Also, I’m not sure if you knew this, but all MN State Colleges and Universities (basically all the public schools but the U of M campuses) are waiving application fees either all of October or during the week of 10/25-10/31. Good time to get some applications out there.
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@kidzncatz has an interesting option. Consider the google certificate programs for an opportunity to get hired by google or other IT companies https://grow.google/certificates/
I saw your post about your essay.
Which colleges are you thinking of applying to? A good essay isn’t a bad thing, but you have to understand that it will not make up for a low GPA. Don’t waste money on applications for colleges you have no chance at.
@happymomof1 I have, the plan which I don’t know how achievable it is is that I’ll be taking out a loan for the full price.
@Lindagaf I posted that yesterday when I didn’t have my SAT score. To be honest I genuinly thought I was going to get 1300+ score because I got 1400s in my practice tests. Because I thought I was gonna get that score I was looking at some super good schools such as UW Madison, UIUC, Rutgers, Penn State, etc.
You can only take a loan for $5,500 first year without a cosigner (but your parents have to be willing to do the FAFSA form). Loans beyond that would require a cosigner, which is generally a bad idea for both you and the cosigner.
@ucbalumnus My parents have said they are willing to co-sign. I’m also already building my credit history so I was thinking that a year after getting the loan I could remove my parents as cosigner. I was looking at two loans, one was this federal loan (I forgot the name) which didn’t have a limit and the other was College Ave private loan. I don’t know how possible this is but I’m doing good in my AP classes so far and I think that if I put in this much work in college, I can definitely do good. I know it may seem like I am potraying this as child’s play but by putting myself up with my full potential right now I’m trying to get ready for college so there not only can I find internships but a job in Silicon Valley. If I am able to do this then it will definitely help me as starting salaries in silicon valley are around 105k
There isn’t a federal loan that doesn’t have a limit unless you’re talking about the Parent Plus loan. That is not a loan in your name, your parents have to take that one out.
If you are truly thinking of borrowing 100% of the cost, definitely cross off all out of state schools.
You do realize the cost of living there is insane? 105K in Silcon Valley is about like making 50K in Minneapolis. You’d need all that income just to pay rent. Not discouraging your dream to work there, just telling you that you would not be rolling in it…especially with 100K + in student loans.
@cshell2 From what I’ve heard and I did some of my calculations while taking into consideration taxes and etc that 105K is about 70K here in Minneapolis. Is it really as bad as you are saying?
It’s time to face facts…
Almost without exception, the #1 most important factor is your GPA, followed closely by course rigor. Test scores and essays will not compensate for GPA.
You have to face reality, and your parents wishing for something isn’t going to make it happen. Show your parents this thread. There is literally no way at all that you will be able to get into any of the schools you listed. Btw, don’t beat yourself up. You are young and you are learning the hard way.
Your financial. situation is such that really, it appears your only choice is to go to CC, work really hard, and transfer. There is no shame in that. I myself attended CC for three years, then transferred. My degree is why I can do my current job. You will be able to do what you want to do in life without going to a prestigious college.
Your parents don’t have a choice in accepting your situation. No one is going to give you that amount of money, even if you are able to get into one of those colleges. Agreeing to pay back $200,000 in loans is utter madness, unless it’s for med school.
Here is another idea. Take CLEP exams. https://clep.collegeboard.org/
College Board actually seems to be running a promo on CLEP exams right now. Use your AP credits too. Start CC as a second year student, get amazing grades, and THEN you will be able to transfer to a good school, and save a lot of money in the process.
You are going to have to change your thinking. The goal is to go to college and get a degree. It doesn’t have to be prestigious and it doesn’t have to be the traditional four years. Your future success in life will be determined by you, not the college you attend.
South Dakota State University ($18k for tuition, living costs, books with MN reciprocity) is probably cheaper than in-state MN publics other than perhaps those that are within commuting distance.
Minnesota tuition costs for various colleges and universities are shown at http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/sPages/TuitionChart.cfm?SchState=MN&pageID=651 . Community colleges appear to be about $5.5k per year. The public universities range from $8k to $15k. For any, add living and other costs (which are lower but not zero if you live at home and commute).
I also recommend applying to some of the MN state colleges or the North or South Dakota universities. Your ACT is in the range for UMN Duluth. If you do well, you could transfer to UMN-Twin Cities.
@ucbalumnus That seems like a good option but I’m just wondering how realistic a transfer to UMN would be. Also my parents don’t want me to go to a prestigious school, they just want me to go to a well know good school. They are ok if I go to University of Iowa, Iowa State, etc. which aren’t necessarily prestigious but are very good.
My daughter was paying $5K per month, in San Francisco, for a shared studio apartment. Do the math. $5K x 12 months =???
California is very expensive. The Bay area and Silicon Valley are VERY, VERY expensive.
Most of your salary would go on rent, utilities and living expenses. Plus, if you are going to be REpaying your loan at $2K per month, subtract another $24K per year, from your after-tax dollars and deductions. California is Car Country, so you need to deduct some additional funds for transportation costs.
I’d still apply to the MN schools. The OP hasn’t stated anything about family income but MN has a very good state grant program for residents that is not just for low income. My son’s state grant was larger than his Pell.
Iowa State and University of Iowa are excellent schools with guaranteed admission as long as you meet the RAI Index number , but you’d have to borrow an insane amount for either of them and as people have been trying to tell you, you can’t just borrow 200K for undergrad even if you wanted to do something that foolish.
Yes, it is expensive, but $5k per month appears to be above average even in San Francisco, and most of the area has lower average rents than the city of San Francisco.
If you believe https://www.rentcafe.com/ , you probably want to assume about $3k per month in most of the region, $4k per month in the city of San Francisco.
@ucbalumnus what about roomates? is that after or before having roomates. When I was looking I was finding 2 bed 2 bath apartments in silicon valley for 2.8k per month which comes down to 1.4k with 1 roomate.
Is the Asian Mentality backed by enough money to pay out-of-state or private university tuition with no merit aid? You can probably find options but they won’t be subsidized in any way. Community college will be vastly more affordable, and it will offer a transfer pathway to more competitive four-year schools than you can get into currently.
What is your 10th-11th grade GPA? As others have mentioned, if your worst grades were in 9th grade, you may be in better shape for some of the Cal State schools - for example, San Francisco State is not impacted, so you could potentially get into CS there if you have a 3.0 from 10th grade on. (But there are also specific course requirements that you may or may not have met.) And as also mentioned already, Canadian colleges don’t count freshman grades.
If you can’t get into any of the UMinn branch campuses, your next best bet may be a branch campus in a different system through the Midwest Student Exchange Program. For example, Purdue Fort Wayne has a >96% acceptance rate and a 2.5 minimum GPA - perhaps you’ll exceed that threshold after this fall semester? And once you’re in the Purdue system, there’s at least some possibility of transferring to the main campus (although you’d have to do really well to get into CS there) or a more branch competitive campus like IUPUI. (The W. Lafayette main campus won’t give you the MSEP discount.) Likewise, there are all of the UWisconsin branch campuses - you can check acceptance rates and GPA thresholds for those. And various others on the MSEP list. Some are competitive, but not all. This list is probably your best bet for finding a basically open-admissions university that you won’t have to pay full-freight OOS tuition for. You do need to crack that 2.5 barrier, though, at minimum.
This is an old article, so you’ll have to research the most up-to-date information on these schools, but it’s geared toward MN students and lists two-year colleges that have dorms. Some of them are in partnerships with nearby 4-year schools to which you can seamlessly transfer, and get involved in campus life in the meantime, so this might be a good option that would be more like going away to the associated four-year school and perhaps satisfy your parents in that regard: https://blogs.mprnews.org/oncampus/2011/01/nearby-2-year-colleges-that-offer-a-4-year-experience/