California Girl majoring in Business [3.77 UW, 1340 SAT, <$75K/yr]

Demographics

US citizen
State/Location of residency: CA

Cost Constraints / Budget: Below 75k a year
Intended Major(s): Business, Marketing, Consulting

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.77
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.03
  • Class Rank: Not Ranked
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1340 SAT 28 ACT. Will submit SAT

List your HS coursework

  • English: English 9, English 10, English 11, Science fiction & Fantasy
  • Math: Algebra 2, Honors Pre Calc & Trig, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC
  • Science: Biology the living earth, Honors Chemistry, Honors Physics, AP environmental science.
  • History and social studies: World Geography, World History, US history, US Government(online)
  • Language other than English: French 1,2,3
  • Visual or performing arts: Dance, Yoga
  • Other academic courses: AP Seminar, Intro to Business & Entrepreneurship

Extracurriculars
School leadership, Dance performances at Golden State Warriors and San Jose sharks half time. Tutor little kids dance. Worked at kumon and Safari Kids.

Schools*
Early Action to all

UC’s
University of Washington
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
University of Wisconsin
Santa Clara University
Indiana University (IU Kelly)
CSU San Luis Obispo
San Jose state
Case Western Reserve
University of Southern California

Aiming for a scholarship for USC and Case Western.

Match-Me

You might want to change your screenname if that’s your real name.

In state hard to do better than Santa Clara. Take your shot at USC/CPSLO but both are hard admits.

You can add Ohio State and Minnesota if midwest is fine.

Apply Early to IU and Submit the Kelley Petition.
Tracker Link and details below.

For the UCs, can you calculate your UC GPAs? GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Berkeley, Riverside and Davis offer undergraduate business degrees. The others offer degrees in economics or majors that are close but are not business. Similarly, look at the communications majors at the different UCs. Some are more marketing focused than others.

All of the CSUs offer undergraduate business degrees, however it is impacted at many campuses, including SJSU and SLO. see CSU impacted major grid

Are you aiming for a merit scholarship or need based financial aid?

1 Like

I’ve left off the California publics as those are their own special beast to chance, so I will yield to the experts on those schools. With respect to the rest of your list, below are my guesses as to what your chances for admission might be to the universities, generally. If they have separate requirements for direct admission to the business schools, my guesses did not extend that far. As business is one of the most in-demand fields at these schools, the odds of admission into them are usually lower, with higher academic standards to meet for entry.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Indiana U. (but this is for the university generally speaking; you are not an auto admit for Kelley…you will have to submit an appeal to get into Kelley or follow the process to get in later on after completing prereqs)

Likely (60-79%)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Santa Clara

  • UIUC (but for Gies, the business school, this might actually be in the low(er) probability bucket)

  • U. of Washington

  • U. of Wisconsin

Lower Probability (20-39%)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Case Western

  • U. of Southern California

1 Like

You seem to have a fondness for Big 10 schools and mid-sized schools in major metros. As Santa Clara is a Jesuit school, I added some additional Jesuits in locations that I thought might have some appeal for you. I’ve sorted the schools based on my guesses as to what your chances for admission might be.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Gonzaga (WA): About 5100 undergrads

  • Seattle U. (WA) – About 4k undergrads

  • U. of Nebraska – Lincoln: About 19k undergrads

Likely (60-79%)

  • Creighton (NE): About 4300 undergrads

  • U. of Minnesota – Twin Cities: About 39k undergrads

Toss-Up (40-59%)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

1 Like

Yes it would be, since OP’s GPA and SAT are at or below the 25th percentile.

2 Likes

You might get into USC but the odds of significant merit there are very low. If you like the “vibe” of USC, have you considered Syracuse and/or U of Miami? Both have strong business programs and a spirited sports scene (and presumably related dance opportunities).

A safety you might want to consider is U of Utah, which has a strong undergrad business program, very strong dance, and tons of school spirit around sports. The Honors College is excellent (and has its own premium housing) and you’d have a shot at that. And you’d qualify for the WUE reciprocity rate, which would bring the price down to about the same as a UC.

CWRU is a great school, but in terms of vibe, it feels like an outlier on your list.

If you like Wisconsin and UIUC, you might consider Minnesota too.

In the CSU system, SDSU is on the reachier side but seems like it fits the pattern of schools you like - could be worth tossing it in.

With your stats and a budget of up to $75K, there are many options! So you need to both 1) narrow down what attributes are most important to you, and 2) decide which of the more expensive schools truly offer the value-added that justifies spending more than your in-state publics and WUE schools will cost.

At SLO, business is going to be a tough admit. An under-radar major in the business school that you might consider (both to maximize your chances and because it’s interesting) is the Packaging program. Packaging Technology Concentration | Cal Poly Academic Catalog Despite the un-sexy name, it’s a cool program, with elements of marketing/advertising, supply chain, general business, and also design and STEM. Grads are well-paid and in high demand, and the curriculum is engaging and project-based. So many kids just don’t know what it is, that it gets fewer applications and has a higher acceptance rate. SJSU has this major also, fwiw - those are the only two programs in this field in the region (hence the high demand for grads). Perhaps not your jam, but just running it up the proverbial flagpole.

Good luck!

3 Likes

Since you have not posted your UC and CSU GPA’s, I will post the admit rates for Business or Business-related majors for the UC’s and some CSU’s.

Please note that Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades in their GPA calculation with an 8 semester Honors point cap for eligible courses taken 10-11th only.

Campus Business admin or Business Adjacent major UC Capped weighted GPA
UC Berkeley 4% Business Admin HAAS 4.15-4.29
UC Davis No admit by major but by College: 39.8% Managerial Econ 4.00-4.26
UC Irvine 11.7% Business Admin/19.2% Business Econ 4.04-4.27
UCLA No admit by major but by College: Business Economics 11% 4.20-4.30
UC Merced Business Econ/Management 84% 3.41-4.04
UC Riverside Pre Business Admin 67% 3.66-4.15
UC San Diego No admit by major extrapolated <30% Business Econ 4.10-4.28-
UC Santa Barbara No admit by major but by College: 32% Economics/Accounting 4.13-4.29
UC Santa Cruz 39.3% for Business Management 3.87-4.22
Campus Business admin or Business Adjacent major CSU Capped weighted GPA
Cal Poly SLO 24% 4.08-4.25 SLO GPA
San Jose State Various Business majors and concentrations Depending upon concentration a CSU GPA of 2.5-3.5 would meet Impaction Thresholds
San Diego State Depending upon concentration 31-35% Average 4.04
Cal Poly Pomona Various Majors Minimum 2.5 GPA needed to meet major threshold
Cal State Long Beach 35% Avg. 3.98
4 Likes

Are you willing to share your math score on the SAT and on the ACT ?

Indiana-Kelley direct admission if 3.8 GPA and 1370 SAT or 30 ACT for those who apply by November 1, but can petition for direct admission if you do not meet all requirements. You have more than enough math courses to be likely for direct admission if you file a petition with IU-Kelley.

OP: Do you have any interest in ASU business or in U Arizona business ?

Merit Scholarship

Thank you for the suggestion about SLO. What are some other under-radar business majors for other schools that could work the same way as this SLO program?

730 math SAT

You could be shut out short of SJSU. SCU is maybe. You’ve way overstretched in my opinion.

Both Arizona flagships and Oregon are excellent. Agree with UMN too.

What do you seek - size, location, environment (urban, rural), weather, etc.

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