<p>Nothing wrong with the academics at UC Merced. A great way to get a UC education in a small school. Location is terrific, too, for skiing and hiking and cheap rent. The downside is the lack of “traditional” college activities like sports. Also, I don’t think there is much on-campus housing or as much in the way of clubs and social life.</p>
<p>I think UC Merced would be a good place. They are building a med school in a few years and will be focusing on the sciences. Right now the only UC that will accept people that didn’t apply there will be UC Merced.</p>
<p>My son has about the same grades and SAT scores and he was accepted into UCR for mechanical engineering. He and I visited the school in the fall and were impressed: the newness, the small size, the faculty to student ratio. </p>
<p>Yes, it is in the middle of nowhere, but I think it might provide a private school experience for a UC price.</p>
<p>I would check it out if I were you.</p>
<p>i live right next to ucr! there is not much to do but the beach is an hour away so are the mountains and LA. From what i know, UCR students depend on each other for entertainment so it works out although sometimes this area does get pretty boring. but that might be because ive lived here for 16 years.
BTW i got my acceptance letter from SFSU today through the login site they give you so i hope your daughter and you plan to deliver the transcripts asap</p>
<p>Checking in with a couple of updates…</p>
<p>We drove to Santa Cruz/Aptos on Sunday and did a self-guided tour of Cabrillo College. It’s the local feeder community college for transfers to UCSC. DD liked the campus and may be rethinking her stance on ‘never’ going to a CC and transferring to a UC. I know nothing about the academics there. Just learned that they will not have housing available in Fall 2011. :-/ Now looking for more info on their biological sciences program and articulation with UCSC.</p>
<p>SFSU has still not received or processed the last transcript sent 2 weeks ago. DD is hand-carrying another one to the Admissions Office on Friday. She received another email (total of 3 since 1/31/11) from SFSU saying that her application is incomplete and will no longer be considered if she doesn’t submit ‘required documents’, a transcript with fall grades, before 2/25/11. She called admissions to find out if she needed an appointment on Friday and told them about the situation (again). The (same) guy said they are just behind in their processing of transcripts and it may or may not do any good to bring another one in person. He said to just ignore the emails. (!) </p>
<p>DD got an email today from UCMerced offering her the ‘Count Me In’ invitation to apply there. No cost and no guarantee of admission but another chance if the worst does happen with the other applications. Will definitely look into this. </p>
<p>When I first posted, I was afraid there were going to be no other options for DD, that all the deadlines were past and it was too late. I am glad to have received help and input from this forum and to see that there are still opportunities out there for her this fall. Thanks, everyone! At least we have something to do while waiting now! ;-)</p>
<p>@ricegal – Thanks for the input on UCM. I read that they’ve built more new dorms that will be available for the freshmen next fall. It’s still a very small school (< 5000 students?) but growing and I can imagine the town is still adjusting as far as housing and activities for the influx of that many college students in the past 5 years. </p>
<p>@crizello – Congrats to your son getting into the mechanical engineering program at UCR! And thanks for the input on UCM.</p>
<p>@einahpets909 – Congrats on your acceptance to SFSU! Do you think you’ll move to NorCal for college? It’s funny how far and different things can be in the same state!</p>
<p>Another ‘urgent’ email from SFSU today requesting a transcript! Has this sort of thing happened to others? Is this just a glitch in their admissions system?</p>
<p>Have you considered California Lutheran? They have a RDII decision for March 15. She could qualify for some scholarship and I read somewhere that they do some sort of tuition matching with publics. We are not instate so it did not apply to me but the info is there somewhere. Seems like they have some options for your D.</p>
<p>with so many students applying to 10+ colleges these days, and admissions offices seeing 25% increase in files to read over the past 3 years, I would NOT want to be in an admissions office these days… they must be pulling their hair out.</p>
<p>It’s a tough time for public colleges in California. My son got accepted into SFSU and also Oregon State University. I’m a little worried about the difficulty of enrolling in the required classes to get your degree.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if the higher out of state costs will be cheaper in the long run if he can graduate in 4 years instead of 5.</p>
<p>By the way, your transcript situation is nothing but frustrating. Just remember that sometimes you have to fight for what you want. I almost didn’t attend my 4-year university back in the 1980s because it took the financial aid office 5 days to find my file (not fully computerized back then :-)</p>
<p>However, I persisted and I got my 4-year degree, met my future wife, and went back to grad school.</p>
<p>@GonnaBeBroke – My DD has a twin sister who will be going out of state. With the Western University Exchange scholarship, among others, it will definitely be cheaper (and more likely she’ll finish in 4 years) than at CA public universities. The WUE pays for a large chunk of the extra tuition for OOS status. Please look into that for Oregon State if you haven’t already!</p>
<p>DD went to SFSU on Friday and delivered her hs transcript through 1st trimester of her senior year. I really hope this will do the trick. Especially since the guy at the Admissions Office told her he’s <em>retiring</em> this week so we’ll have no recourse or any witnesses to hold accountable if they claim this 5th transcript was never submitted! She did get a business card from another admissions person there in lieu of any sort of receipt. They ‘verbally’ guaranteed that the transcript was date-stamped and entered into the processing queue so we’ll see! (Track record thus far makes me suspicious, sorry! 
)</p>
<p>Glad to hear about the successful results of your struggles with university administrative offices, though!</p>
<p>Update on SFSU–today at 3:00 pm it was posted on DD’s portal that they had received her transcript–FINALLY!–and it was removed from her ‘To Do’ list. By 7:00 pm it was posted on DD’s portal that she has been ‘conditionally admitted’! Success at one of her safety schools! (And I like that they will have a brand new state-of-the-art library next fall, too!) Happy, proud, excited…</p>
<p>Congratulations! I wish your daughter great success. :D</p>
<p>Congrats!!! Im still waiting for SFSU !!! UUghhh its too long!!!</p>
<p>Grats to you and your daughter ^^ I’m glad to see a harsh story ended nicely! :)</p>
<p>I am glad it worked out! Congrats!!</p>
<p>Seismomom - Congrats on SFSU!! My DS is also a B student, we live in SoCal. We’re waiting to hear from UCI and UCR. He already got accepted at his safety - CSUSM. Just a suggestion that I’ve read about on these boards in case she gets rejected at some of her top picks. You can go online and change her major to “undeclared-life sciences” or something similar, and then appeal the decision. It’s easier to get in as undeclared than into an impacted major. And it’s usually easy to change to the desired major after a year or two. We will try this if he gets denied at UCR and UCI. It might work and there’s nothing to lose! If it doesn’t work, he’ll go to his safety and try to transfer to a UC as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! My DD feels a bit better about this whole process right now so it’s worth it, even if she doesn’t go to school there. Anxiety level has racheted down a few notches…
;-)</p>
<p>@DJB360–thanks for the suggestion! I wondered about switching majors. Can we do that before decisions are made or only after? I know that some of the CSUs don’t have an ‘undeclared’ major anymore (Cal Poly). And at others the ‘undeclared’ major is more impacted than any other! It’s worth taking a look and researching the majors at the different schools, though, just in case.</p>
<p>@guttzee88 – good luck to you! I hope you get a decision very soon!</p>
<p>Best of luck to your daughter.
Remember that in addition to impacted admissions, housing is also impacted at all of the CSU’s, so the minute you can send in a housing deposit – do it!
Although she is still waiting on other schools and the housing deposit is non-refundable, consider it an insurance policy for a dorm room.</p>
<p>I’m sure it’s different at every school, but on UCR’s portal, we can change major once per review cycle. But it says that changing majors may delay the review process. I can’t see how to change majors on the UCI portal. I guess if we need to, we’ll call admissions and ask questions. I don’t know how it would work at the Cal Poly’s, the tip I saw was for UC’s. Oh, and San Diego State pretty much only takes applicants from their very small area. You would have to have more than a 4.0 to even be looked at if you live outside that area. I’ve seen people get into UC Berkeley and UCLA but denied at SDS. So I wouldn’t bother appealing that one. Hopefully this will all be a moot point because she’ll get into one of her favorites!</p>