Random question of the night, for a child who wants to go to school in California: OOS gets 0 financial aid at state schools, right? And schools like UCB really don’t offer merit, correct?(Aware of possibility of merit at USC.)
@melvin123 I know folks argue differently here on CC, but I’ve got to believe an 800 in Literature (99%) and an 800 in Math Level 2 (79%), for example, are weighed differently. And so on for the various scores below.
I think so. There is WUE (if you live in West) which is good at a few of the CSU campuses. UCs don’t offer anything.
Congrats AmyBeth68 . Great news . I’ve been following boards and rooting for you.
BTW . My S applied Nov 1 and we’re hoping for acceptance soon… and maybe Merit $$$$.
Ah, the waiting game!
S has not taken a subject test, but it’s on the table if he chooses a state school (extra requirement for homeschool students).
@suzy100 From the Cal website:
“As you enter UC Berkeley, it must be with a plan for how to meet your financial needs until the time you graduate and with the understanding that neither need-based institutional funds nor institutional funds to cover nonresident expenses are available.”
http://financialaid.berkeley.edu/meeting-nonresident-costs
There are some UC scholarships available for non-residents, but it’s not alot of money and the qualifications are high.
Great news @AmyBeth68
My D16 loves Pitt.
S18 did take 2 subject tests; we felt it was essentially required to have any chance at Stanford REA. I told him he must get 800 on math 2–luckily he did! But zero internships or mission trips or state championships, so still assuming he will be rejected next month.
@Kayak24 - S18 took three SAT 2 tests on the same day, didn’t study, and didn’t realize points were taken off for wrong answers. He did not do well.
Ended up with a 750+ in Math 2, but as someone mentioned, that’s like a 40% or something. His other tests scores were both below 700.
No research experience. He spent his summers as a residential summer camp counselor for two years, does 50+ mile backpacking trips every year, and this year worked over 50 hours per week at a job that related to his future career interest.
He took the ACT sophomore year - 33, junior year -34, and the SAT senior year because he had to for NMS - 1550.
He is applying to a lot of selective engineering programs: UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth, etc. Plus a bunch of less selective ones (12 total).
We are assuming he won’t get in at Stanford, MIT, and Berkeley. For GT, Michigan, and Dartmouth we feel like his chances are better, but obviously no guarantee.
I think if he gets in at the ones we think he has a chance to be accepted to, it will ultimately come down to a choice between University of Washington, Virginia Tech, Cal Poly SLO, and Dartmouth.
OK, thanks for the confirmation on California schools. I thought that was the case, but D is smitten with the state (been there on a handful of visits) and I just wanted to make sure the bases were covered! She may reconsider an app to Santa Clara.
@melvin123 - LOL! D18 didn’t actually GET a 790, just saying a 790 is “only” 79th percentile. She got a 770 which I think is like 67th percentile. Her private CC said she should retake it for Rice since at that time they required them, but then changed their policy. D18 said no way to retaking it “come what may” since her SAT math score was excellent. She opted to send them to some schools and not send them to others. We will see if her strategy works 
Yes, like amominaz said, S18 only sent them to the schools that required them. He didn’t send them to any schools that said they were optional.
Oh, and since I can’t edit my previous post, I wanted to say that the schools we feel it will come down to are his favorites from among the ones we think he will get into. Not that he will only get into those four.
But he could surprise us!
Gee, I sent D’s subject test scores to anyone and everyone, including McDonalds HQ. =))
S18 also talked with a private cc and they told him he had to spend last summer doing something that would “prove out” his interest in engineering because his school doesn’t offer any engineering classes.
He refused because he wanted to spend the summer doing what he wanted and basically said if a school didn’t want him because he spent the summer working, training, hiking, and building his own motorbikes from scratch, that it was their loss.
@RoonilWazlib99 Good for your S. That shows great maturity and wisdom. He will do well wherever he ends up.
I really think that @sushiritto needs to change his avatar to the Golden Arches.
@RoonilWazlib99 - our advice to our daughter was to do something engineering related over the summer because although she “wants” to do engineering her school also doesn’t have any engineering classes nor had she really had any exposure to engineering except a short camp two summers prior. Since engineering is so competitive to get into at a lot of the schools she is looking at, her dad and I didn’t want to potentially limit her admission to those schools by applying to programs she really didn’t even know if she was even truly interested in.
@Kayak24 My son did not take any subject tests but is not applying to tippy top schools. He did do an internship to see if he was interested in computer science as a major. My one niece who is a junior at Cornell took subject tests and had internships. My other niece who is applying to different top schools, took ACT, SAT, and subject tests. She also has some strong EC’s and this fall started working in a lab under a professor at a strong college. With acceptances at <12%, it was something they felt was needed (can’t say I disagree), but I also agree that a true candidate can come through in other ways. Maybe leave it up to your daughter and how much she is feeling it?
@melvin123 My daughter took a few courses at a branch of one of our state colleges. It was local and she liked this more than the AP route. Luckily she knew early where she wanted to attend college and worked with them to be sure classes would transfer. Between that and her classes at the high school that counted as DE, she is a year ahead. There was a cost sharing with the high school with I believe a ceiling cost plus the cost of books which the high school required be returned so future students could use.
S took the SAT subject tests in June 2017 because he thought he might apply to elites. He also did an internship, although that wasn’t because of potential elite admissions. It was required by his STEM program.
How would you classify “top schools” or “tippy top schools?” Wondering how others define these things. I guess I think of “tippy top schools” as HYPS and maybe MIT too, then the other Ivies as “top” along with a few others, but I’m a rookie at this so idk. 
Ahh great question! I’m not an expert either so I would probably have a different definition than many others. For me, I was using “tippy top” in terms of acceptance rates so my definition would be broader than yours…probably with acceptance rates less than 15% or so. And with the case of both nieces, the schools they applied to are in that range. To tie it back to the original question, they both took subject tests and had internships when applying to “top schools” in your definition 