Class of 2010 UC/CSU APPLICATION HINT LIST:

READ BEFORE YOU FILL OUT YOUR APPLICATION!

(All require that you file electronically; refer to last page for additional hints)

You should attend a CSU Application workshop on October 7 and the UC Application workshop on October 21 at DPHS H-30 6:30-8:30 pm. Counselors will also be available on November 19 and 23 for electronic application support in the library from 5:30-8:30pm for all colleges, in time for the Nov. 30 deadline. Bring copy of transcripts. You can contact UC or CSU by e-mail or see your counselor for additional help.  ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE CONSIDERED FIRST TIME/FRESHMAN, no matter how many college credits you have!! If you list anything other than that, they consider you a transfer student.  NOTE:  If you do not meet the minimum eligibility requirement for GPA/Test Scores, but still have all the correct courses, tests, and no D’s, submit to a non-impacted campus, ie CSU Humbolt, Los Angeles, Stanislau, San Bernadino, Domingues Hills;  UC Merced, UC Riverside.

There are NO paper applications for CSU.  UC only has a handout plus statement info.

1. PAY ATTENTION TO ALL DEADLINE DATES.  Apply EARLY, BUT NOT BEFORE Nov. 1 and NOT AFTER Nov. 30 for UC. The UC system will only accept applications from November 1- 30.   CSU’s give priority to those students who apply between October 1 and November 30, but may eventually process those received after that time. CalPoly-SLO and Pomona,  and San Diego, Chico, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Sonoma are impacted and will not accept after 11/30 for Fall 2009.  CSU Summer applications for Summer 2010 are accepted – but not Cal Poly SLO. Do not file two applications to CSU for Fall and Summer – if you are not accepted for fall, they will extend the summer deadline for you if you contact them.  Both UC & CSU electronic sites are open October 1.  Danger:  if you file electronically for ANYTHING, do not wait until last two days – the processing will be slowed dramatically!! Counselors urge you to have a counselor review an application before submitting – once you submit it, you can’t change it without major effort.
2. Have someone else read your work, including statement for UC.
3. SAVE OFTEN – the connection will go down after 20 minutes if idle.
4. If in doubt, select “undecided” for a major or as your second choice if allowed by that campus. For UC’s, see pulldown list of majors per campus – same for CSU’s.  You must select a major for Cal Poly-SLO.
5. You must send separate applications to each CSU  – only one for UC’s, listing each school.  You have a better chance of getting into college if you apply to several campuses – including UC, CSU and private colleges. Be aware that engineering always has special admission criteria; performing arts may require audition; visual arts may require a portfolio review – read the full intro page of each CSU site.
6. MAKE COPIES OF ALL applications, essays, financial aid documents, personal statement, etc.  Keep the books and worksheets, retaining in a file for future reference.
7. BE SURE YOU TAKE THE SAT or ACT, & subject exams BY DECEMBER (October for SDSU, November for CalPoly-SLO).   You must take two subject exams in different test areas for UC consideration and ACT+writing if you take the ACT. If you are considering a major in math or engineering, it is recommended you take the math II level, and a physical science. A December test date may lessen your chance of acceptance at impacted schools.
8. BE SURE ALL COLLEGES YOU WISH TO ATTEND HAVE YOUR SAT, ACT scores (and SUBJECT SCORES if UC bound). Go online with the Collegeboard or ACT for additional mailings. You may also want to send SAT scores to NCAA and scholarship agencies if applicable. Scores are free to view online within 3 weeks of testing.  This year is the first year you can send only the Subject exams you want to UCs or private schools. DO NOT USE SCORE CHOICE, however – bad idea!
9. DO NOT SEND TRANSCRIPTS, LETTERS OF EXPLANATION, OR LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION TO ADMISSIONs, unless requested. Channel Islands usually requires a transcript be sent by a certain date…. Read that first page of each CSU.
10. SEND YOUR CHECK OR MONEY ORDER PROMPTLY, if you did not use credit card online.  If you think you qualify for a fee waiver, fill out that portion of the electronic application.  Once you enter the financial status information on the fee waiver, you cannot change the data.
11. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE 2 FULL YEARS OF THE SAME FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF BI-LINGUAL: explain this in your UC statement, or explain in a sentence in the same area before you start your 2 statements.  For CSU leave the Foreign language box blank. You can fulfill requirement with a 3 or better on AP test, or a  460 on Subject Exam, or if you were in ESL English in your 9^th grade year. Note: An SBCC Foreign Language “101” equals 2 years of HS foreign language for UC or CSU. List only one semester – they will figure out the difference.
12. IF YOU REPEAT A CLASS, for CSU only list the course in which you got the better grade, unless you are repeating the course in your senior year; for UC list both sets of grades.
13. ‘G’ ELECTIVES – These are courses that don’t fall under the A-F, ie economics and engineering or college courses such as computer science, psychology, and anthropology.  MAT, drafting, business, don’t count. These other relevant courses can be listed as “other” courses.
14. IF YOU ARE DEFICIENT IN ANY CLASSES OR GRADES: they must be made up before you leave high school.  D’s are allowed only in the first semester of math, or a foreign language (and chemistry for CSU).  CSU’s may allow you to take the class in the summer after graduation if you notify them of your plan.  D’s are not allowed in 2^nd semester geometry unless you complete Trig, pre-calc, or you repeat geometry C or 2.  (see counselor about this).  In all cases, be sure to contact the admissions office to clear your plans to take a summer course to meet requirements. If you do not notify your college of low grades or changed classes from what you originally reported, you run the risk of not being accepted.
15. ADMISSIONS OFFICERS HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONTINUE A RIGOROUS SCHEDULE, including four academic classes your senior year.  If you don’t, be sure to write in your UC statement why you can’t fit it in.  Contact the CSU of your choice or see your counselor to be sure they will consider you without 4 academics (you must have 7 year-long academics last two years for both CSU and UC ).
16. NOTIFY THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE IF YOU CHANGE YOUR SCHEDULE from what you originally reported you will take in the senior year.  Many students change their classes the 2^nd semester without notifying the admissions office, and this can put your admission at risk.   MAINTAIN PASSING GRADES IN ALL CLASSES (C OR BETTER). Final GPA must be about the same as the application GPA.  Contact Admissions if you get a low grade.
17. BE SURE TO FILL OUT FINANCIAL AID APPLICATIONS online AND SEND THEM IN AS SOON AFTER JANUARY 1 AS POSSIBLE.  Some experts suggest no later than February 1.  March 2 is the deadline for GPA verifications for California Financial aid.  See the counseling secretary before then.  Get your PIN code now at www.pin.ed.gov. REMEMBER: EARLY BIRDS GET THE WORM$. The State will run out of money! Workshops on campus will be available and counselors will visit classrooms on January 7.
18. Private Schools may require the CSS PROFILE for financial aid consideration in addition to the FAFSA.  This form is available now at the counseling desk.  You will need to go online and see if your college is listed – if not, the PROFLIE is not required.
19. Respond to any requests from admissions officers immediately.  This means, you need to review your e-mail more diligently starting in January.  They may write you if you don’t respond, but e-mail is better.
20. If the course you take is NOT listed in pull-down menu (from another school district, out of state, SBCC, UCSB, etc), select “other” and name course.  If college, list it by Dept, number & name, ie. Math 117 – statistics.  SBCC MAT courses are not considered an A-G course, but put it on CSU app.
21. Don’t forget password! The password is also case sensitive – be sure letters are capped if originally done so, etc.  Never lose the email, password, or username…. NEVER.
22. Always notify admissions for a change in address, email, name, high school.
23. Respond to college of your choice no later than May 1 – they will give your spot away if you don’t answer them by that deadline.  It is better to respond as soon as you know – financial aid is often given once a student selects a school – they are in small supply towards May 1.
24. GO AHEAD AND APPLY FOR HOUSING NOW FOR MOST CSU CAMPUSES. Housing fills up fast; you can always get a refund for all or most of deposit if you change your mind – some require no deposit until Spring.
25. Contact each CSU Financial Aide office for scholarship info. This is included in UC application.
26. Request transcripts be sent (from Docufide.com) and AP scores (from College Board) at end of year only to the school you will be attending.

SPECIAL HINTS FOR UC APPLICATIONS:   UC started making random verifications of self reported activities and honors – be truthful! UC states that no one was denied admission if found to be inaccurate, but were given a chance to correct.  Those that didn’t answer the random checks were denied admission.

On the application general information page, check out the “news” on right hand side – there’s a calculator for eligibility requirement, Espanol, how applications are reviewed, and testing requirements.

1. ALLOW POP-UPS – this is important to finish online application.
2. IF YOU HAVE ELC STATUS, please put your unique number on the application. You received a letter giving you a unique username and password, plus website – many fields are pre-filled. You can start another if you prefer, ignoring the pre-filled application.
3. BE SURE TO WRITE 2 PERSONAL STATEMENTS. Address the two topics and be sure this portrays the real you.  They are looking for self-awareness/self-understanding as well as that of your surroundings, and how UC fits into your goals/life plans.  Quotes, clichés, fancy fonts and vocabulary are not welcome. This is where you can creatively include information about circumstances that don’t fit in anywhere else in your application, e.g. why you didn’t take gate classes all 4 years; death of a parent; moving; impacted classes; an outstanding accomplishment; volunteer work; outside work; travel, proficiency in a language, etc. See UCSB’s statement hint handout or go online to www.ucgateways.org – click on Apply to College then UC Personal Statement for excellent help. You will have a total of approximately 1000 words more or less – neither response should be less than 250 words. At a certain point, your statement will terminate if you use too many words. Type topics on word processor first (don’t compose on-line), then cut and paste to application. Only capitalize the first initial of a proper noun. Be sure to proofread after you cut/paste and fix icons if you can.
4. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE “A-G” LIST. For CSU or UC, only the approved list comes as a “pull down.”  Each year the classes change somewhat as to what classes are accepted and which ones are weighted. If you attend another school in California, their approved list will also pop-up.
5. Activities/awards – very important; don’t skip this area & give it close attention! Activities listed should be those of longer duration (not a 3 hour volunteer); don’t forget 5 years of ballet or piano, etc.; childcare for your family counts too! This section is used heavily in consideration for admission.
6. Academic History – most mistakes made in this section, although vastly improved. Use your transcript. Be sure course names are accurate. College courses count only as one semester/one grade – List it as Course Name/Number/Title, ie Math 117-Statistics.
7. Scholarships – very important scholarship opportunity. NOTE: if you fill this out, fill out Step 3, Family Data, parent income, job, etc.  Parent job/income plays important part in acceptance too, during comprehensive review.
8. Release authorization – it allows counselors & parents to help you – if not authorized, we can’t even talk to them.
9. Step 8/part 1 stats – blocked out from admissions officers view – survey use only

SPECIAL HINTS FOR CSU APPLICATIONS:

1. CAL POLY-SLO – you must declare a major; alternative major suggested, but probably won’t be considered. Cal Poly-SLO is also the ONLY public university to which you can apply for “early decision” only in the month of October. If you accept their offer, you must not accept another school’s offer; if you decline their acceptance, then you will never be accepted to Cal Poly-SLO at a later date, nor will you be admitted to a CSU for 2010-11. If you are an architecture or landscape architecture major, please refer to your counselor for alternate majors;  hint: city/regional planning for architecture ; ag business for business; ag engineering for engineering, etc. Hint:  CSU Bakersfield has reported that students entering their engineering program will be allowed to transfer to Cal Poly SLO in engineering.  Cal Poly Pomona has the same architecture and engineering curriculum and it’s slightly easier to get into, plus has excellent internship opportunities.
2. You must apply to each campus individually if you want them to be reviewed in time.  For non-impacted campuses, you can list an alternative non-impacted campus. If you are not accepted at the first campus, they will forward it to your next listed campus.
3. Be positive you have listed a major that the campus has . The pull-down major will list a BA or BS; list this also in desired degree.  You can use undeclared as well (except SLO), but you may have to list “none” or “exploring options” for degree objective. Each campus is different.
4. Your CSU username and password will be used for math and English help at CSU Mentor as well.
5. Pull-downs on “A-G” courses are usually accurate, but may not list everything we offer.  They don’t list SBCC courses.  Please refer instead to the approved list from our registration guide or our approved list on the website below.  Be sure you give honors weight only to Pre-calc GT, AP courses, and most IB courses.
6. College Courses should be listed as “other”, listing title and course number/name, ie. Math 117, Statistics.  List the grade once  as “college” and “college” for the semester you took it.  If you only take FL101, list it TWO TIMES, with “PASS” for second semester.  If you take a college course in summer, list it for Session 1 & 2.
7. Although subject exams aren’t required, be aware that if you receive high enough score in some, they can substitute for a regular course, ie a high score in French may be worth two years of foreign language,  earning an “A”.   Please use pull-down explanations/help on this or see counselor.
8. Refer to your STAR Exam Report to see if you passed the EAP portion of CSU assessments. If you took the extra 15 questions in math or English and also did the English essay, you may have already passed the required assessment CSU’s need for enrolment purposes.  If you did not release your scores to the CSUs you must make a copy of the EAP results (found online) and have them released to your campus of choice.
9. IF YOU TOOK THE ACT, you need only pay for one score report to one school. If you need to send the ACT to more than this campus, you can have it sent directly online through CSU Mentor site - instructions are listed on the site. SAT SCORES can be sent to code #3594 through college board - scores are sent to CSU Mentor, which is accessed by all CSU’s for the price of one! See your counsellor for more information.
10. Students may need to take the ELM or EPT exam in May…before you can register for courses. If you passed the EAP (see #8 above), you don’t need to take test. You also qualify English by passing the AP comp with a 3 or above;  a 550 on SAT reading; 24 on ACT English; 680 SAT writing. For math you must have a 550 on SAT or Subject math; 23 ACT; 3 AP Calc or Stat.

WEB SITES:

High School Course Lists for UC: www.edu/pathways/infoctr/doorway_index.html

FAFSA: www.fafsa.ed.gov

PIN code for Federal aid: www.pin.ed.gov

CSU application site: www.csumentor.edu

UC site:  www.universityofcalifornia.edu/apply

Transcripts are usually due by mid July from all institutions you attended, i.e DPHS, UCSB, SBCC.  Sometimes impacted campuses will ask for a 7^th semester transcript – don’t delay or you may lose your spot. Have your transcripts sent through www.docufide.com.  Only you can get a copy of your SBCC or UCSB transcripts.  They are official only if sealed! Ask for an unofficial one for yourself.

Rev. 3 10/09