Please match CA high schooler interested in UX Design/research with colleges [3.9 GPA (-/4.3/4.5 for UC), <$40k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Guidelines

  • Please check back to answer questions.
  • Please do not share identifying information.
  • Please do not include your race.

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: California
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public high school
  • Other special factors: None (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)

Cost Constraints / Budget
total $40k/year (including tuition, room & board, fees)

Intended Major(s): UX/UI design, human-computer interaction, industrial design, human factors engineering, please suggest additional adjacent majors if you know of any

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.9
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.3 UC capped, 4.5 UC uncap (calculated by Gemini based on 10th transcript. 11th grade transcript not available yet.)
  • College GPA: 3.9 (this is for classes taken in community colleges to meet high school graduation requirement and ready for transfer to one of the UCs. Gemini has included this when calculating UC capped and uncapped GPA)
  • Class Rank: not sure
  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1470

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: freshmen, sophomore (honor class), junior (honor class)
  • Math: Geometry (honor class), Algebra2, Data Science, Pre-calculus (honor class), Calculus 1 (community college), Calculus 2 (community college)
  • Science: Environmental Science, biology (honor class), chemistry (honor class), advanced physics (honor class)
  • History and social studies: ethnic studies, world history, US history
  • Language other than English: Spanish 3, elementary Spanish (community college)
  • Visual or performing arts: Art of Europe & America (community college)
  • Other academic courses: Foundations of Design Thinking, Prototyping & fabrication, co-designer, innovation diploma, computer networking (community college), UX/UI design (community college), intro to psychology (community college)

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(college courses taken while in high school included above.)

  • General education course work: see HS coursework
  • Major preparation course work: see HS coursework

Awards:

Extracurriculars
Graphic design club (co-president), cross country 3 years, California State Summer School for Mathematics & Science (COSMOS) in the summer between sophomore & junior, Youth Climate Ambassadors Leadership Program (county level 7 month program in Sophomore year), dog sitter

Essays/LORs/Other
will be working with a writing coach for essays and asking a teacher for LOR.

Schools
(unclassified. I would like to compile a list of colleges by the community’s initial proposed matches before estimating my chance)

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): San Jose State U
  • Extremely Likely: please match me
  • Likely: please match me
  • Toss-up: please match me
  • Lower Probability: please match me
  • Low Probability: please match me

Thank you very much!

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The Cognitive Science major at UCSD - especially the Design & Interaction Specialization track - may be tough to beat in terms of rich offerings and research opportunities in this field. And it’s not an impacted major. If your junior year continues to go well, and if you do a good job on your PIQ’s, UCSD seems like a very reasonable (albeit not guaranteed) target. Are you eligible for any need-based aid? The out-of-pocket cost of a UC for in-state students exceeds 40K/year now.

Have you run the net price calculator for private schools that meet need? For example, the combined major in CS+Design at Northeastern could be a good fit (their student-run design studio, Scout, provides great experience, as does the co-op program), but would it be affordable? Net Price Calculator

If you’re interested in a more design-focused program, consider the College of Design at Iowa State. All students start out in a shared first-year program before choosing one of nine possible tracks, including Industrial Design; the school offers a UX minor as well; and STEM, including CS, is very strong at the university as well. With a 45K/year full-pay OOS cost of attendance, Iowa State is likely to be affordable with merit.

RIT is also great for industrial design and for all things CS. Again, it would be a matter of whether you could get enough aid. RPI’s very CS-heavy CogSci major is worth a look too.

UT-Dallas (which I think of as sort of the UCSD of Texas) has a Human-Computer Interaction track in their robust CogSci major. They have very generous scholarships for National Merit Finalists, and other non-NMF merit, but I don’t know whether you could get the 20K+ discount you would need for it to be affordable.

This new program (within an excellent and well-established design school) could be a great fit U of M College of Design to Launch User Experience (UX) Major in Fall 2025 | College of Design - again, I don’t know whether merit could get you down to 40K at UMinn or not.

U of Utah’s major in Interdisciplinary Design could be a good fit, and it would be affordable with the WUE reciprocity discount. Western Washington University has a great Industrial Design program; WUE is competitive there but I think you’d be well-positioned to qualify.

CogSci at Merced would be a safety for sure, and you might get the Regents scholarship ($7K/year).

Give us a better idea how your financial aid eligibility is looking (i.e. would Northeastern give you enough aid?) and more suggestions can be made accordingly.

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Ah, beat to the punch by @aquapt, but here are a couple of links …

There are a few California schools that could be interesting for you. One is at UCSD, with their BS in Cognitive Science with a Specialization in Design Interaction, or a separate Design minor they have (also within CogSci).

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What major would you apply for at SJSU? If CS, note that last year’s threshold was equivalent to a 4.3 weighted capped GPA: Freshmen Impaction Results | Admissions

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With your stats, you can find many schools even under $30K (cheaper than UCs). They buy you in. But are you willing to go to other parts of the country?

Do you prefer large schools? Or smaller schools? Urban schools? Rural, suburban or rural.

There are schools that will hit your cost at full and with automerit. There are others who might with need. Do you have need/qualify for aid?

In WUE, Boise State is the only school that comes up with HCI. It’s less than $10K, seems in the department of CS.

II think lots of schools could work. U of Kansas will be under $30K and has this:

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Design with a concentration in Interaction Design (IXD) is an interdisciplinary four-year program that blends User Interface Design (UI) and User Experience Design (UX) with traditional design practices.

Others are in arts and sciences.

I think you find schools to hit budget and then see their offerings because the budget is most important - and there’s a host of schools under $30K.

But that goes back to my question - does location, size, environment matter?

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Knowing more about the student’s preferences in terms of the desired college experience will help to recommend schools. Additionally, knowing more about what interests the student in terms of those intended majors can help users to suggest other majors which might be of interest.

That said, another California public school that your family may want to check out is Cal Poly - SLO. There are two majors in particular I’m thinking of:

  1. Graphic Communication, which has several concentrations, including Immersive Experience Design and User Experience/User Interface.
  1. Industrial Technology and Packaging, and the school indicates:

The ITP curriculum spans a wide array of interdisciplinary subjects, such as user-centered design, design thinking, sustainability, entrepreneurship, marketing, project management, advanced manufacturing systems, materials science, supply chain and operations management, distribution and logistics, lean processes, Lean Six Sigma, technical sales, business analytics, program management, and procurement.

For California residents, Cal Poly falls within your desired budget.

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Okay, I want to provide a couple more options that are highly likely to hit the budget.

WUE schools will often allow WUE-residents to pay 150% of the tuition of in-state students. Some schools give WUE to all eligible students, and other places (like Oregon State), it’s more competitive to get. When I reference sticker price, I mean the tuition & fees plus room & board as listed in College Navigator, the feds’ website on colleges.

  • Boise State (ID): About 23k undergrads at this WUE school. In-state tuition & fees are about $9k, so probably about $29k for the WUE sticker price. Its Digital Innovation & Design major within the College of Innovation & Design might be the best fit, though there is also the Games, Interactive Media and Mobile major.

  • U. of Utah: About 27k undergrads at this school. WUE is an option, but it is also easy to get in-state tuition if a student stays over the summer (i.e. stays there for 12 months). The U says, “The Design major will use product design as a vehicle to investigate design research, human centered design principles, interface development, articulation of product forms, materials and digital manufacturing.”

  • Western Washington: About 14k undergrads at this school that offers majors in Design, which includes interactive design, as well as Industrial Design. If WUE is received, then costs would probably be abut $31kish.

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