Chance me!

chloe6752 · 06-02-2009, 10:40 PM

So I just realized that this time next year I will be off to college! My parents have always told me I have to go to a CC, but I have showed them I am responsible in the last few months and they are willing to reconsider.
I'm interested in SoCal schools..I live in NorCal.

Top schools:
1. Pepperdine
2. Chapman
3. Point Loma
4. San Diego State
5. Vanguard

I especially want to be chanced on San Diego State, because I am not sure if I can afford the others. Pepperdine, Chapman, and Point Loma are reaches I know..please chance me!!!
I don't live in San Diego though so SDSU will be harder to get into..

Stats:

Freshman Year - (1) 3.43; (2) 3.29
Sophomore Year - (1) 3.43; (2) 3.57
Junior Year - (1) 3.67; (2) 3.83
Hopefully 4.0's senior year
= 3.65 Overall GPA

Rank: 26/72

No Ap's. Only one english honors freshman year
No pre-cal or chemistry. Very bad..
No subject tests

Haven't taken SATS but pretests show I will get about 1800-2000ish

EC's (Grade in parenthesis):
Class Historian (9), Prom Committee (10-11), ASB Pep Rally Coordinator (11), ASB Entertainment (12), Drama Club: All 8 productions during my HS (9-12), National Honor Society (10-12), Ski & Snowboard Club (10), Superfranks job (March 10- October 11 2008), Tiffane’s Cupcake shop (October 11 - now) Research assistant for Larry Norman Biography (March 11 - now) , Volunteering at church and pregnancy resource center

Let me know if you need anything else

THANKS!

chap · 06-03-2009, 10:09 PM

At that GPA, your ACt/SATI will be important. Beware of the SAT I. It will follow you into your job. The ACT is safer, but it is a racehorse test. Thinking is bad for good results on the ACT and SAT I. Let your mind go blank and you'll probably do fine

Assuming your scores are in line with your grades, San Diego State should be a piece of cake. You'll sail in there. The class sizes are enormous.

Pepperdine supposedly has a beautiful campus and you will be doing your grocery shopping with top movie and TV stars. It's arts programs look really pathetic and it is ideologically to the right. Both SDSU and Point Loma have a lot of Democrats. Pepperdine and SDSU are the easiest to get into.

Your GPA is in line with Point Loma, if you score high enough, but more importantly, the application is a test of character. They want character references. It looks like you will have them.

Between Point Loma and SDSU, SDSU is the party school with great weather in a rather wild area of San Diego. Watch out for airplanes and drug busts.

Point Loma has no dances but dance classes and a great community atmosphere. Point Loma also has the hottest student body, boys and girls. A lot of students go there because of the Surfer dormitory. It's right on the ocean and the ideal vacation spot. You better be prepared to go to church (mostly guest speaker and musical sessions, I think) twice a way if you go to Point Loma. They accept non-Christians and people of all denominations and have promised not to shove the school religion down the throats of the students. You will probably find friends for life, there. I didn't choose it, but I really liked it.

If you can put up with false info about dorms and administrators who seem to not know much about the school, Chapman is the place to go for film, theater, music and other art programs. Though it has a right wing reputation, the students body is supposed to be liberal. For the better programs, you will have to submit a program or audition. This makes them much harder to get into. I've seen some on this list with your GPA or lower that have been accepted into Chapman. Some of the students have been accepted at Ivy League Schools and turned them down for the arts programs. The acceptance rate is 47% down to less than 8%, depending on the major.

I don't know anything about Vanguard.

chloe6752 · 06-03-2009, 10:30 PM

What do you mean about the SAT I? Haha that's kinda scary. I'll definitely be studying all summer. Perhaps I'll take the ACT as well.

I'm a little overwhelmed with San Diego State..unfortunately it's the only one my family could easily afford (without loans) because with room and board it is the same price as my private high school. SDSU is very big, and I'm not really that into partying. I would like to have smaller classes, but it's just a matter of tuition.

Being that I'm only 16 (very young for my grade, I won't turn 18 until end of November my freshman year!), I'm still figuring out my political views so that wouldn't really be an issue. I heard that Pepperdine is very hard to get into so that makes me feel better. Luckily, both Pepperdine and Point Loma (my top 2) focus on character and spirituality. I have a lot of leadership experience at my Christian school and church which would help me. I really hope I am able to get into both!

So you went to Point Loma? I would love to hear more about it from an alumni/student.

Chapman is veeerrry expensive, and I am just not as interested in it as Pepperdine and Point Loma. I may still apply.

Next year I will have to spend all my time applying to scholarships! I just today enrolled in AP English, since it is my strongest subject, for next year to boost my chances as well.

Anyways, thank you so much for all your help. Any more information about Pepperdine or Point Loma especially would be appreciated. I am still unsure of my chances, but that boosts my confidence of getting in!

conner13 · 06-03-2009, 10:31 PM

To Chloe6752: I'm from Norcal and will be attending SDSU this fall and unlike Chap said, SDSU may not be as easy as you think to get into. For this school year there were over 55,000 applications for only 6,900 spots. I had a cumulative 4.12 GPA over 4 years and an 1820 on the SAT and a 27 on the ACT. I also got into UCSB and UCD (among other schools) but decided to go to SDSU because of there great business school.

SDSU often gets a reputation as a party school, but in all honesty, all schools are party schools. SDSU is the hardest of the CSU's to get accepted to. I took 5 AP classes between Junior and Senior year to prepare myself and make sure I didnt have to worry about being accepted.

Also, remember, each year the acceptance gets more competitive, but with your GPA and a strong SAT score of between 1800-2000, you should be ok. Consider taking at least 1 AP class and the ACTs to give yourself more variability. And another thing, your extra curic's are great but CSU's dont consider those on the application, however UC's do.

chloe6752 · 06-03-2009, 10:36 PM

Thanks so much! I feel like I would be in for sure if I lived in Socal because they have priority. We'll see how it works out. SDSU is a great school, and I would definitely be lucky to get in. I just really want smaller classes and the "private school feel". I've attended Christian schools my whole life so I'm sure it would be a major culture shock. Congrats on your acceptance and good luck next year!

chap · 06-07-2009, 08:07 PM

That is unless you completely blow the ACT or SAT. The students who didn't get into SDSU didn't have GPA's anywhere near as high as yours.

Point Loma may give you a full financial aid package that covers everything. I only visited there but was really impressed. I have never attended a religious school.

Chapman's financial aid is terrible. The best scholarship they have is the Preisdential Scholarship that leaves over $10,000 uncovered. The packages of aid they give out don't cover room and board but include loans that are unsubsidized and that start collecting interest day 1. By the time you graduate you will owe three or four years of interest.

chloe6752 · 06-07-2009, 08:36 PM

Wow that would be great! Why would you say point loma would give me a full package? I'm just curious because my grades aren't that great. Any more info on that would be appreciated.

johnnydoe · 06-23-2009, 11:16 PM

I stumbled across this thread and thought I'd chime in about SDSU. For out-of-area students (north of the 52 in San Diego), SDSU is NOT a slam dunk and certainly not a safety school for many students.

Chloe, if you are from Northern California, you are an out-of area student. When calculating your gpa, please use ONLY what CSU Mentor defines as your a-g courses and only the grades you received during your sophomore and junior years. Nothing else counts. a-g courses are things like english, math, foreign language, social sciences, science, etc. CSU Mentor explains it more clearly.

Once you have your CSU gpa, take it and muliply it by 800, then add your verbal/math SAT I score (the writing part doesn't count). This gives you a CSU eligibility index. If you are a local to SDSU (south of the 52) a 2900 gets you in. If you are out-of-area, which you are, you needed almost a 3950 last year. Call SDSU admissions, they will give you the exact number.

Soooooo . . let's assume your a-g, sophomore/junior year gpa is a 3.6. Your SAT I scores are 600 (V)/600 (M). Your calculated eligibility index is 4080. This would get you into SDSU. An a-g GPA of 3.5 and SATs of 1100, however, yield a 3900. In this case, you come up short. Again, make sure you calculate that a-g gpa properly if you're using SDSU as a safety.

As for Chapman, I do know that Chapman DOES NOT use a prospects hs freshman grades when calculating a gpa. They calculate your gpa in much the same way CSU/UC calculates your GPA.