UC Berkeley (schools, university, living in)

[Westcoastpride]

Hello my son is going into his junior year in Washington State. He is wanting to attend the University of California Berkeley. He maintains a 3.97 unweighted GPA and will be in the full IB program. Is he on track to be accepted, because I know that they are much more stringent on out of state acceptance. Also since I would not be able to pay out of state tuition all four years, I was wondering if he lived with his relatives during the summer then if he could pay in-state tuition for sophomore through senior year? Thank for all of your replies.

[Westcoastpride]

Also, is their urban planning program(which is his program of choice) worth the extra cost over Washington. Also, take into account that he plans on living in the Bay Area when he gets older. Thanks again

[artemis78]

Berkeley's urban planning program is one of the top in the nation (and they're one of the few schools with a strong undergraduate planning program as well) so if he's sure that's what he's interested in, I'd say he should definitely give it a shot. It is harder to get into the UC schools from out of state, but it's certainly been done, and it sounds like he's a strong student and would at least be in the running.

As far as the residency, though, you'd have to ask the school directly---I'm not sure how those rules work at the undergraduate level but I'm sure similar situations have come up before.

Good luck to him!

[baybook]

The residency requirements are online. If you are supporting him, you may have to drop that his freshman year for him t establish residency. Residency requirements are usually pretty straight forward, but they are used to being strict because so any people try to get around the out of state tuition.

[Ceece]

Nah. You have to live here for at least one year prior to going to school and give up residency in whatever state you came from first. It's a tough nut.

[Westcoastpride]

Oh well, thanks anyway