If these are the final choices, I would assume some research on housing cost/availability is in order. I presume commuting is an option for SJSU.
Thatās a practical way to look at it, and itās good for the student to focus on acceptances rather than waitlists.
But if I were the parent and my student preferred Davis, I might try to be prepared just in case that waitlist moved. Not that I would necessarily discuss this with my student.
(I donāt know anything about the likelihood of SLO waitlist moving, but we observed a lot of waitlist movement at Davis last year.)
Commuting is not an option for SJSU(will be more than 1 hour without traffic and more with traffic). Only Berkeley will be Ok for commute(30 mins or less from Dorm to BART and 30 mins if driving).
Son wants to do Aeronautical Engineering, so if Berkely comes through, it would be awesome(he can minor in AE with ME).
He told his mom to decide for him but we want to take him to admitted student day and decide for self.
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I would say go to Berkeley if he gets in. Lots of flexibility and opportunity relative to his other options. Good luck for the 28th!
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I havenāt reviewed the whole thread again, but this is from the original post:
And this is when he applied:
I just want to make sure Iām understanding the situation correctly, so Iād appreciate you confirming that Iām right or clarifying where Iām mistaken.
Your son was undecided about which major(s) he was interested in so he applied to different majors at different schools so that he would hopefully have a choice of his preferred major when it came time to enroll in college. Between when he had to apply and now, he has realized that he wants to do aerospace/mechanical engineering, and the only schools where he applied for ME were UCB, UCLA, and Cal Poly SLO. Heās been denied at the last two, so his last chance for ME is UCB. Is this correct?
Also, is there any possibility of switching from a CS/CE/SE major to an ME school at any of his admits?
If there is not, is there any thought of throwing out any more applications to try and get a spot in ME? Although I know you indicated your son wants to stay in California, there are nearby options that could still be possibilities. For instance, U. of Nevada - Reno appears to still be taking applications (with a March 29 deadline for FAFSA submission for full financial aid consideration), itās a WUE school with a WUE tuition rate of around $12k, ME is an approved WUE major, and itās closer to the Bay Area than UCLA is.
I guess my concern right now is that your son now wants to go into mechanical/aerospace engineering, and unless UCB comes through, it doesnāt appear that he has that as an option with his current admits.
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Yes that would be my concern too. It seemed earlier that the goal was more to get a CS admit, with ME being a 2nd choice (which was my guess because of applications submitted for ME majors at the tougher admit schools, and CS / software engineering majors at less difficult admit schools)? But now the goal has changed to do Aero / ME?
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If the goal is to do Aero, there are some last minute suggestions in this thread: School options since SDSU admission may not be in the cards?
Just throwing that out there in case itās helpful.
Son is one who didnāt reveal what his preferences were till we applied. So, to increase his chances, I applied for different majors in Engineering(CS, SE, ME) based on his numbers. He wants to stay close to family(so it rules out any OOS colleges).
He also gave the option of selecting his major to us. I wish he opened up more and let us know his thoughts before we started this process. I know it would be tough to tranfer to CS than to ME, so that was my thought process.
He will be spending a weekend night with his brother at Cal dorm after 28th(Cal has Spring break that week) and will experience dorm life. They are both close and I am hoping his big brother will be able to find out his actual preference from his choices.
I think itās unusual for adolescents on the verge of adulthood to willingly cede so much of the direction of their lives to their parents. It seems as though your son may benefit by speaking with a counselor about self-exploration/discovery and increasing his own agency over his life (which, to be clear, it sounds like both parents are in support of).
As he will soon be living on his own, he needs to be able to make his own decisions (whether for good or for ill). So it definitely behooves him to get advice and consider othersā opinions, but he needs to make and own any decisions that are made. I would hate for him to come back years later blaming his parents saying that he was āforcedā to attend a particular school or study a particular major, while conveniently forgetting that he didnāt speak up and ceded all the decision-making.
Using Berkeley as your āhomeā as youāre 30m away from it, here are the distances from schools heās applied to, using Google Maps, apart from Cal:
| School | Driving time from Berkeley |
|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | 30m |
| UC Santa Cruz | 1h37m |
| San Jose State | 1h4m |
| UC Davis | 1h6m |
| UC Merced | 2h8m |
| U. of Nevada - Reno | 3h22m |
| Cal Poly SLO | 3h44m |
| UCLA | 5h40m |
| Cal Poly Pomona | 6h47m |
Itās unfortunate that your son wasnāt more forthcoming earlier on, if he knew earlier that ME/AE was really where his interest lay. That being said, however, he has now opened up about that.
If he was my child, I would try and make sure he had an option where he could study what he wanted. UNR is likely closer than SLO, UCLA, or Cal Poly Pomona to your home. If Berkeley doesnāt pan out, I would still give some very serious consideration to putting an application in there so that your son has his desired field as a choice.
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The good news is that OPās son can easily switch to ME at SJSU or UCSC if he so desires, and it looks like he applied to the ācorrectā major at Cal and CalPoly. IMO, he is all set to land at a good place no matter what.
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Since I didnāt get an answer on the above, Iām thrilled to read that it would be an easy option at SJSU or UCSC.
UCSC doesnāt have ME as far as I am aware? Degree Programs ā Baskin School of Engineering
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Good point. I was talking about the ability to switch out of CS to any other Engg major of interest and not necessarily ME (the closest might be their Robotics Engg major).
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The only ABET major at UCSC is EE. I think someone interested in Aero would need an ABET ME (or Aero) program, not a non-ABET robotics program.
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As far as switching to ME at SJSU, I think it would be valuable for the student to contact Undergraduate Advising in ME to find out how feasible it would be and what the process would be. Undergraduate | Mechanical Engineering
It looks like the student might be able to get individual help by emailing bsme-advising-group@sjsu.edu with questions.
The process of changing engineering majors at SJSU is discussed also here: Switching to Engineering | Engineering Student Success Center
Students who want to change their major into the College of Engineering must meet eligibility requirements and apply to change their major. Your GPA, completion of core prerequisite courses, and, number of earned units (units you have completed at SJSU, transfer credit, and test scores) will determine your acceptance into the major.
NOTE: The application process also applies to students who are current engineering majors interested in switching majors within the CoE.
I would guess that it would be possible to switch majors fairly easily (particularly since the impaction index for ME was slightly lower than the impaction index for Software Engineering), but I would personally want more assurance from SJSU about that.
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At least the FAFSA has processed for both S23 & S24(Submitted 1st week of January 24).
I need to confirm the Financial Aid before we can confirm acceptance. I am hoping by April 2nd-3rd week, this information should be available.
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Rejected from Cal Poly for ME. We are waiting for Cal results today and it will be the last college decision.
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Rejected from Cal for ME. I was hoping for a WL but this is good in a way that we are done with all the decisions.
He got a small Merit Award from UCSC for $2000/yr($8000 for 4 years).
Itās now between SJSU(SE) which we are visiting for Admitted Students Day and UCSC(CS) which we will visit next week (DS24 has spring break during this time). DS23 has friends at UCSC (not in CS) and they promised us a tour and if possible, to make DS24 sit in one of the classes.
He would have 39 units at SJSU vs 52 at UCSC (including senior year AP credits).
Final Results:
Accepted: UCSC(CS), Cal Poly Pomona(CS), UC Merced(CSE), SJSU(SE)
WL: UC Davis(CS)
Rejected: UCB, UCLA, UC Irvine, Cal Poly SLO
I will try to get more information from current students/parents of SJSU/UCSC on classes availability, Food, Housing, Internships/Jobs etc.
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Note that UCSC is on the quarter system, so if that is 52 quarter units, that is equivalent to 34.3 semester units.
But more important will be what the courses taken and AP scores are accepted as at each school.
Is your son still deliberating, or has he made a decision about where to put in a deposit?