<p>I’m not international I’m a permanent resident which for all intents and purposes of college is same as citizenship. And yeah I think I was a bit misinformed but after ask my mom and doing a bit more research I think my adjusted total income will be around 35,000 which still I think is very low</p>
<p>your financial aid depends on your parents’ income, not yours. So regardless of where the money comes from, you’ll be evaluated on how much your parents make. 100k is twice the median income and solidly middle class whereas 35,000 is below median income.
Ask your parents for real numbers (they’ll have to produce their tax reports, regardless of where from; salary forms; bank statements.) Then ask how much they think they will be able to pay. Then run the Net Price Calculator with their real numbers (salaries, house price, savings, assets…) In all likelihood, the cost (your EFC) will be very different from what you or your parents thought. And the EFC is the minimum that your parents would pay.<br>
Being a permanent resident of the US does not necessarily make you a resident of CA - typically, being a resident of a State is related to where your parents pay their taxes. If they don’t pay their taxes in a State, even if they’re citizens (or permanent residents), you’re not “in-state” anywhere and in that case, with your stats, you’d be better off with private colleges and competing for merit scholarships. Check CA regulations to see if you’re considered in-state for CA public universities. Then check out the automatic and competitive scholarships listed above.
UAlabama’s presidential scholar program is a shoo-in for you (full tuition, opportunity to compete for more.)
You’re potentially qualified for all colleges on the 100% list.
However, if your parents make 100k you’re not at all in the same situation as if they make 35k.</p>
<p>
Also a very HIGH capped UC GPA means that the student DID NOT take a lot of a-g classes, which can be a red flag. So if OP’s GPA is capped UC GPA, then one would ask, why? </p>
<p>I’m not sure what the difference is between capped and uncapped. Also the 35,000 is total family income not mine.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure my parents do pay taxes here just not much. I was misinformed on the 0 and the 100,000 income. The actual is around 35,000.</p>
<p>Also, how do I calculate the capped/uncapped GPA? I’ve taken all A-G classes except like P.E.</p>
<p>So a hypothetical student with 10 semesters of a-g classes, all AP/Honors classes, grades are all A’s.</p>
<p>Uncapped:
10*5=50
50/10=5.0</p>
<p>Capped:
Only 8 semesters counted as weighted
8<em>5=40
2</em>4=8
(40+8)/10=4.8</p>
<p>Alright I calculated that uncapped is 4.625 and capped is 4.333</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad</p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis is def. NOT comparable to Cal. Most of the people I know applied to that as a backup school.(That’s not to say it’s a bad school, just I feel like OP is talking in terms of prestige rather than actual merits of the school).</p>
<p>CMU and Johns Hopkins are both excellent schools, though! I feel like CMU is maybe around the same level as Cal, and Johns Hopkins possibly even higher. Of course, it depends on what OP is applying as/majoring in.</p>
<p>@kei04086: Keep in mind that GPA really isn’t everything. A lot of it is dependent on your school (how hard your school actually pushes you, not just workload), essays, and all that other stuff that makes admissions (imo) a crapshoot. I got into what some would consider to be “top”/out-of-reach schools with my pretty low GPA.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the need for a school ‘just like Berkeley.’ Berkeley is just like Berkeley. If you want Berkeley, go to Berkeley.</p>
<p>If you have family in a certain area, where are they? Applying to school in North Carolina is not going to get you closer to family in New Hampshire. A big public school may not have merit aid for you but would have it for a state resident. UVA is a great school, but will take you longer to drive from there to Boston than to fly from SFO.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion, I only meant schools with similar prestige and selectivity as Berkeley though I agree that those aren’t always the best indicators of whether a school fits me or not. I just wanted an idea of the schools to look into as my match or safeties. My family is in New Jersey so living in MA/NY area will greatly lower transportation costs and time which was my intention in saying “East Coast”</p>
<p>Michigan is the closest university to being “just like Berkeley” east of the Mississippi. While It is not an east coast school, it isn’t that much farther from NJ than the UNC. </p>
<p>If you mean the best public universities in that area, be aware that you’ll be OOS and they’ll cost a lot of money. Anyway, you have Penn State, SUNY Binghamton, UMass Amherst, Rutgers (and TCNJ) as the states’ flagships and their honors colleges are really strong, especially Shreyer at Penn State, although UMass Amherst improved on its Commonweath Honors College this year. Along those 4, I think Shreyer would be the closest equivalent to UC Berkeley except it’d cost you $40,000 to attend… Now if you’re thinking “top private colleges and universities” the list is going to be longer :)</p>
<p>@melonpanman</p>
<p>If you are saying that Washington University in St. Louis is not as good or as prestigious as Berkeley then you have made a mistake. It might be a back up school to Harvard or Princeton, but not to any state school including Berkeley.</p>
<p>Data:</p>
<p>Berkeley acceptance rate: 20%
WUSTL acceptance rate: 18%</p>
<p>Berkeley SAT range: 1250 to 1490
WUSTL SAT range: 1420 to 1560</p>
<p>WUSTL clearly more than holds its own with Berkeley, and is among the elite universities in the country. Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins are fine institutions too, but overall neither one is quite as good as Washington University in St. Louis.</p>
<p>If kei04086 wants to stay close to NJ, then Johns Hopkins is a fine choice and comparable to Berkeley. </p>
<p>Rutgers is not so comparable, but still should not be ignored. Definitely should be considered for the list of “safety” schools. Another potential “safety” might be Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. </p>
<p>Haverford College in suburban Philadelphia is another fine school, but is a fairly small liberal arts college. If you want to be around smart but also exceptionally kind and decent people, then look into Haverford.</p>
<p>Out of those which are strong at pre-med and which are strong at engineering?</p>
<p>To those who are geographically challenged, WUSTL is not an east coast school and really shouldn’t even’t be in this discussion. </p>
<p>JHU is strong in pre-med and engineering.</p>
<p>@kei04086</p>
<p>Both Washington University in St. Louis and Johns Hopkins have outstanding medical schools, and so there is every reason to believe that their pre-med programs are also outstanding. Since you want to stay as close to NJ as possible, I would suggest that Johns Hopkins would be a better choice for you. However, I also suggest that you apply to both.</p>
<p>I do not know much about the pre-med programs at Rutgers or Haverford. I can say that my doctor went to Haverford for pre-med, and he then went to Dartmouth for medical school. So, Haverford must be pretty good.</p>
<p>The engineering schools at WUSTL or JHU are excellent. JHU is especially good for engineering fields related to medicine, while WUSTL offers the more tradition fields of engineering. If you are thinking of either of them for engineering then make sure that you like the kinds of engineering they teach.</p>
<p>Haverford does not have engineering. I do not know much about engineering at Rutgers, but it probably is pretty good and should be considered as a “safe” choice.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OP claims to be a lower-middle income resident of California, so non-California public universities like Rutgers are unlikely to be affordable on just need-based financial aid, and the NJ region is not the best when it comes to big merit scholarships (of the kind found at Alabama and the like). Rutgers has been reported to offer full rides to some high stat students, but that has only been reported for NJ residents. Safeties which are affordable will probably have to be California public universities or automatic full ride scholarship schools (Howard in DC is probably the closest one to NJ with engineering).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed. And of the publics, it’s only Michigan, particularly given the following:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>However, few publics meet full need for OOS’ers. UVa used to, but I think they are dropping that $ plan.</p>
<p>@ucbaalumnus</p>
<p>OP has also indicated a desire to stay as close as possible to NJ because of family there. Rutgers is thus a reasonable choice. Not the best choice, but worth considering. I am in the business of expanding options, not narrowing them, which my recommendation for Lehigh also shows. I had already suggested pretty much the entire UC system as “safety” schools. OP apparently has a strong desire to be closer to the East Coast.</p>