<p>
</p>
<p>San Diego State is not the flagship. A California resident who can get into MIT or Stanford can likely also get into any state university of his/her choice, including Berkeley and Cal Poly SLO.</p>
<p>Realistically, the comparison schools for the no-financial-aid student with high enough stats to have a reasonable chance at MIT and Stanford would be:</p>
<ul>
<li>$60,000 to $140,000 for in-state public universities.</li>
<li>$120,000 to $160,000 for lower cost higher reputation out-of-state public universities (i.e. the Minnesota, Stony Brook, Cal Poly SLO, Virginia Tech, NCSU type of schools)</li>
<li>$0 to $85,000 for lower cost out-of-state public universities (i.e. Alabama with the automatic full tuition plus scholarship; South Dakota Mines; automatic full rides at Louisiana Tech, Prairie View A&M, Howard; competitive full rides at Georgia Tech, NCSU, and perhaps in-state public universities)</li>
</ul>