<p>I’m an older transfer student, fairly unhappy with my current (huge) university, and looking for some personal attention. I’m on the waitlist at Stanford, not sure if I’ll get in… now they tell me it will be another week before I find out.</p>
<p>So, because I love Silicon Valley, and I want a chance to participate in the local culture, I’m considering Menlo College.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any opinions on this school? It’s a bit of a oomedown for me in terms of “prestige”—but maybe it will be the special place where I can carve out a niche for myself.</p>
<p>Freshmen Academic Profile
Average SAT: Not Reported
SAT I - Verbal Range (25-75%): 400-550
SAT I - Math Range (25-75%): 410-510
ACT Composite Range (25-75%): 16-22
Average ACT: Not Reported
Average High School GPA: 3.08
Students in top 10% of HS class: 5%
Students in top 50% of HS class: 59%</p>
<p>I lived in the Silicon Valley and I’ve barely heard of that school. It doesn’t even have local prestige, I reccomend Santa Clara University which is a very respected University in the Silicon Valley and has small class sizes and good academics. I don’t know you’re stats, but if you were ambitious enough to apply to Stanford you could probably get into SCU. If they are not accepting applications for Fall, you can probably apply for the spring semester.</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestions, iDad and davidav87. </p>
<p>I’m trying to do what they suggestion on the college search board and find safeties for myself that have a special hook. In this case, it’s the professional and personal networks I could join in the Valley. </p>
<p>My stats, in case it helps:</p>
<p>1460 SAT
4.0 transfer GPA from community college
3.78 after one year at a big, top 25 school</p>
<p>Interested in finance and economics</p>
<p>My biggest concern with Santa Clara would be that it might be hard to transfer to a better law/business school in the Valley, since I wouldn’t be as geographically diverse. But I guess that’s a problem with Menlo College too.</p>
<p>If you got waitlisted at Stanford, then you definitely could get into Santa Clara University, which is a small private school. It’s not Stanford or Berkeley, but it has a decent reputation in Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone above: Santa Clara would be the best back up to Stanford if you need/want to be in the Silicon Valley area. Other alternatives might include the U of San Francisco and St. Mary’s College, as well as plain old San Jose State which a lot of people overlook but is a decent school with many connections in Silicon Valley.
Menlo College would be low on my list - not horrible, but if your goal is to make connections the others would all be better choices.</p>
<p>By the way, Santa Clara does very well with law school placement and has a very strong business program as well.</p>