<p>My D wants to stay in-state and go to a 4-yr CA public school. Her goal is a pre-med undergrad degree (molecular/cellular biology) to get into optometry school. Her top choices are UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Long Beach, San Diego State, San Francisco State. She’s a B student, which evidently is no longer enough for the UCs or CSUs, even though she’s technically eligible to apply (taken all the required a-g courses, AP/Honors classes through hs, will graduate hs with a biotechnology emphasis). Weighted GPA 3.66, SAT 1660/2400, ACT composite 25. </p>
<p>SFSU was supposed to be her safety school but with recent state budget cut announcements and reduction in CSU freshman enrollment numbers for fall 2011, the guy at the admissions office there just suggested that she look out-of-state or at private schools if we have the money. No ‘official’ decision has been made yet, though all of her other friends who applied there have been accepted already. The biological sciences majors there are all impacted.</p>
<p>Has she set her goals too high? Can she realistically get into at least one of her choices? any public CA college/university? She is motivated and really studies hard to achieve the GPA and test scores she has but will be devastated if she gets 7 rejection letters in the next couple of months and is left with no options for starting at a 4-yr school for next fall. Her hs counselor seems to have been way too optimistic in the paths she suggested for my D.</p>
<p>I know about the ‘community college for 2 years then transfer to UC’ route (one that I took myself) but so far she refuses to consider this. And how much longer will that ‘guaranteed acceptance’ for CC transfers to a UC last at the rate UCs are cutting enrollment, teachers, classes, etc.??</p>
<p>Any suggestions for a Plan C at this point (all/most deadlines are past) for fall 2011 if the worst comes to pass?</p>
<p>There is a Western Schools for the 3.0 student thread on the Parent’s Forum. Maybe there is a school discussed that has not had the deadline pass yet. </p>
<p>Are you and your daughter open to a gap year? If she really doesn’t want to go to community college and would be rejected from all her schools it would give you an opportunity to regroup and apply to other schools in a year.</p>
<p>3.6 weighted and 1660 should be competitive for UCR and UCM, and with a reach to UCSC. She is also a match to San Diego St. Long Beach St. and Cal Poly Pomona. Cal Poly SLO is a far reach. It is as hard to get into SLO these days as it is to get into UCI, UCD, UCSB, I’m assuming b/c of the $6k price differential.</p>
<p>I suspect your feedback from San Francisco St. is an anomoly, and only applies to their impacted Bio major.</p>
<p>Try CSULA if your daughter has been rejected to all her choices and refuses to attend community college. </p>
<p>You barely missed the Fall 2011 application deadline but they have admissions for Fall/Winter/Spring quarter so your daughter would only have to sit out for 3 months or so.</p>
<p>I don’t have a crystal ball that let’s me promise the guaranteed transfer program will still be around, but I suspect it will. After all, it cost the state a lot less to educate students for two years at a community college and the final two at the four year school. So it saves money, and if anything they might curtail freshman admission at the four-year schools and push more into the community colleges. Since CC students have no other way to get a four-year degree, they might curtail the ability of students to transfer in from other four years before they eliminate guaranteed programs.</p>
<p>mikemac beat me to the suggestion of Santa Barbara City College. You should also look into Arizona State and University of Arizona, which both have a May 1 application deadline. Lots of California students at those two schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments, everyone! @proudwismom-- I will check out that thread, thanks. Haven’t considered a gap year. Her twin sister and her best friend have both been accepted to colleges and I think it might be difficult but all bets are off if there are all thin envelopes… @DunninLA-- Your words are reassuring, thanks! Yes, I figured Cal Poly SLO, UCSB were far reaches. She might have a chance at UCSC but it seems dicey. The problem is that the either biology programs or the entire school is impacted for the rest of those CSUs. BTW, how do you figure my D’s chances at these schools? I’ve used CollegeBoard.com’s ‘How do I stack up’ and Collegedata.com with mixed results. @sentimentGX4-- Will dig around on the CSULA website and see what we can find, thanks. @mikemac-- I suggested this to my D a few weeks ago but she hasn’t really looked into it. I’ll bring it up again and get her to take a look at SBCC. Her top choice is UCSC so I was looking at the same sort of set up with the community college in Santa Cruz, too. Housing might be an issue, though. @SlitheyTove-- D is loath to leave CA for some reason. (I’m an alumnus of UofA and would love to see her go there!) Will keep these suggestions in mind, though.</p>
<p>I’m voting for another look at U of A and ASU, too. It’s not too late to apply, and she should get in with her grades. To me, both have more of a college feel than some of the CSU campuses she is considering that get lots of commuters.
Maybe she could apply quickly, and then you could do a spring break trip to Arizona if she gets admitted.</p>
<p>ASU is listed as one of the top 5 schools for post graduate networking/internships in the country. Not far from home, decent weather, full-fledge college experience. Large campus (3 seperate campuses/70,000 students) but there a lot of favorable reports regarding ASU. </p>
<p>Are you busy on February 21st? Here’s a SUN DEVIL DAY flyer my son recently received. Perhaps you could attend SUN DEVIL DAY and get somewhat of a feel for what ASU might have to offer?</p>
<p>Best of luck to you and your daughter !</p>
<p>Arizona State University- </p>
<p>You are invited to attend a Sun Devil Day, where you can learn about all the exciting opportunities that await you at ASU. Join us for this one-of-a-kind chance to experience ASU up close and find out more about our Downtown Phoenix campus.</p>
<p>Monday, Feb. 21, 2011
9 a.m. to noon </p>
<p>During a Sun Devil Day, you will meet with ASU representatives and current students, take a campus tour and explore the academic majors that interest you. ASU is one inspired community in many places, offering unique campus environments to fit any learning style. Through the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) program, students from California can pursue a degree at ASU at a reduced nonresident tuition rate. </p>
<p>With a variety of WUE-eligible majors offered on our distinctive Downtown Phoenix campus, you are bound to find the college experience that is right for you. Come see for yourself. Register now for a Sun Devil Day program on the campus of your choice.</p>
<p>If UCSC is indeed her first choice, and if they do not offer her a spot – consider an appeal.
While conventional wisdom discourages appeals, it’s my experience that out of all of the UC’s, Santa Cruz is the most open to appeals from those who are statistically qualified (which you daughter is), but for some reason did not make the initial cut.</p>
<p>If she is denied, she should write a compelling letter [there is an an address and instructions on the UCSC web site) describing any new information that was not on her application, as well as any reasons as to why their decision should be reconsidered.</p>
<p>The other option you might have her consider, is to phone some of the smaller privates, (i.e. USF, St. Mary’s, Santa Clara, or even UOP) and speak to an admission counselor to ask if a late application would still be considered. Depending on their application volume, some may be thrilled to hear from her.</p>
<p>Although you’ve said that she wants to go to a 4-year public, perhaps spending her first two years at a 4-year private, then transferring to a UC might be the way to go.</p>
<p>Overall, I do think that despite the impacted bio programs, she still has a decent shot at many of the schools on her list. As someone said earlier, if she is denied at the UC’s of her choice, she may be offered a spot at Merced or Riverside, despite not having applied there. If so, I would recommend a visit to both, as they both have decent bio programs.</p>
<p>Best of luck during these last nerve racking weeks.</p>
<p>@siliconvalleymom–Looking at ASU and UofA but she’s still quite resistant to the thought of going out of state. I hadn’t thought about the ‘college feel’ that you mentioned (vs a commuter school) but you are correct. I think she considers that an important part of the experience. I foresee some more discusssion coming up…</p>
<p>@LilMomma–thanks for the info on Sun Devil Day–sounds awesome! </p>
<p>@hop–interesting that you mention UCSC’s being more open to an appeal. A colleague’s son recently successfully appealed a denial at UCD, which is even harder–I have hope! Also DD applied to UOP last week, though it’s too late to take the SAT II Chemistry test that is ‘strongly suggested’ for bio majors. She took the Molecular Biology test but they don’t want that. Still worth a try. We did get an email from UC President Yudof last week that said they would be sharing DD’s application with other UCs and that she may be hearing from them. </p>
<p>Nerve wracking is right! The suspense is killing me!</p>
<p>Just learned that my DD was denied at CSULB. And so it begins… :-(</p>
<p>Also learned that UCR will no longer accept referrals from the other UCs, so UCM would be the last resort. And UCM does not have an undergrad cellular/molecular biology program. Sigh.</p>
<p>I vividly remember a lunch with a friend two years ago on the day her daughter was rejected by CSULB. The mom was in tears, fearing universal rejection. That same daughter is now a happy sophomore at UC Riverside.</p>
<p>As to the Yudof comminique, that was for Merced and possibly Riverside. Merced is starting to intrigue me. What would it be like to attend a UC with a strong faculty, but only 6,000 students on campus?</p>
<p>@siliconvalleymom–thanks for the kind comment. I know this will be a tiny pixel in the big picture of the next couple of years for DD but seems huge right now. I know there’s a school where she’s meant to blossom. Just don’t want to see her crushed by rejection before she even gets started.</p>
<p>@DunninLA–good point! There are silver linings to be found (and trips to the Central Valley to be taken). Learned they do have a C/M Biology major for undergrads after all! How do you know about the strength of the faculty there? Any suggestions for student/academic reviews of UCM?</p>
<p>@einahpets909–No, not yet. At the web portal they have for checking admission status, they have been requesting a high school transcript that includes her grades for the fall semester since she applied in November 2010. Initially, it was listed on her ‘To Do List’ on the admission status, along with a request for her official AP scores from College Board. We ordered the AP scores and the high school sent a transcript with her grades from the end of the trimester in mid-November. The AP scores were evidently received as that part was removed from the ‘To Do List’ a few weeks later. The web portal ‘To Do List’ still says that her application is incomplete and that it will not be reviewed until they receive the transcript. Her high school has trimesters. We’ve sent them 4 copies of of her transcript and they have yet to process any of them. First there was a deadline of 2/11/11, then on the first of Feb, it changed to 2/25/11. They have sent 2 emails requesting a transcript in the past week but when DD had her hs counselor call the admissions office about the other 3 copies we’d sent, they said they never send requests for transcripts and if they had received unsolicited transcripts, they would not be processed. Counselor read the email to the person and they still denied they had requested a transcript. (!) It’s listed on my D’s ‘To Do List’ at the web portal, plus 2 emails requesting it. We thought they might not recognize the trimester grades (versus semester) on the transcripts we had sent so that has been highlighted and explained by the counselor on the copies of the transcripts sent the last 2 times. To no avail. It has been 10 days since we sent the last one (we are 45 minutes from San Francisco, 1 day by mail) and they are not showing that they received it. My daughter and I plan to take another copy directly to SFSU admissions office next Friday to hand to someone who knows how to process it, hopefully in our presence! The hs counselor says this has never happened before in the 20+ years she’s been helping students apply to colleges. Very frustrating.</p>
<p>So, did you apply to SFSU? Have you heard anything yet?</p>
<p>@Shrinkrap–no, she did not apply to UCR. Sounds like they got so many applications that they will not accept referrals from eligible applicants to other UCs this year. And we are not in the local areas for any of the CSUs, except SFSU. We’re in the East Bay so CSUEB and SJSU would also be local. We did get an email today from CPPomona asking for supplemental info from our FAFSA. Would they bother to figure a financial aid package if she wasn’t being accepted? Hope springs eternal! Thanks for the links!</p>
Nobody except CPPomona knows for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the apps are processed completely independently in the FA and Admission offices. I know someone who kept getting reminders to submit his application for the dorms after receiving a college rejection letter!</p>
<p>wow that sounds like a lot of trouble just to get into a state school! these budget cuts has everyone going crazy since they cannot accept as many applicants as before. i was going to recommend you guys just going yourselves to deliver it. you should do that ASAP. i am a transfer student and i applied to sfsu as well. i sent them a transcript in the beginning of january and it took 3 weeks for them to get them. (im from the riverside area) so now that is off my to do list but for the past 2 weeks they have just been “evaluating my application” the anxiety is killing me. ive already been accepted to CSULA and CSUEB without any problem. did you daughter apply to either? my friend got accepted into CSUEB with just a 2.3 and i have a 3.1</p>
Thanks for the links!</p>