For California students, the mad rush of college application season begins tomorrow. The applications for the nine University of California campuses, and the 23 California State University campuses, will go live tomorrow, and are due by midnight on November 30th.
Both UC and CSU applications require students to send test scores directly from the testing agency, either the College Board (SAT scores) or the ACT. Neither wants to see high school transcripts until a student decides to enroll, and neither system wants teacher or counselor recommendations.
UC applications cannot be submitted before November 1 and require students to submit 2 essays. The application also requires students to disclose their parents’ annual income (yes, the UC system requires ALL applicants, regardless of whether or not they will apply for need-based financial aid, to list their household income). The UC application can be found here. The essay prompts can be found here. Students can apply to just one or all nine UC campuses through this one application; they will need to list their possible majors at each campus for which they apply, as well as listing up to five extra-curricular activities in which they have participated during high school. The application fee is $70 per campus.
The California State University application does not require an essay; students should have their transcript handy to report all courses from 10th and 11th grades. Students may apply to just one or all 23 (!) of the CSU campuses through this one application; the application fee is $55 per campus. My recommendation is to choose ONE campus to start with, and fill out the ENTIRE application before adding other campuses. This way, the application will port all information you enter from the first school to all subsequent schools. [Call me if this is unclear; it is a little confusing, but if you start one campus application, and then another before finishing the first one, the application may not share information accurately across all campuses to which you apply.] The CSU application can be found here.
And if you are interested in having your son or daughter have some guidance as they navigate the UC and/or Cal State applications, Magellan will be hosting a workshop in Century City on Sunday, October 13th to assist with these applications. This workshop is free for Magellan comprehensive clients and $160 for all others; you can buy tickets here. [If you live in the San Fernando Valley, please hold off on buying tickets as we are working on an alternate date for a Valley workshop.]
Again, both applications are due on 11/30 but students should NOT wait until the last moment to submit them. Assume that one or both computer systems will be slow and overburdened on 11/29 and 11/30 – and get them in earlier. Unfortunately, early submission will not necessarily mean an earlier decision, but it’s one thing off the “To Do” list once these applications are submitted!