<p>Thanks for all the replies guys. Although some of you strayed off topic - I understand that anything that involves the state of the UCs is going to provoke some pretty fiery debate.</p>
<p>As to address the main concern of having a powerhouse in-state flagship - I’m in a strange situation to say the least. I attend essentially a public charter high school that runs within an actual University (check out Wikipedia’s article on Early College Entrance Programs). Because of this - our program cannot legitimately rank its students - since there is no weighting of GPA, and since we all take the same classes at the same level of rigor (University classes). While Texas is a great school - due to the state’s rule where ANY student in the top 10% of the graduating class MUST be admitted to the University of Texas BY STATE LAW - this severely puts a strain on getting into Texas from private schools or schools with special cases such as mine. It’s why we have cases of students getting into Rice or Northwestern and having to go there because the in-state flagship of Texas rejects them not because they’re not qualified but because they simply don’t have room due to the requirement of accepting top 10% students.</p>
<p>This is mainly why I wanted to apply to the UC system. While many people give the argument “for that cost you might as well apply to better privates” - the fact of the matter is that for fields such as engineering (or maybe for Haas) too - there are actually very FEW private universities that are “better”. </p>
<p>Futhermore - while I can actually afford the COA - I cannot as many people say do it “easily”. While my family has the financial resources - 50K to shell out each year is no joke. I’ve got quite a few transfer credits (seeing as I essentially attend a University) - so that would essentially make it easier. </p>
<p>I just wanted to ensure that it’s a viable choice. With all the media panic about California - I wanted to make sure that it’s not a “bad” idea to apply to a UC, especially since an instate flagship like Texas is no longer a sure bet for a student like myself due to my situation. And no, I just don’t care about academics - but I’m not going to a college so I can cheer for the Big 10 football team - though it’d be a nice perk.</p>