storme

I'm currently a rising senior. My rank is in the top 7% for my total gpa, although I expect it to rise after the grades for this semester have been input (I'm still in school). It's in the top 12% if it's based on the UC/CSU GPA. 31 out of 508, 61 out of 508.
My GPA is 3.92 (HS Total). UC = 3.75. I don't think they're weighted.. my transcript doesn't specify. It's a bit confusing.

- SAT; CR: 640, M: 620, W: 590 (1850)
- SAT II; Biology: 660, Math II: 680
- ACT: 30 (My writing wasn't as good - 26. I'll be retaking both the SAT Subjects & the ACT. Retook the SAT in June.)

-Ran Cross Country for 3 years (plan to do it senior year as well)
-Same with Track & Field
-JV Girls Captain of Cross Country in my sophomore year

-Clubs: Key Club, National Honors Society, California Scholarship Federation, Mathletes (not particularly active)
-Treasurer in Key Club (Junior year)

-Done a lot of different community service ; 15 hours a semester for CSF (about 75 hours with them from 2nd semester freshman year to now)
-Done some with Key Club (about 35 hours this year, not so sure about earlier)
-Organized a few fundraisers for Key Club

-AP classes: AP Calc AB (10th), AP Calc BC (11th), AP Biology (11th)
-Honors Chem (10th), Honors English (11th), Honors History (11th)
-Planning to take: AP Psychology, AP Physics, AP English, AP Government, and Calculus III at a Junior College
-Junior/City College classes: English (2 classes, fulfills the GE requirements in colleges), Economics
-3 years of French
-Going to be participating in an Engineering Research Program at UCLA this summer (HSSRP)

-Planning to major in Engineering, either Electrical or Bio. Not so sure about Biomed, since it seems to be recommended to get a Masters in that discipline.. Might get a double major in Mathematics.

** MONEY IS AN ISSUE **
-My mom makes less than 30k a year (my father and mother were never married, he doesn't live with us, and he doesn't file me under his taxes)
-Good financial aid = must
-Guaranteed merit scholarships would be an added plus

-I live in California
-I am Asian (Chinese) and I will be the first in my family to go to college
-Planning to apply to: UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, and maybe a few other UCs as safeties
-Also: Cal Poly SLO and Pomona, Brown. Harvard, MIT (well.. it doesn't hurt to try)
-Maybe: Vanderbilt, Case Western, Rice, Bucknell, Tufts, JHU
I am aware that many of these are reaches for me.

Some other vague information that may help with narrowing down, but not absolutely essential:
-Suburban or city setting (not rural)
-Population bigger than 2,000
-Have both electrical and bioengineering available as majors


Thank you in advance for any advice!

barrk123

CSUs
UCs
UWisconsin
UMinnesota
Virginia Tech

blueiguana

VT doesn't fit the OPs criteria in that it isn't known for decent financial aid, it's rural, and his scores are on the low side for their e'school (although first gen student may help there).

storme

Oh, side note - I'm female, haha. Forgot that it doesn't say that anywhere.
Thanks for the heads up about VT!

ucbalumnus

Check the net price calculators at each school for need-based financial aid. UCs and CSUs are obvious candidates to consider for your application list.

There are some large guaranteed merit scholarships for your stats, but they still leave enough remaining cost of attendance that you may need to check to see if you can cover with Pell grants, Stafford loans, and summer or other work earnings.

E.g. UAB (with both BME and EE) gives $15,000 per year for GPA of 3.0 and ACT of 28, but that still leaves about $10,000 per year remaining cost of attendance (figure Stafford loan may cover about half of that, then some for Pell grant, then you need to find some summer job earnings or something like that, if you get no more additional aid).

blueiguana

Whoops! Sorry about that! Usually I use a gender neutral but being on my mobile got sloppy and used 'he' instead of 'the OP'. Didn't save me many keystrokes, did it?

storme

Haha, it's alright.

I'm really looking for schools with good engineering programs and good financial aid that would be safeties for me - I'm not really sure where to start looking for these.

DrGoogle

I think your UC GPA is low. You need to add more schools.

ucbalumnus

As a baseline, run the net price calculators at the web sites of the UCs and CSUs that have your majors, including those within commuting distance. Determine if they are likely to be affordable on no more loans than the subsidized Stafford loans ($23,000 total for four years).

storme

Thanks, I'll start there. Are there any colleges that fit my criteria but would still be a safety though? I'd rather not limit myself to CSUs and UCs, but then again generally out-of-state and private are known to be expensive..