What University should I choose?

Your SAT marks don't sound fantastic but they are fairly good and are certainly above average. Why are you worried about attending a particular university? Isn't any decent university that offers the course you want fine? Also it would help us with advice if we knew what you want to do. It doesn't sound like your mother will be able to fully support your education so you will have to work or get student loans. Take that into consideration with the more costly universities.

Your father's income should absolutely count, that is the way it usually works, so you probably won't qualify for much financial aid, unless there are unusual circumstances (many siblings in college, etc). But of course, you should apply. Some of the top private colleges will grant aid to families with incomes in that range, it is really up to the individual college and the whole financial situation. Does he pay child support? If not, that can actually work against your mom, as it is her legal duty to take the actions to get child support, so it may be considered that she's taking money under the table to game the system. (Not that she is, just an explanation of how it works.) Maybe there are merit scholarships for you, but they tend to be very competitive, and for students with very high SAT scores and unweighted GPA's. Also, many merit scholarships are also needs-based. You should look at scholarships at private colleges where your GPA and SAT scores will be on the higher side. What is your UC GPA? Have your college counselor calculate it, it's different from a regular GPA. The cut off for the UC's is 3.4 for non-residents. UCLA and UCSD are in the top 3 most competitive UC's and your SAT score of 1970 is below average for UCLA, and about average for UCSD. And anything below average means the student probably brings something special to the college. Their admit average GPA's are over 4.0, but you need to see if you get any bump from the classes you took, AP probably yes, but Honors, maybe not, as they have to be UC approved. Now for you, it might be that extra $23,000 a year for an extra $92,000+ over 4 years that makes you competitive. But they've been getting plenty top non-resident student applicants, so it will still be a reach. (It is really questionable as to if it's worth it to pay almost as much as a UC non-resident student as it costs at a superior private college. You should also consider that it might take longer than 4 years to graduate due to CA budget issues, class cuts, etc.) 150 hours of community service is OK, but it's not going to be a big help, that's what many kids do every summer, or more. Pre-med, have you looked into med school, do you realize how competitive it is? (That's why some physicians attend foreign med schools, because they never get accepted to US med schools, there just aren't all that many compared to applicants.) Are you sure it's the right route for you? Look on the college websites for info on financial aid and admissions. You can find the admitted freshman profiles under Admissions > Prospective Students or something like that. Also, look at CollegeBoard for less detailed info. CollegeBoard: http://www.collegeboard.org/ College Search > College MatchMaker > Go through the process to find appropriate colleges. Good luck!

My friend went to Arizona State and hated it. Just the overall environment was not her liking! By brothers ex goes to UCSD, and likes it a lot. Its right on the beach too, real nice. UCLA just a big party school. If youre a big nerd (in a good way) then it could be good for you though. All UC schools are real nice, in my opininion.