D24 (16Y old) has been accepted to several UCs and CalPoly for various majors.
She will also have IGETC as well as an AA and AS from local CC by end of this semester.
Now having tough time deciding between
Santa Barbara - Applied Mathematics
CalPoly SLO - BioMedical Engineering
Berkeley - Nuclear Engineering
I can throw Direct Admit Nursing in the mix at UC Irvine also but I think she is not leaning towards that too much but we are visiting colleges including Irvine next week.
Any/all input on campus, class sizes, career track with/without grad school is welcomed.
Yes very different majors.
She just wants to be an airline pilot (already private pilot) but wants a solid undergrad degree as a backup.
I personally think a BioMed BS from SLO without any grad school would be best but can’t stop thinking about not going to Berkeley.
We are also local to the Bay Area so CAL is so logistically convenient and we already have our son there who will be a junior next year.
If her interest is more in bioengineering than nuclear engineering (or if she is more interested in mech E or aero? since she’s interested in being a pilot?) there is definitely some flexibility on changing majors within UCB COE. She would need to be careful with her course selection in the first year, and there is a GPA requirement depending on the specific engineering major.
First - congratulations to your D, all awesome acceptances.
They also are very different majors. Is there any one that your D likes more than the others? Berkeley will open the most doors, applied math is the most versatile degree, while biomedical engineering is probably the field which is the most vibrant these days.
However, I was wondering about your thoughts regarding how your D will navigate college life as a minor. She’ll be 16, surrounded by kids who are mostly older than 19, while her classmates will mostly be 18 and older. Where is she thinking of living, and again, much of campus life is based on the assumption that students are 18 and older, so there will be activities and venues that are either not accessible or not appropriate for kids who are younger than 18.
As an aside - how is she a private pilot at 16? Based on the schools that you targeted, I assume that you live in California, and the age requirement for a private pilot’s license in 17 (I remember when my nephew wanted one). Is there such a thing as a pilot permit (like a driver’s permit) for kids younger than 17?
She is most interested in BioMed Engr. at CalPoly due to their ‘learn by doing’ model.
I’m of the same thought that Berkeley will open many doors and 10-15yr. career progression might be quite different whether she stays in the respective career/industry or has to come back from the airline industry for some reason.
She will be 17 when she arrives at the college, I know still a minor but so was my son and he didn’t have any issues. She is very mature due to her involvement in Drum Corps international since she was 15 so she has been around older kids and knows how to handle herself.
One can get a glider private pilot cert. at 15y.
She is currently working on her airplane private and will be taking the practical flight test the week she turns 17, her age is holding her back. Since she has her glider private, she is endorsed for solo flights anywhere and she may actually bring her plane to SLO so she can continue her instrument and commercial training and hour building.
UCB nuclear engineering traditionally focused on nuclear reactors for power generation, but has added some courses on nuclear medicine applications. Was either of these an academic or career interest?
Change of major within engineering at UCB and CPSLO:
CPSLO: general change of major procedure is at https://advising.calpoly.edu/change-major ; contact department for specific criteria. Note the unusual lookback policy that checks whether the student would have been admitted to the major as frosh.
I don’t know whether, or how, she would be able to do this at Cal. (Your son might be able to find out more easily than I could ) I believe there’s an aviation club at Cal, though; they’ve taught a pilot ground school decal in the past.
Biomedical engineering, as a major, tends to be too broad for practical applications in the workplace. I’d recommend that your daughter choose from applied mathematics, nuclear engineering, or nursing.
haha my son actually currently leads the decal class and is VP of the aviation club at Berkeley. If she goes there she can easily drive home where her plane is. We live only an hour away from CAL.
Thank you, Nuclear medicine and Radiation therapies are of interest to her and She hasn’t totally eliminated medical school either but is concerned about not being able to maintain high GPA at Berkeley especially in Engineering.
She also understands that one can be involved in medicine without actually going to medical school.
Good problem to have!!
) I believe there’s an aviation club at Cal, though; they’ve taught a pilot ground school decal in the past.