Congrats on Grand Canyon and Pacific.
Are both $40K or less - via the NPC or formal offers?
Thanks for the update.
GCU is a formal “full-ride”, met with the regional ao and finaid officer already :))
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Wow - congrats.
I assume the religious aspect isn’t a problem.
What’s interesting is - it’s the rare for profit school - so if you got a full ride (i.e they’re not profiting), that’s AMAZING.
Great news for you.
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Yeah, maybe in the past I must have stated offhand that the religious aspect is a no-no, but my values have shifted and I’m actually pretty cool with it. Having a full-ride safety def making me more comfortable with having a reach heavy list
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…Speaking of list (tentative) college list!! Applying MechE major for all, Enviro Engineering as alt if it matters
Safety
- local commenter CSU (local context priority, don’t remember the exact thing but basically my counselor said I’m guaranteed in and they do have engineering so woo)
- GCU
- UAlabama (assuming I’d get a good finaid package, I kind of like the school spirit/honors college stuff.)
- Uni of Pacific (need to look more into this one, already in tho after school visit lmao)
Match
- Cal Poly Pomona
- University of San Diego
- SDSU
- Santa Clara University (EA)
- UC Riverside
Reach (oooo boy…also may change if I don’t do well on Oct SAT)
- MIT (EA — top choice)
- USC (EA — 3rd choice)
- Stanford
- Yale
- Columbia
- UCLA (2nd choice atm)
- UC Berkeley
- UC Irvine
- UC San Diego
- Cal Poly SLO
- Boston University (applying for trustee scholarship)
- Notre Dame
Went to visit HMC and Caltech and wasn’t huge fans of either, but really liked SCU. I think I like the rigor and collaborative environment at MIT (and the opportunities they offer, campus and area right next to urban area but still in a “college town” research they do, the fact I already have an existing support system etc) but love UCLA’s campus, larger feel, location (Westwood and the weather is mwah), food and some other things I’m probably forgetting. Any suggestions would be appreciated, except I think I’m good with safety’s now that GCU and CCC are in the bag. Thanks!!
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Update because it’s been a while wowowow!!
Before decisions some background stuff;
- Ended up getting a 1450 (700 Math, 750 RW) and submitted that everywhere. Is it MIT/Stanford level? No. But it’s a score that’s apparently significantly above my school’s average so I decided to submit it everywhere anyways.
- I realized I don’t think I’d super thrive at a tech school like MIT/Caltech and want a more balanced education. This makes looking back on my replies here kinda funny; you really do change senior year.
- I got a Harvard interview about 5 days after applying (lasted an hour and really enjoyed!) and a Yale interview about a two weeks after applying (on zoom with a senior; a little awkward at first but pretty enjoyable.
- I was unfortunately was dealing with a death of a very close family member that coincided with application season for EA/UC’s, so I only ended up applying ea to one school and barely finishing my UC PIQ’s the morning of (sooo stressful)
Anyways here’s some preliminary results!!
USC (EA) - Accepted!!
SDSU - Accepted!!
SJSU - Accepted!!
CSULB - Accepted :))
UC Berkeley - Accepted with early notification for EECS with a SEED honors invite!!
UC Davis - Accepted with a $1,500 scholarship :3
Columbia - Recently received a likely letter!!! So (I’m pretty sure) accepted!!
I genuinely don’t understand the luck I’ve had so far but I’m sooo greatful. Will update when the rest of my decisions come out (Mainly waiting on Harvard, Yale and Stanford) but even if I got rejected from every school after this I’m super happy with these results! Hope this helps and thank you for the support 
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Also was embarrassingly off about income in my initial post 
we made and I reported $70k a year. Berkeley is my top choice as of now (mainly because finaid is awesome and Columbia’s isn’t out till the 27th)
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Congrats and thanks for sharing! Please let us know where you end up!
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amazing results! Very happy for you and glad you looped back!
What great choices you have already!!
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Congrats! Phenomenal results. Wherever you end up will be so lucky to have you.
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Love all of this - amazing work!! It’s been very fun to read your journey. Go set the world on fire, you deserve it.
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100% will do!!
All of the above have affordable net prices?
The OP indicated Berkeley’s financial aid is “awesome” and Columbia’s is not out yet.
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First, huge congratulations - you have done beyond great!
Regarding what you’re waiting for - I think that only Stanford is any better than what you have already got. Berkeley is is a much better choice for engineering than Columbia, Harvard, or Yale.
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- USC has given me a bit of grief and currently in the process of appealing (I submitted my noncustodial parent waiver incomplete. Luckily fixed that for RD schools.)
- Can’t see CSULB, SJSU or SDSU financial aid yet? Might call next week, but neither can friends so I’m thinking that it’s just a system thing.
- UC Berkeley would cost me about $7,000 a year. I was nominated and just finished interviewing for a SEED Honors scholar, which has the potential to offer a need based scholarship of up to $10,000 a year plus an annual $10,000 research stipend.
- Columbia doesn’t release financial aid packages until the official admission decision date, March 27th at 7:00 pm
- UC Davis I got “full-ride” through blue and gold……but it’s like $20k loans per year
I got significantly less loans for Berkeley which suprised me since I assumed the UC System would have about the same amount/type of aid for each. They did give me a cute lil merit scholarship which I appreciate, but I’m not sure I feel comfortable taking out nearly $80k in loans when I have the opportunity from other schools to well, not.
Also in terms of financial aid, I’m a semifinalist for Jack Kent Cooke and also a LA area $50,000 scholarship. I’m doubtful that I’ll receive JCK but hopeful for the regional one. If I get either or both of those scholarships UC Berkely at least would be completely free (jck is last dollar scholarship up to $55,000 a year while LA one is apparently distributed to the student in the event of scholarship displacement.)
Have also been obsessively applying for scholarships and continuing to do so. Hopefully one bites. Once more finaid stuff comes out I’ll share, given I’ll likely need help deciding haha.
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Yeah, I’ve honestly heard this sentiment echoed a lot. I’m not super hopeful for Stanford considering I didn’t get an interview, but we shall see. I got to see Columbia’s engineering program and I really appreciated there emphasis on serving humanity but yeah, Berkeley is stronger. A part of me wonders if, at that level, it even really matters? The smaller size of Columbia may outweigh the higher ranking of Berkeley, but I’m not sure.
Yale and Harvard I’m just super curious about considering they were my only interview schools lol.