The calculator at GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub gives three GPAs. Which one is the 3.6, and what are the other two?
For UC and CSU purposes, use courses that count as history, social studies, English, math, science, language other than English, visual and performing arts, and academic electives (a-g courses) as listed for your high school and community college at University of California A-G Course List
Most CSUs will admit with a recalculated weighted-capped HS GPA of 2.5 or higher.
A student can also start at an open admission community college, do well there, and transfer to a UC or CSU based on college record (leaving the high school record behind).
You have been given a lot of good advice. Again, depending upon the student’s UC GPA’s (unweighted, capped weighted and fully weighted), both UC Merced and UC Riverside are possible. Both campuses admit by major but will consider alternate majors in their application review.
UC Riverside Admitted GPA range based on the Capped weighted UC GPA:
High School GPA 3.76 - 4.18
UC Merced:
High School GPA 3.48 - 4.08
As noted by @ucbalumnus many of the Cal states are also good options beyond the 6 impacted campuses. They also admit by major and most do not consider alternate majors.
The issue I see is that both UC’s and CSU’s have several general education required courses which includes English, Humanities, History, Arts etc… for degree completion. There is really no way around these requirements but colleges do offer more course options to fulfill these requirements. Since he does love Latin, Classics courses can fulfill the English requirements.
@Gumbymom thank you so much for the detailed response.
@Mwfan1921 @Gumbymom @ucbalumnus @aquapt here is the results of the grades for further clarity. Also, I have another kid. I can’t spend on travel to visit my kids (not visiting them will be difficult for me). That’s why, California. If he has better option moving out of California, then I have to prepare my mind and deal with it.
Schools in Nevada and/or Arizona could come at a similar price and be as close or closer than some schools in CA, depending where you are. But there are many CSU schools too but finding one with Latin may prove a challenge. But you can start researching. Fresno State has a Classics minor with focus on Latin language, as an example.
I’d start there - researching CSU schools.
As for visiting - maybe your student should go to a local college or community college if you need to see them often.
If they are going away for school, you get to see them at holidays and breaks - or use some of the $$ save at out of state schools to take a 1x per year trip to see them. That’s the thing about going away - it’s so they don’t always see mom and they get a chance to mature.
Good luck
If I take away the part of my visit, does your suggestion change? Like I said before, remaining in a challenging Math environment is the highest priority, rest of the factors will be adjusted and accommodated.
You have a budget - $40kish.
I gave you ample choices above.
Schools like Kansas. Arizona State
Your student is not strong admission wise.
Yet there’s unlikely to be a major school out there that will not have a challenging math environment. You seem to think only certain schools have a monopoly on that and it’s not the case.
You have to find the schools that will accept him that you can afford.
They are in state. They are out of state.
Not all will have Latin. All will be challenging in math.
But at most all he will not be able to avoid the other subjects he does not like.
He needs to find the right environment for him - size, location, weather etc and the right cost. The school will need your minor. Math will not be an issue anywhere.
@tsbna44 Thank you for all the guidance. Can you please let me know if we remove Latin from the list what would be his options?
More CSUs and a lot more publics - regional or flagship.
But don’t remove what’s important to you.
Your student has a 3.3. He’s not going to get into ‘prestigious’ colleges as yiure likely defining it but guess what - schools like Kansas and ASU have Ivy caliber kids. The math departments will be more than enough for him. I noted Hawaii - another great one. Portland State was noted above as a WUE school.
There’s hundreds of schools for your kid at $40k. Too many to list.
Go look at the WUE list for many.
But some above plus Fresno State and I’m sure more will meet the total need.
Don’t sacrifice academics.
You are clearly seeking a huge name and with a 3.3 it’s unlikely. But great names and affordable names are aplenty.
How important is a large Asian population to your student ?
Being among Asian population is not a priority.
I gave you names to research as have others.
If you want close to CA look at each for a Latin minor - you might find in classics.
Assume some CSU schools like SDSU, Cal Ploy abd a few others are off limits.
Fresno seemed to fit as did ASU and look at the close OOS - ASU, UNLV, New Mexico etc.
And I gave you names to research further away.
There’s more but you don’t want to start too large.
What does he want - size (large, mid, small), weather, environment (rural, urban, etc).
So far I know strong math (most all), Latin minor, $40k, Asian population not a concern.
I agree UUtah sounds ideal.
WWU and Oregon State may be possible even with a 3.45-3.6 GPA.
As mentioned above:
Uk universities may be a possibility if he’s willing to go far away, especially Scottish universities where he could combine Math with a non STEM subject.
There are NO distribution requirements and they don’t care about his GPA or grades in English. All they want is AP scores of 5 in relevant subjects (in his case, Calc BC, Physics C, and other STEM APs) and a relatively high SAT. He would need to be extremely independent and self driven because students will be very focused and used to high-stakes exams (no extra credit, no graded hw…) In Scotland, a degree lats 4 years with a bit of choice in addition to the prescribed modules (courses).
Beside St Andrews, which does look at GPA and is out, his most logical choices would be
University of Edinburgh
Heriot Watt
UGlasgow
UStrathclyde
Aberdeen.
Heriot Watt and Strathclyde are STEM&Business only and don’t offer Latin or Classics so do check what the program looks like (there won’t be many electives).
This is what it’d look like at UEdinburgh
With courses from this in year 1&2
(Note: “course” = degree program; “module”= class).
Canada is worth looking into - Waterloo in particular. The STEM courses he takes senior year as well as senior English will be key (and Math challenges or competitions, including theirs).
That being said, being able to communicate well will matter - see if some universities accept courses in interpersonal and intercultural communication, or nonfiction Humanities for their Humanities requirements (except for colleges with an open curriculum, all US universities will have 2 classes for his writing requirements, typically Freshman composition and sth like Writing in/for “major”/“field”).
I’m not sure the UK would be a good option in this sense.
@OP - the student should be involved, even leading the charge, in looking at schools.
Yes, but OP said quality of academics&math cohort was their primary criterion. UK (and, to a certain extent, Ireland and Canada’s) universities are good to single-focus kids. Basically, nobody cares that they’re not well-rounded and they can focus on their academic interests, with what would be graduate level classes in the US in Y3&4.
It’ll be up to the family to see whether not being able to visit (or visiting once per semester only) is an acceptable compromise for high level/high focus math with no English/Social science classes.
I find the US gen ed approach better, or even the open curriculum structure, but OPs child isn’t getting into Grinnell or URochester.
AThe C in HS English is somewhat alleviated by the SAT score but college means writing papers and even students with Bs in HS Emglish struggle with the higher level of writing required.
Not sure about Cal Polys (P or H) for a math major due to GPA but these might provide a more stem-y environment.
@Gumbymom @ucbalumnus @lkg4answers would cal poly Pomona be an option this student should research?
Yes, we have included CPP in our list.
In the 2023-2024 admission cycle, math at CPP admitted at a weighted-capped GPA of 2.5: Freshman Student Profile . So it should be considered highly likely for an applicant with a 3.62 weighted-capped GPA (the thresholds are determined competitively each year).
Math courses at CPP are listed at https://catalog.cpp.edu/preview_entity.php?catoid=4&ent_oid=1579&returnto=744 . Note that math at the upper levels has many subareas, so a student considering a math major may want to consider which subareas are offered at each school’s math department. For a student completing multivariable calculus while in high school, availability of graduate level math courses may be a consideration.
One thing to note is the CSUs do have relatively voluminous general education requirements. See here for CPP: General Education Program - Cal Poly Pomona - Modern Campus Catalog™
UC general education requirements are considerably more variable across different campuses. They also differ among the residential colleges at UCSC and UCSD.
OP, which part of California are you in? As tsbna said, schools in California aren’t automatically easier to visit. A quick trip to Salt Lake City or Las Vegas or Portland or Tempe is easy from almost any CA airport. Albuquerque might also be easy, or not as much, depending on where you’re coming from. Getting from one end of California to the other is no easier than traveling to/from adjacent states.
Re:
Of course it’s true that a student can get an undergrad math degree at almost any reputable college. But my understanding is that the OP sees her son as someone who truly needs a vibrant academic community around higher math. In a lot of CSU math programs, the majority of students are in math-education or applied math tracks, and a serious student of pure math would be an outlier.
Of course, it’s possible that as an outlier, he could be highly valued by faculty and find great mentoring, even at a school where he has few like-minded peers. I would suggest researching faculty at schools that interest him, and even making contact with professors who are doing work that he’d like to become involved in. Is he a kid who would be comfortable reaching out in this way? (It’s not something a parent can do for him.)
He may get in, but he won’t get WUE at either, so affordability is an issue. OSU full-pay non-resident COA is about 59K/year; they do give smaller merit awards to the non-WUE OOS students, but I don’t know if they’d be enough.
Portland State may be worth a closer look. It would be guaranteed-affordable with WUE - roughly $33K/year all-in. The math department offers multiple tracks, including one focused on grad school preparation. (There’s also an actuarial sciences track, if that career path would be of any interest.) The course offerings are robust, both in math and in Latin, and there’s extensive faculty research in which he could become involved. (The school also punches way above its weight in CS, and the access to CS for nonmajors is far better than at most CA publics, so that’s also worth considering if he’s interested in the computational side of things.) PSU is largely a commuter school, but there’s a really nice residential sub-community in the dorms, and some themed housing options for first-years including one focused on STEM. The university has more non-traditional students than most schools, but this contributes to an atmosphere where many students are clear on their goals and quite focused on them; he might like the vibe. (Plus, it’s the kind of school where you can find fun and easy classes to meet requirements in areas of relative non-interest.) Several of my daughter’s closest friends went here and really liked it; there are many very smart and motivated students who choose the school for financial and logistical reasons. Additionally, there are cross-registration opportunities at some very strong nearby schools, including Reed, which is a top-10 PhD feeder for math when the list is adjusted for school size. And flights to/from Portland are quick, plentiful, and cheap, from virtually anywhere in California. Finally, admissions here are rolling. So he can apply when the application opens in August, and have an acceptance before the application period for CA publics even opens. It can be incredibly reassuring to have that first acceptance nailed down early.
One more thought… would your son qualify for financial aid at needs-met schools? The one school on the PhD feeder list that might be accessible to him is St. Olaf in Minnesota (#10 on the size-adjusted feeder list). St. Olaf meets need, and has a median GPA of 3.72 and median SAT of 1380… I think he might have a chance via their holistic admissions process, and even more of a chance if he went all-in and submitted a binding early decision application. (Their ED acceptance rate is over 70%, much higher than RD.) You can run their Net Price Calculator to see whether he’d get enough aid to make it affordable. Additional points in favor of St. O: they have extensive coursework in Latin, and they have cross-registration with nearby Carleton College, which is also very strong in both math and Latin. Obviously it’s only worth considering if he’d get enough need-based aid, but if he would, I would give the possibility due consideration. (Of course it isn’t super easy to get to, but it’s 45 minutes from MSP which has tons of direct flights.)
I know that’s what the cost of attendance calculator says, but it has several costs (like personal expenses of $7700) that are excessive unless you need medical insurance and even the tuition and fees assumes a couple of thousand extra for lab fees or other supplements since the detailed schedule says $10,600 not the $12,200 in the CoA.
https://financialaid.utah.edu/tuition-and-fees/cost-of-attendance.php
Based on my kid’s experience, a realistic cost is ballpark $30K instate (if you can live without a car), and then there’s a $22K OOS supplement in year 1. About the same in total as a UC (where $35K is a realistic total cost for instate students if they waive the medical insurance).
I also wouldn’t entirely discount the possibility of Utah resuming consideration of SAT scores in merit evaluation (ie WUE) for 2025, as was the case before the pandemic, which might tip the balance in favor of this student.
I agree with others that the math at Utah is excellent, there are some very strong students (frequent Churchill scholarship winners) and research opportunities:
