<p>Her math score is terrific. If she is just a junior then she certainly could take it one more time. Maybe at the end of this year or the beginning of her senior year.</p>
<p>I hope you do realize that for those schools like Stanford, it is more than just test scores. She will need to differentiate herself from thousands of other students. Her major EC will need to stand out, and her application will need to be well crafted. I think her test scores are more than sufficient for all top tier schools. It will be other soft factors to get her into some of those top tier schools. Berkeley will be a good choice for her. What you need to consider is if Caltech, MIT or CMU would be worth the extra 25K. </p>
<p>The OP was also inquiring about merit aid chances with a higher score. What schools is the OP talking about? Stanford doesn’t give merit aid.</p>
<p>Thank you @oldfort i have seen people from our school with 2400 and sport / academic / music EC getting multiple rejections. I know that test scores alone are not going to get anyone in. At this point I just want to help her make a decision if her test score is good enough to move to the next project or needs to be improved.</p>
<p>@thumper1</p>
<p>As of now she plans to apply to UCs, USC, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and few high reaches: Caltech, Stanford, Harvey Mudd. </p>
<p>Those kids didn’t get rejected because of 2400 score, they got rejected because they didn’t differentiate themselves from 30k+ other students. If your kid has 2250+ SAT and close to 4.0 GPA then it is about her ECs, essays and LORs.</p>
<p>Why not some schools outside of CA? She may have some advantage outside of home state.</p>
<p>@oldfort we will probably add few out of state schools to this list eventually, but ideally we would like for her to be under 5 hours drive from us.</p>
<p>If you want to stay instate then why would you look outside of Berkeley? It is tied as #1 school with Stanford, MIT and CMU for CS. With her stats she should be able to get into Berkeley. It would also be your cheapest option.</p>
<p>UCLA is also a fine school. </p>
<p>It looks like your daughter is interested in something related to engineering, is that correct?</p>
<p>
If OP’s kid is Asian, she would do better outside of CA.</p>
<p>Yes it is correct. UCLA will be a commuter school for us. She is trying to decide between CS and EECS. Berkley is one of the top schools on her list as well. Both schools are getting more and more difficult to get in.</p>
<p>No, she is white European.</p>
<p>At Berkeley, EECS is generally thought to be more selective than L&S. EECS frosh enter declared in the major, while L&S frosh enter undeclared. Declaring L&S CS requires completing the prerequisites with a college GPA of 3.0 or higher.</p>
<p>EECS requires additional lab science (two semesters of physics and one semester of student’s choice from a list), an additional math course, and an additional EE course. Both EECS and L&S CS give considerable student choice for junior/senior level courses, but EECS allows choice of EE and/or CS courses for those, while L&S CS requires most of them to be CS.</p>
<p>EECS is ABET-accredited, while L&S CS is not. For CS, this is mainly of concern if one wants to take the patent exam; those in non-ABET-accredited CS majors need to fulfill specific patent exam course requirements, including additional lab science courses. For employment or graduate study in CS, ABET accreditation is not important by itself.</p>
<p>@Rtdsmith<br>
…" Make sure your child has a good mix of APs (too many is actually bad)…"</p>
<p>I’m questioning how too many AP’s are bad. Can you explain?</p>
<p>USC will eval all applicants who apply by 12/1 for merit scholarships. 1/2 off tuition will still cost around $40k per yr, but the 100% tuition will be maybe $15k for room, board, and incidentals. </p>
<p>If you type in the name of a college and merit scholarship then you can find the webpage where merit scholarships are discussed. It’s usually a subsection of the financial aid page/website for each college </p>
<p>USC will be a commuter school as well so we would not have to pay for room and board.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>However, don’t forget to consider food and utility costs at home and commuting costs if the student commutes to school.</p>
<p>I just wanted to add that if you go the UC route, cast a wide net. They can be unpredictable in those majors and if you are merit hunting, you’ll certainly want to try several. We know kids who got Regents at UCLA and nothing at Berkeley. Often top kids will get into “either” UCLA or Berkeley (though we know kids who got into both as well.) UCSD was really tough this year especially in those majors.</p>
<p>Cal Poly for sure. Maybe San Jose or San Diego State as safeties though both have strong engineering. UCSB I believe has a good program and she might be in a really good place for a possible Regents Scholarship (though those stats puts her in a good spot on several campuses.) I’d run the NPC at Harvey Mudd, USC any of the “meets full need” private schools. Perhaps in those settings, he could get covered over 35K. </p>