I haven’t had the most straightforward path through high school; I had a 2.3 GPA my freshman year, a 3.0 my sophomore year, a 4.1 my junior year, and a 4.61 first semester this year (Senior year); even though I haven’t always had the best grades I have always been very active in my community and, in turn, have very solid extracurriculars. One being a business, I started generating 5 figures.
I am really just looking for a college that will give me a solid undergrad education and push me academically. I am looking to go to a good grad school after.
Why ED2 at all? What are you interested in studying? How much is your family willing to pay for college, each year, for 4 years? What region of the country do you want?
At this point, if I dont get lucky with the UCs I am going to go to cc for 2 years so this is kind of a last ditch effort. I can pay full and location doesnt matter.
Actually, this idea had come to mind, community college. Look into ones that have an automatic transfer agreement to a college you want to go to. Also, take a look at this program for transfer of high achieving community college students to prestigious colleges. https://transferscholars.org/
Have you calculated your UC GPAs? The good news there is that freshman year grades aren’t part of the calculation; the bad news is senior year grades (your highest) also aren’t used. That will still give you a clearer sense of where you fall in terms of admissions chances at various UC campuses.
I have, and I am very happy with my UC essays and activity list, if I remember its somewhere around a 3.5, because I also repeated courses and they only look at the highest grade.
But its still just not competitive enough for the UCs, (Im in state if that helps idk) so I dont want to bet on getting in to any of them.
I applied to every UC except merced.
You didn’t answer parentologist’s question about what you want to study. My thoughts on your question are different if you actually want to study business/entrepreneurship, vs. if you have different academic interests and your small business is just a “side hustle.”
Also, do you have a standardized test score? I know you don’t need it for the UC’s, but for schools that consider it, a strong score would be a help in shoring up a high school transcript with a shaky start.
I want to study chemical engineering, and for my reach schools I went undecided in the sciences if possible. I know its a dumb strategy but I care about the school more than my major tbh.
I feel like this is actually a really solid plan already. Particularly with an interest in grad school, I am not sure it makes sense to just attend whatever four-year college will admit you at this point. If you get into a UC you like, great, but I think if you keep up the strong performance in CC, you will find you have great options for four-year colleges at that point. And then if you keep up the strong performance there, that will lead to great options for grad programs.
To be very frank, I am not sure there will be an ED 2 college reasonably likely to admit you that will also be competitive with this plan and also competitively affordable. I certainly have nothing to suggest, and again part of that is colored by me thinking this is actually going to be a hard plan to beat. Because it is a really good plan for getting from here to where you want to go.
Your school impacts where you will be for four years. Your major impacts what you are likely to be doing for the rest of your life.
That being said I think that there are several big positives here. The BIG one is your huge improvement in grades. It is clear that you have put in a lot of work to pull this off. Your excellent grades junior and senior year are going to help you a lot. This also makes it very realistic that you will end up as a chemical engineer, if this continues to be your goal.
If you want to study chemical engineering, then I think that you should aim to attend a university that is ABET accredited for chemical engineering. I just took at quick look, and as far as I was able to tell UC Riverside is, and UC Merced is not (but don’t take my word for it). This to me seems to suggest that your not applying to Merced is also sensible.
I agree with others that if you do not get into a university that has a good program in your intended major, starting at community college and transferring to a UC is a solid and sensible plan. You will of course want to keep up your strong performance for the rest of this year, and for all of your time in community college (if you end up going that route).
I am not sure that I see the point of applying ED2 anywhere.
I am pretty sure that you can attend any of the Universities of California and get accepted to a solid graduate program (assuming that you do well at whatever university you attend).
One thing that I am unsure of is which of the CSU’s might be worth considering. Hopefully someone else can comment on this. I am assuming here that you are a California resident.
The problem with your strategy, as I think you know, is that you are unlikely to be able to switch into engineering at a UC, if you’re not admitted to the major when you apply. The CC transfer pathway is probably going to be better for getting the major you want at a school you want.
Another option to consider would be a “super-senior” year of high school, either by studying abroad (e.g. with AFS) or by doing a PG year at a prep school. This would allow your senior year grades to count when you apply; and it doesn’t sound as if you’ve burned through every possible AP class, so you’d still have additional classes to take that you’d get credit for in college. It might be worth recalculating your GPA, based on this scenario and your anticipated grades for the rest of this year, to see how advantageous it might be - presuming that you would also value the experience for its own sake. (If you wouldn’t, then there’s no point in considering it.)
There are plenty of good programs at OOS public universities that you could get into. But it doesn’t sound as if you’re considering that route. In terms of privates that have ED2, I doubt there’s anything with a reasonable chance of acceptance, that you’d be willing to foreclose on the UC option for.
Since you seem to have the financial backing to attend school away from home, another path to consider would be moving to the area near a UC that you like, and attending the local CC there, taking open-enrollment classes at the UC in the summer. As one example, there are private dorms in Isla Vista that both UCSB and SBCC students live in. So you could become part of that larger community from the beginning, and work toward a seamless transfer. You seem like the kind of outgoing person who could make that work.
I went test optional almost everywhere, I had a 1310 on the SAT, I didnt study and only took it once. And I really dont mind location since I have lived all over, but I do care about student life and the education I will be getting
I keep forgetting about this because I attended a university that allows students to pick any major they want at the end of freshman year. However, changes in major are restricted at many universities, particularly into popular majors such as CS and engineering.
So here is a list of schools you can likely get into - all ABET accredited so all will prepare you fine for work and grad school. There where for engineering matters much less.
I may be off on the Cal State names…they have impaction scores, etc. but many on here are easily attainable and will get you to the same grad schools as UC you name it.
|The University of Alabama in Huntsville|Huntsville|Alabama|
|University of South Alabama|Mobile|Alabama|
|The University of Alabama|Tuscaloosa|Alabama|
|Tuskegee University|Tuskegee|Alabama|
|Arizona State University|Tempe|Arizona|
|The University of Arizona|Tucson|Arizona|
|University of Arkansas|Fayetteville|Arkansas|
|California State Polytechnic University, Pomona|Pomona|California|
|San Jose State University|San Jose|California|
|Colorado State University|Fort Collins|Colorado|
|University of New Haven|West Haven|Connecticut|
|Florida Institute of Technology|Melbourne|Florida|
|University of Idaho|Moscow|Idaho|
|Trine University|Angola|Indiana|
|Iowa State University of Science and Technology|Ames|Iowa|
|The University of Iowa|Iowa City|Iowa|
|Benedictine College|Atchison|Kansas|
|The University of Kansas|Lawrence|Kansas|
|Kansas State University|Manhattan|Kansas|
|University of Kentucky|Lexington|Kentucky|
|University of Louisville|Louisville|Kentucky|
|Louisiana State University and A&M College|Baton Rouge|Louisiana|
|University of Louisiana at Lafayette|Lafayette|Louisiana|
|Louisiana Tech University|Ruston|Louisiana|
|University of Maine|Orono|Maine|
|Michigan Technological University|Houghton|Michigan|
|Western Michigan University|Kalamazoo|Michigan|
|University of Minnesota Duluth|Duluth|Minnesota|
|Mississippi State University|Mississippi State|Mississippi|
|University of Mississippi|University|Mississippi|
|University of Missouri - Columbia|Columbia|Missouri|
|Montana State University - Bozeman|Bozeman|Montana|
|University of Nebraska - Lincoln|Lincoln|Nebraska|
|University of Nevada, Reno|Reno|Nevada|
|University of New Hampshire|Manchester|New Hampshire|
|Rowan University|Glassboro|New Jersey|
|University of New Mexico|Albuquerque|New Mexico|
|New Mexico State University|Las Cruces|New Mexico|
|New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology|Socorro|New Mexico|
|North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University|Greensboro|North Carolina|
|University of North Dakota|Grand Forks|North Dakota|
|The University of Akron|Akron|Ohio|
|Ohio University|Athens|Ohio|
|Cleveland State University|Cleveland|Ohio|
|The University of Toledo|Toledo|Ohio|
|Youngstown State University|Youngstown|Ohio|
|University of Oklahoma|Norman|Oklahoma|
|Oklahoma State University|Stillwater|Oklahoma|
|Widener University|Chester|Pennsylvania|
|The University of Rhode Island|Kingston|Rhode Island|
|University of Tennessee at Chattanooga|Chattanooga|Tennessee|
|Tennessee Technological University|Cookeville|Tennessee|
|University of Tennessee Knoxville|Knoxville|Tennessee|
|Lamar University|Beaumont|Texas|
|Texas Tech University|Lubbock|Texas|
|Prairie View A&M University|Prairie View|Texas|
|The University of Texas at San Antonio|San Antonio|Texas|
|Virginia Commonwealth University|Richmond|Virginia|
|Washington State University|Pullman|Washington|
|West Virginia University|Morgantown|West Virginia|
|Milwaukee School of Engineering|Milwaukee|Wisconsin|
|University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point|Stevens Point|Wisconsin|
|University of Wyoming|Laramie|Wyoming|
Not sure about the CSU’s (SJSU and CPP) - the GPA thresholds for engineering majors can be pretty high. But at this point, the OP has either applied to these, or not.
I also rather doubt that the OP will consider HBCU’s in Alabama or Texas - good schools, but as you’ve already pointed out, fit is important.
There are some good options on this list, for sure. My read on the original post is that OOS public match/safeties are not of interest, but some would be worthy of consideration if (s)he were open to it. It’s worth noting that there are reciprocity discounts that make some more affordable: the WUE schools, and UMaine’s Flagship Match. Also, Akron punches above its weight in ChemE, if their polymer focus is of interest.
UCs and CSUs which offer chemical engineering are CPP, CSULB, UCB, UCD, UCI, UCLA, UCR, UCSD, UCSB, SJSU. Did you apply to all of them for chemical engineering?
There are over a hundred ABET accredited chemical engineering programs in the US, many of which are not that selective.
What is your unweighted GPA? That can help others help you find suitable colleges to consider.