Actually, most CSUs now admit to most majors at the baseline requirements (for in-state frosh, 2.5 recalculated GPA in a-g courses).
What appears to be the case is that there is a flight to perceived quality – i.e. students have an increasing preference to the most selective campuses (most UCs, CPSLO, SDSU, SJSU for some majors, CPP, CSULB), so those campuses keep getting even more selective, while most CSUs have become less selective, except for their nursing or pre-nursing majors that are always in high demand.
There are still a few CSUs that are accepting applications. Anything that says “See Notice” on this page is still open, but some close in 2 weeks. (Application Dates & Deadlines | CSU)
If he’s more “aero” than “space,” you might look at Iowa State (whereas Huntsville is a big draw for “space.”) Relatively affordable OOS price, great reputation for aero, and still taking apps until April 1. About 41K/year OOS sticker price - not sure if it’s too late for merit but it might not be. Relatively easy to get in, but a highly rigorous and well-regarded program. There’s an aerospace residential learning community Aerospace Learning Community – Department of Aerospace Engineering and great aero-related extracurricular opportunities.
Another school of interest for us, and also WUE, is Univ of Hawaii at Manoa. We liked the campus and the students seemed to be quite happy. The one knock we heard repeatedly was “super senior” syndrome where students could not get their required classes and had to attend a fifth year. It’s definitely on our list as one of our top choices as we await sdsu.
Lots of great aero schools out there that are affordable…close to home vs. SDSU would be U of Arizona. While the budget situation is unclear, based on what’s out there now, it’ll still be a relative bargain and it’s strong in aero.
But UAH and Iowa State are fantastic too - and others as well. - such as Alabama (big merit - bigger than UAH and many place in Huntsville), Kansas, Mississippi State, Missouri Science & Tech, San Jose State, W Michigan, and Wichita State.
You can definitely still apply and get top merit at the two Alabama schools and Arizona…check the others for admission and merit dates. All fine programs.
And before you worry about school name - look at reality. My son is in a program with 150 kids in three areas - about 50 engineers. He’s a MechE at an Aero company. They rotate for two years in four roles.
His class included Purdue, Michigan, Washington, Case Western, as well as Alabama (his school), Auburn, W Michigan, Akron and more. This year’s class he told me has another Bama…but also a Ga Tech kid.
When my son interned (at an auto company), two of his co workers and the kids he roomed with in the summer were Ga Tech.
The point being - in most places - the where isn’t going to matter much - but rather ABET will. So focus on finding the right school and not worrying about where you won’t get in - if that makes sense.
There’s lots of affordable OOS options out there and the perceived pedigree likely won’t matter as much as you think.
Solid call out on Iowa State. Still accepting last time I checked and generous with merit. Even had a merit pool for CA students and a few others. The scholarship awards put the cost (with food and housing) solidly below the Cal States my son was applying to. Enough so it offset any additional travel costs.
My son is at Utah and while the weather has been a bit of an adjustment he’s having a great experience. Utah makes it very easy to get residency if you follow their steps. It is basically a wash between WUE and residency route, plus with residency if they need an extra semester or two you are paying in state rates.
Adding my vote to Iowa State and Missouri Science and Tech. My son applied and given generous merit. Join the the parents FB group for the 2 schools. I believe both are very active. Lots of praises on the career fair at Missouri S&T.
I really appreciate any suggestions. Thank you. We’ve been looking closer now at open apps for OOS, but I think only WUE will be ‘in the cards’. Money will be an issue, his SAI score is 15000 so we’re budgeting $30-35k/yr right now. I know aid offers will be even more variable than admissions and I grew up in Illinois so would be partial to Ames, but he’s said “only Rockies or westward” and preferably a quick and easy flight home (until he gets his pilots license!) We’ll be filling out UofU, UN-Reno, and NMSU apps in the next couple days. This has really helped his outlook, so thanks to everyone here for each and every suggestion.
Congrats to your son on getting into UC Riverside and Merced! I told our son that the experience he has wherever he goes will be primarily driven by the effort he makes to create that experience.
My son didn’t apply to those because he specifically wanted to be in an urban location. I know this severely limited his UC/CSU options and my frustration with the results is muted because of this. It’s just hard to wrap my head around the fact that it is so hard to get into so many of the UCs. In most states, one or two of their public school campuses are “hard to get into”. In CA, that applies to several of the campuses.
Yeah, that makes sense. One reason we were not as high on the CSUs is that those tend to have a high percent of commuter students. We felt that would reduce the campus experience for our son. That’s not a big deal for some, but it was for our son. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why that is the case and respect the notion that such schools are necessary since “going away to school” and “living on campus” are luxuries that not everyone can afford.
And I TOTALLY get the flight to perceived quality. I am amazed at how many people are so heavily fixated on “prestige”, rankings, and impressing other people with the name of the school your kid goes to. It really is quite sad (or humorous, depending on how you want to look at it).
I get you want west of the rockies - but just to throw 3 out and I’ll assume a GPA of higher than 3.5.
UAH - which several mentioned - COA is $37,000 and you get $20,500 off - so that’s $16,500.
U of Alabama is $48,040 COA - and you get $30,500 off - so you are about $17,500.
Mississippi State is $38873 COA and you get with a 3.6 $21K off, and a 4.1 $23K off.
Those are auto merit - so you apply, you get in, you get. And you still can!!!
So oftentimes when you have a cost barrier, you have to be flexible - including location.
Now - since you want to be west of the rockies, the current published cost for U of Arizona is showing $61000 for tuition + but it might go up given budget issues. Their merit does not include test score so if you have a 4.0 UW, it’s $32K and a 3,9 $30K - at least today. It doesn’t appear they have announced next year yet. They do lock in tuition for four years.
So you can go to school for well under budget - but you have to be flexible geographically. You can try Arizona. Or - you could expand your reach and include MechE schools because one doesn’t need to major in aero to work in aero jobs…and you’d have even more WUE schools such as UNLV (which I read earlier doesn’t limit WUE awards).
I’m not sure that U of U, NMSU, or UNR are assured WUE (not all WUE schools guarantee the WUE awar). - but the schools I mentioned above (yes, East of the rockies) would be assured - and really at half your budget.
The University of Oklahoma has great scholarships and an excellent aviation program and offer aerospace engineering as well. I believe they accept until April 1.
After my S22 went through the college decision season and we saw how hard/unpredictable admission to many of the UCs and CPSLO and SDSU was, I knew my D24 would have to apply to a broader range of schools that would be a good fit in order to find a match. These are some of the schools she chose to apply that may still be taking applications.
Schools that you might want to look at include:
University of Nevada Reno- close to Tahoe, lots of SF Bay Area kids, beautiful campus, great sports, lots of tech companies nearby.
Boise- lots of families/kids we know have been very happy and have even moved to Boise.
Univ. Of Utah- I researched extensively because I don’t have friends whose kids attended. Would have been happy to have my kid attend.
Sonoma State and Chico State- families and students we know have been happy with both of these schools. Chico is a college town with beautiful recreation areas surrounding campus.
Two others that my D24 was excited about but may not be taking applications- Arizona State and Oregon State.
Hope this helps those that are having to pivot and look at other options right now.
I think the issue with some of the WUE is that just because they are WUE doesn’t mean you can get the WUE funding - and they have a strict budget. So they are worth “trying” but you still need that assured - hence the list I gave above.
There will be a lot more options for meche than aero but for aero, it looks like:
Alaska Fairbanks
Colorado Colorado Springs
U North Dakota
S Dakota State
CPP
New Mexico State (already on OPs radar)
While one might say - North Dakota - on the aviation side, it’s a powerhouse university - and it’s in a sizable city - so that one might be worth a little investigation. But again, one needs to check WUE because if its volume restricted, you can’t count on it. Someone said yesterday UNLV doesn’t limit - and they have MechE so it could be a good alternative if that’s true. There’s a lot of Meche in the savings finder.
Hi there: just reading your thread. This year has been a real surprise for many California families. You are not alone!
My hope is that your son and family can pivot quickly and move forward aggressively with a new plan. You will have to do so as deadlines for alternatives are approaching quickly. (It’s hard to do so when you’re in shock and grief - again, a lot of families had their in-state application plans upended this year!)
One thing is to not let your path forward to a new future be hindered by what has just happened (as hard as this may be). Hope your son doesn’t let the shot to his confidence stop him - this is a moment for hustle and self-worth to shine. He is a great student and person! Now he just needs to find another way, or two, or three, to make things work.
Keep using the fine posters here for knowledge and support to work a new plan - and fast!
Really rooting for you and all our kids that have been waitlisted and rejected by the schools our tax dollars go to!
I feel this is exactly what is happening with the CSU schools. The UC schools have a writing requirement, which would have a huge impact. I suspect popular or not, SAT/ACT scores will have to come back. Just not enough information to get to know different students.