Private schools can give generous FA to make them competitive in price.
Consider also:
http://ctcl.org/
CSU San Marcos and Sonoma should definitely be on your list. Perhaps apply to CPP and Chico honors, too.
At Sdsu, choose a less impacted major (nothing in engineering, CS, business).
Perhaps Pitzer, Occidental, Whitman for reaches?
Whittier, URedlands, LaVerne, UoP, Lewis and Clark?
I second looking into the ctcl schools.