Hope everyone on this thread is doing well. Son just submitted his final two apps that were due 11/15. He was very proud to finish with a few days’ cushion. And his grades for the quarter were nearly all A- or better.
Fingers crossed we will all have good news in December and January!
Hi
I am new to CC living in California but Canadian. I have S24 looking to major in Computer Science who would like a school with experiential learning or co-op, nice campus experience (more urban preferred) and ideally good sports scene. He is coming from a rigorous NorCal public high school with UW Gpa 3.57/W 3.77. He has taken 6 APs, ACT of 32. Strong in math and sciences but has ADD and has Bs in humanities. His ECs are 4 years of football, various clubs, job and volunteer.
I am looking for schools no more than 30k all-in as we have 4 kids. We are applying to CSUs, think UCs are out of reach. Are there any other schools that we should consider where he might have access to merit/grants private or public that would be a solid alternative to what we have. I am overwhelmed with the choices and confusing financials for each school. We looked at Oregon State but don’t think he will get WUE so it is out of reach financially.
I know we will not find everything we are looking for but would love to hear any thoughts or ideas/experiences on other places we should consider. Thanks!
I’m not sure if WUE will work as you are not citizens or residents of Calfiornia. But if it did, a school like UN Reno could work.
With those stats, a school like Alabama that doesn’t distinguish from international would work - but it’s not urban.
It would be $20K-ish all in with $28.5K merit on $33K tuition.
Co op you can do most anywhere.
A smaller school at a similar price and in a mid size city would be Alabama Huntsville (UAH). Let’s go suburban.
If WUE worked, Reno, Montana State might be examples for smaller “urban” that could work.
As for ADD, it won’t make budget but you of Arizona has the SALT program for ADD kids.
Good luck
PS - it sounds like you can qualify for WUE based on your previous comment. Oregon State wouldn’t be urban but UNLV, UNR, Montana State, New Mexico, Utah, W Washington - these could work for you.
Thank you so much for these ideas! We are permanent residents so WUE does work
Agree that Utah would fit many of your requirements and WUE comes in right about $30K for tuition, room and board, and is slightly cheaper than full pay at many UCs. His GPA would be borderline for WUE but he will probably get it with that ACT score, my S23 got it with 3.7UW/5 APs/1540 SAT.
Thank you - is that university of Utah or Utah state?
The U - U of Utah.
What about Canadian universities? As a citizen, they should be a lot more affordable. UToronto?
WUE minimum GPA for the University of Utah is currently 3.30 UW (for Fall 2024 per website).
Yes, the U gives a low minimum figure on the website, but it is competitive rather than automatic and typically 3.5+ is needed. You also need to apply by Dec 1 as the merit money runs out and generally isn’t available for later applicants.
If you don’t mind heading further east, this sounds just like the University of Cincinnati. Widely known for their extensive co-op programs, located in right in the middle of Cincinnati, and Big XII sports on campus. There’s a decent chance that the cost will work out to be comparable to CSUs - sticker price for OOS students is around $45k for tuition, room, and board, but a student from Calif with at least 3.5 uGPA is eligible for the National Outreach Award and also Cincinnatus merit ranging from $6k to $24k. Worth a look.
Yep - we are applying to a bunch of Canadian schools but they don’t weight GPA or consider ACT so his ugpa falls a bit short for CS cutoffs.
Hello all. I’m interested in resurrecting this topic, as my class of '25 child is still solidly within this UW gpa range (will be under 3.9 weighted even if she gets straight A’s this term). March SAT was disappointing and my daughter will try again in May, but we’re not sure she’ll be able to get a useful test score.
We are a West Coast family. We did a big PNW college tour blitz over our February break and about to take a shorter tour trip to Colorado and on to Midwest over spring break. We aren’t targeting any super-competitive schools. We just want to find a right-fit school where our daughter will be happy.
Is there anyone out there with a “regular”, slightly-above-average student who is about to launch into the college admissions process this summer? If so, how are you approaching everything? Thanks!
Sounds like you are doing it right quite honestly. I’m not sure that the strategy should be different than searches for students with higher stats - you find the right fits (environmentally, size, etc.) where your statistics fit…and at programs where budgets can be met.
You might also look at WUE schools which often times are less competitive.
For a 3.9 (not sure the unweighted and you should figure that out but I’m guessing a 3.5±ish), there will be no shortage of schools.
Good luck.
Thank you.
My D24 was in this GPA range but did have a very solid test score. We focused on WUE colleges that had her area of interest and were easy to travel to. That left us with 4 solid choices plus a few CSU/UC options.
Has she made a decision yet, and if so, what were the deciding factors? Thanks!
Hello! S25 is in this camp now, though I spend more time in the Parents of 2025 3.0-3.4 group because it is more active. My guy is around a UW GPA 3.8 (still waiting on Term 3 Pre-Calc grades) We have not yet received his first attempt at SAT, which he did with a bit of Khan Academy prep.
He’s anxious so we are moving slow. We started with attending a Colleges that Change Lives Fair. I highly recommend attending, reading the book, and/or checking out the website.
For everyone, I suggest you calculate an unweighted if your school doesn’t provide - take your core classes and give an 4 for an A, 3 for a B, 2 for a C and divide the total points by # of classes.
A weighted is not really usable (except at schools that say - we just look at the transcript).
Having an unweighted gives you a much better place to work from. And having a test, I think, is always a good thing. You may not think the score is great but you may add a school to your list (or may not) where they require a test, regardless of score - maybe for things like merit, etc. And if it’s not additive, then you simply won’t use where it’s not required.
Best of luck to all.
Haven’t decided. Oregon State, Arizona State and Univ of Utah all seem like great options for her. ASU on the Tempe campus is not WUE, she needed test scores there to get enough merit to keep the costs close. Costs for those three are around the cost of UC’s. It’s unfortunate that the UC’s weren’t an option for D24, but Chico, CSULB, Cal Poly Pomona all were. They are all working to improve their residential experience and have lots to offer.