Policies about second choice majors are all over the map; you have to investigate it at each school. To make it more confusing, that fact that an application form allows you to enter a second choice major does not guarantee that it will be meaningfully considered. Sometimes you can’t select a second choice across colleges (for example, an engineering major if CS isn’t in the engineering school). Sometimes second choices are only considered for available space after the first round, which is useless if that major consistently fills up with first-choice applicants. So, it depends; you have to take a deeper dive on the schools you decide you’re most interested in.
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For reference, https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator indicates that the OP’s 3.8 GPA and 1460 SAT would get at the ASU Tempe campus the President’s Scholarship of $16,500, for a net price of $35,014.
Of course, if the prices rise significantly in the future, that could approach or exceed the budget.
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Thanks! Yeah, I wasn’t suggesting SLO - just using it as a point of comparison, since it’s so well-known to CA applicants. That’s interesting that the RPI medal is useful for leverage - all the more reason to look into the possibility!
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Yes, it should give you a little admissions boost. Probably not to the level of safety, but perhaps a solid target. CS is a harder admit there than other majors, but being local should put you within striking range.
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What I wasn’t sure about WPI was - as a female, would the merit potentially be better?
I guess I can ask the same question about RIT?
To OP - if you’re willing to go South, then schools like Alabama, Mississippi State, and others are home runs.
You have no admission or financial risk. In fact, you have a financial save.
And last year the scholarship was $15.5K. But that amount doesn’t go up once you start attending, so you have to pay the full increase in tuition, which as I mentioned, went up by $1500 this year. Also note that the net price calculator gives a much higher cost, because the $35K net price appears to exclude the extra college fees of $1900 applicable to science and engineering students:
Yes, ASU for engineering is at $55K - as it has the $1910 supplement. If you do Barrett Honors, it’s $2K more… So it’ll be at the edge. Of course, things like Personal are different for each student. It’s certainly possible.
| Base Tuition* | $31,450 |
|---|---|
| Student Initiated Fees | $743 |
| Undergraduate College Fees | $0-$1,910 |
| Books, course materials, supplies, and equipment | $1,320 |
| Housing | $9,458 |
| Food | $6,633§ |
| Travel | $1,536 |
| Personal | $2,200 |
| Loan Fees | $72 |
| Estimated | |
| Total Costs | $53,412 |
| $55,322 |
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Very few CSU’s will consider an alternate major. SJSU will ask you to list an alternate major but for the competitive majors there is usually no room available for alternate major consideration.
Cal Poly Pomona is one of the few CSU’s that would consider your alternate major and has in the past recommended open majors if neither the primary and alternate major is available.
For the UC’s:
UC Berkeley only considers your alternate major during the waitlist and appeal process. CS is a High Demand major and must be your primary major of choice.
UCLA only guarantees consideration of your primary major.
UC Davis will occasionally consider your alternate major but not within the same discipline ie. Computer Science and Computer Engineering.
UC Irvine will consider both primary and alternate majors and will also admit Undeclared if spots are not available.
UC San Diego will consider both primary and alternate majors and will also admit Undeclared. They recommend if your primary major is selective/capped, the alternate major should be a non-selective/uncapped major.
UCSB will consider an alternate major in the College of Letters and Sciences if the primary major is in the College of Engineering.
UCSC will consider an alternate major but if CS is your intended major, that major needs to be listed as your primary major.
Both UC Riverside and Merced will consider alternate majors with no restrictions listed.
Good luck with your list.
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Your target/Reach schools are very similar to S24. For your reference, he is also Asian from Bay Area public high school. He has 4.0 UW GPA and 4.31 UC CAP GPA. 1440 SAT (780 Math) He applied for Aerospace Eng major. Got accepted to UofArizona ($32K/year Merit), Oregon State (Honor College, WUE), SDSU, Texas A&M and Ohio State so far. Still waiting results for UCs, CPSLO, CPP, Purdue, Georgia Tech, USC and MIT. Rejected by Stanford.
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Note that Texas A&M secondary admission to engineering major requires a 3.75 college GPA to automatically get into the desired major. Otherwise, it is competitive admission with essays. AE and ME are among the more competitive majors.
U of A is excellent for aero.
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Oregon State+ WUE+ Honors is awesome, as is UA with a 32k scholarship 
. It should make the wait till you hear back from UC and Cal Polys much easier
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RPI medal is a great opportunity
For WPI they have a FIRST robotics scholarship plus extra merit put toward female candidates. My S18 was on the other side of the policy and got about half what female applicants were offered with similar Credentials. I get why they have this policy and it should work for you.
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With your family budget, do you know if you would qualify for the Middle Class Scholarship for UC/CSU? Good to be aware of if you qualify.
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