I’m a upcoming senior who lives in Maryland with a 3.12 unweighted gpa and a 3.35 weighted gpa and i’m scared that none of the out of state colleges i want to go to will accept me .I take the difficult courses such as ap computer principles and essentials, honors french III and i am in many after school activites. Would any in cali college accept me ?
Can you pay $60k/year for a public or are you looking at private schools? What’s your SAT/ACT?
There’s plenty of California universities who will gladly accept you. As long as you can full pay. A bunch of CSUs for sure.
CSUs for sure. If you gave us more details, that would help us a lot in providing some suggestions 
The CSU’s calculate their GPA based on 10-11th grades for the a-g course requirements only. As an OOS applicant, you only get extra honors points (weighting) for each AP or IB classes taken 10-11th grades with a cap of 8 semesters.
CSU GPA calculator: https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/eligibility-index
Once you have your CSU GPA and ACT/SAT test scores you can determine which campuses to target. Below is a link to the average stats for admitted Freshman 2018 (most current data).
Cal states offer no financial aid to OOS students so costs will vary from $40-45K/year to attend.
What’s your parents’ budget?
It’s going to be your main limitation. If you don’t know, ask them.
What’s your SAT/ACT score?
Depending on that score, you could qualify for some CSUs, St Mary’s of California, LaVerne University, Cal Lutheran, but these will be expensive.
Why California? Is it about the college environment - you want to go to a school near a west coach beach? Or in a major CA city? Or in the mountains? Or… ?
Or is it about wanting to establish yourself out here in terms of job opportunities?
Or just getting as far from home as possible? What is your goal?
There are fewer higher-ed bargains for OOS students in CA than in many other states. So as others have said, a lot depends on your budget, and also your sensitivity to value. (i.e. are you willing to overpay for a less-competitive Cal State school, knowing that 95+% of your classmates will be paying less than half what you are, for the same education? A fine education, to be sure, but not better than you would receive at a similarly-competitive public U in your own state.)
Depending on what you’re looking for, you might want to consider U of Nevada, Reno. It’s a solid flagship university with a >85% acceptance rate and an out-of-state cost of attendance under $40K/year - cheaper than the CSU’s. It’s less than 20 miles from the California border, close to Lake Tahoe, skiing, and other outdoor recreation in the Sierra, and about two hours from Sacramento. It attracts a lot of CA students - about 14% of UNR undergrads are from California.
I took the sats in june but have not gotten my scores yet
I picked cali because it’s a home away from home.Majority of my family lives here and I have visited every summer since I was six ( for the whole summer) and I’ve always wanted to live here.
I would also be considered a in state student after my first semester so price isn’t much of my worry.
So according to that my gpa is a 3.59
How would you be considered in state for CA public colleges after one semester? Your parents don’t live in CA, do they? If you go to CA for the purpose of getting an education I think you’ll be considered OOS for tuition purposes for all 4 years.
Unless you are over 24 years of age or your parents move to California permanently, then you would be considered an out of state applicant all 4 years so you would be paying OOS fees. To establish California residency you need to do the following:
**1. Physical presence
You must be continuously physically present in California for more than one year (366 days) immediately prior to the residence determination date of the term for which you request resident status. If you moved to California primarily to attend the University of California or the Cal State Universities, you are here for educational purposes and may not be eligible for a resident classification for purposes of tuition.
Read the full policy on physical presence (pdf)
- Intent to remain in California
You must establish your intent to make California your home one year prior to the residence determination date of the term for which you request resident status.
Read the full policy on intent to remain in California (pdf)
- Financial independence
If you’re an unmarried undergraduate under the age of 24 and your parent(s) are not California residents, you must be able to verify financial independence for the two full years immediately preceding the term you wish to enroll. Graduate students are presumed to be financially independent unless they were claimed as a dependent on their parents’ federal tax return for the most recent tax year.
Read the full policy on financial independence (pdf)
- Immigration status
You must have the legal ability to establish a permanent domicile in the United States, meaning that you must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or hold a valid, qualifying nonimmigrant visa.
You won’t be considered an instate resident for tuition purpose unless you live now (well, you have till early July, so, a few days), live there for 12 months and graduate High school there.
Just based on your 3.59 GPA, that would eliminate the majority of the UC schools except UC Merced, UC Riverside and a maybe UC Santa Cruz. Also top Cal states such as Cal Poly SLO, San Diego State, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona and San Jose State (depending upon intended major) could also be out of the running but that still leaves 17 CSU’s and numerous private schools in California where you would be a solid chance at an acceptance.
Again, as stated above, you need to determine how much your family can pay towards your college costs. Being OOS for the California public schools will be pricey so targeting private schools which offer need-based and/or merit aid might be best. Please post when you have your SAT results and further suggestions can be made. Also, depending upon your current residency situation, do not count on getting in-state tuition rates due to having family here unless one of your parents is CA resident. You would still need to be living with that parent here in CA for at least a year before receiving that benefit.
The key to qualifying for Cal residency is if one (or two) of your parents establishes residency in California and of course, if you’re also living in California.
Provide a major and a more narrowed down location on where you want to be. If California is where you want to be and you can afford it, sure why not?
Getting married to an in-state person is also another way of getting in-state tuition. Pretty much an immediate way.
Would i have more changes if i said that i was also considering Houston Texas and Maryland for colleges there.
Also would you be considered out of state or instate if you applied to a school in a state you previously called your home.
You can only be the resident of the state where your parents live.
Exceptions: Missouri and Utah.
Maryland: you have a shot at Towson and as a reach St Mary’s of Maryland (public’s), plus McDaniel, Loyola, Goucher. Run the NPC for all of these.