California Colleges

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A NOTE:

Most California public high school guidance ounselors are overwhelmed. In other states a counselor may have 250 students assigned to him/her. In this state the average is about 800.

If a counselor, or career center counselor is helping you with your college process, please be diligent about following the school guidelines, keeping track of college-related information, and following up on your tasks for this process.

Learn to do some research on your own. The web is a great tool, and its enormous value is as a research tool, not just as your personal social networking device.

California Colleges and Universities

FAFSA, CSS: Financial Aid

Paying for College

Washington Post Editorial Comment on the Decline of California - effect on Education

As you begin to look at colleges and universities, both in and out of California, use Google Earth to swoop in and study the campuses.

You can study from above, look around the neighborhood, and then wander around looking at the buildings from the street. Great device - invasive when it is your residence - and yet a great tool.

Latest on Cal State, UC Admissions

This is a crisis year for the California public university systems.

Those of you who have applied and are waiting to hear about your applications: keep your grades up. Do not water down your second semester curriculum and do not think you can relax. Because of crowding the schools will be carefully checking your second semester performance.

The Cal State System admitted ten thousand fewer students this past fall than usual.

The UC system will be directing some applicants to their under-applied-to campuses, even if the student did not apply to that school. This will include Merced and Riverside.

If this happens to you, do not dispair; these are both fine schools, and the UC system is going to add a new medical school to Riverside within the next two to three years. Riverside is a great school, just not in a glamour location, and the professors there pride themselves on being very accessible to their students, not always the case in such a world-renowned research university system as the University of California.

Financial aid money is tight. If you can manage to pay your own way for the first year, wait until next year to apply for financial aid. Bear in mind that this state and seven others pays 2/3 to 3/4 of the bill for illegals, a fact which makes me angry on a number of levels.

Welcome to California Colleges.

With over 600,000 students enrolled, California colleges and universities attract a lot of interest.

They're all listed here, starting with the community colleges and then moving to the four-year schools. If by some odd chance I missed one, please let me know!

Interested in the public California Colleges for the fall of 2010?

October 1, 2010: The University of California, and the Cal State University, 2011 Applications, will be on-line on or before 10/01/10. The application essay prompts for the UC system are found on page 16 of the applications instruction booklet.

The filing period for the University of California system is November 1 to November 30, 2010. That means 11:59 P.M., Nov. 30th.In the U.C. system, students have until December 31st to complete testing requirements. Do this before the deadline - servers have been known to crash.

The Cal State University system filing dates are October 1 to November 30th, with all testing to be completed by October 31, 2010.

UC Essay topics, 2009 for 2010 entering freshmen applicants
Write your personal statement in advance
Your personal statement—consisting of responses totwo prompts—is your chance to tell us who you areand what’s important to you. Think of it as your opportunityto introduce yourself to the people readingyour application.
Be open, be honest, be real. What you tell us in yourpersonal statement gives readers the context to better understandthe rest of the information you’ve provided in your application.
A couple of tips:
Take time to write, rewrite and edit.
Show it to ateacher, counselor or friend for comments, but make sure the word s you use are your own.
Finally, relax. This is one of many pieces of information we consider in reviewing your application; an admission decision will not be based on your personal statement alone.
Instructions:• Respond to both prompts, using a maximum of 1,000 words total.
• You may allocate the word count as you wish. If you chooseto respond to one prompt at greater length, we suggest yourshorter answer be no less than 250 words.
• Stay within the word limit as closely as you can. A littleover — 1,012 words, for example — is fine.
PROMPT #1
Freshman applicants: Describe the world you come from — forexample, your family, community or school — and tell us howyour world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.
Transfer applicants: What is your intended major? Discusshow your interest in the subject developed and describe anyexperience you have had in the field — such as volunteer work,internships and employment, participation in student organizationsand activities — and what you have gained from yourinvolvement.
PROMPT #2
All applicants: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment,contribution or experience that is important to you.What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proudand how does it relate to the person you are?
Following the personal statement, there’s a section called AdditionalComments. I recommend using this opportunity to tell more about yourself.
Use this space—up to 500 words—to tell us anything youwant us to know about you or your academic record that you havenot had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in the application.
Follow directions On every page andpop-up, scroll to the bottom to avoid missingany information.
Save your work If you take a break fromyour application, use the save/logout buttonto store your work, then log back in.
Review your summary Look for anyinstance where the summary page says “noinformation added.” If you didn’t intend toleave that question blank, click “modify” togo back and fill it in.
Don’t forget to click “submit” Yourapplication won’t be sent to UC until you do.
For more personal statement tips...www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/personal_statement

California Residency Requirements and College Tuition
California Residency Requirements

University of California Admissions for Fall 2010
Dates and Deadlines - 2009-2010
The University of California Undergraduate Application Status Website
(Probably) Due to budget constraints the UC System has changed their policies about submitting transcripts with applications.
For the fall 2010 applicants, you do not submit your mid-year transcript with your application; you will be asked to submit a transcript if you are accepted to the UC System. Acceptances are mailed out in March.
This means that in making their initial choices, the UC Schools will be deciding on your qualifications based on your self-reported grades, your official scores for SAT/ACTs, your essays, the application itself, and your extracurricular activities. This initial selection will not be based on your actual CS/UC GPA.
This places a new emphasis on your test scores and your self-reported grades.
This means you must be very careful in entering your self-reported grades, and work hard through your finals to keep or raise the self-reported grades you entered on your application.
It implies that if the UC does not like the grades you mail in after acceptance, they can rescind your offer of acceptance.
Remember, as well, that they also receive your end-of-year grades. Do not change the projected class schedule you entered on your application or let your grades slip.
California State University Admissions for Fall 2010

Alphabetical List of California Community ( two-year) Colleges
Application Online Center, All 109 California Community Colleges

California 4-Year Public University Systems
University of California System:Gateway to all UC campuses
California State University Mentor: Path to all Cal State campuses
About College Applications

The Common Application, Apply online (Private Schools)

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California Private Colleges and Universities
Independent California Colleges and Universities,
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Index to all colleges, community colleges and universities in California

College Consortiums in California
Besides the College Partnerships listed here, all the University of California Campuses, and all the California State University Schools participate in agreements within the systems. These allow cross-registration and cooperation between programs.

California Rand Private College Enrollment Stats

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SATs, ACT, SAT Subject Matter Tests

The University of California requires the SAT I Reasoning Test, or the ACT Exam.
The UC System, and some private schools, also requires two SAT Subject Matter Tests.
As of 2012 the University of California system will recommend, but not require, two Subject Matter tests as conditions for application.My opinion is that, when something is recommended, but not required, you are better off to do the recommended.
This does not affect the continued requirement by many private schools, and schools in other states for Subject Matter Tests.

If you elect to take a math exam for one of your Subject Matter Test requirements, it must be the SAT Math Subject Matter Test II.

The UC System requires that all testing be completed by the end of December of your senior year in high school.

The Cal State University System requires either the SAT I Reasoning Test or the ACT Exam.

The Cal State System requires that all testing be completed by the end of October of your senior year.

In addition, the California State University system require that high school juniors take the (College)Early Assessment Tests in writing and math during the spring of the junior year.

While most private colleges and universities require either the SAT or the ACT, the requirements for the SAT SubSubject Matter Tests vary, so check this out carefully.

Fee increases at UC Schools
What those sometimes violent UC protesters do not mention, is that it is the taxpayers who pay for 70% of their education. An individual student at a public university pays, at most, about 30% of the cost of his or her education. The taxpayer, and grants from government and businesses, pay the rest.
Therefore, what these protesters want is for the (overburdened) taxpayer to pay more for the cost of the students' education.
In addition, studies of the groups of protesters show that many of the protesters are not students of the University.
There is a case to be made that both the UC System, and the Cal State system have mismanaged their resources, although the larger cause is the unchecked liberalism that has governed this state for decades. The departure of businesses for other states, and the loss of millions of jobs, has created an abyss from which we will not recover unless we practice some fiscal responsibility. Will this current fiscal mess make us mend their ways? Is the taxpayer always supposed to bail out irresponsible public fiscal management?

A comment on the State of Education in California and the U.S.This is fact, not opinion.

Parents should be screaming. Where are they?

On a scale of 1 to 50, with 1 being the highest, California K-12schools rank at about 45th to 48th out of the 50 states as to quality of K+12 education. Among the top high schools in the country, currently, is a charter school in Alabama. The best high school in California is a charter school in Santa Cruz County.
Washington D.C., which has the worst schools in the country is not included in this particular index.
In California our students take the Early Assessment Program (EAP) tests in the spring of the junior year. This is the effort by the Cal State system to test, and remediate essential academic deficiencies in our high school students. Students who cannot show the ability to do college work need to be identified.
School districts tend to keep silent about the abysmal scores on these writing and math tests. (It is really difficult to learn to write when many teachers require about two essays per semester, and take months to grade them. Go figure. Equally difficult with the current practice of not handing back math tests.)
With inflated grades and the deterioration of quality, fewer and fewer of our students are prepared for college, and the four -year colleges, as well as the community colleges, increasingly expend vast resources of tax payers' money to get students ready for college level work. When you consider that a B in a college class 30 years ago is looked at as A today on a resume, it puts perspective on how we have dumbed down our education system.

Opinion about education issues that cross party lines

The biggest impediment to educational reform in California, and other states, is the National Education Association (NEA), the larger of the two teachers' unions. Albert Shanker, the past president of the other teachers' union, the American Federation of Teachers once said that when students start paying union dues, then he would start worrying about their well being.
The second impediment is the lack of action by parents. Public school students are the prisoners of a union monopoly. Parents should become better informed. I cannot figure out why parents are not gathering in the streets and screaming. At the high school level, what passes for education in California is largely a joke.
And, by the way, the term "National Blue Ribbon School" is a political term and means nothing.
President Obama has promised to reform our education mess. He will have to take on these union thugs if he wants to succeed. This is not happening. In addition, his Secretary of Education has never been a classroom teacher, nor has he any experience as an educator.

We are losing our edge in science and math, we have slipped to 29th in the world), and our high school English classes leave much to be desired. While some of this mess, in the west, can be blamed on our horrible situation with non-English speaking illegals, the situation impacts our own students.
And by the way, if you think that junior high, and high school history and English teachers obey the California state law that says they cannot discuss their political beliefs, guess again. Not all, but many, spend their time teaching their agenda to your children. In some districts, the student know they will be penalized on projects if their viewpoint does not agree with that of the teacher.
Michelle Rhee, the get-tough educator trying to do something about Washington D.C.'s gang-run, murder-ridden school system, has already taken on the unions, and is daily under fire and threats from this well-funded, special interest group.
eld accountable, can be fired only under the rarest of circumstances, and receive two pay raises each year. (Did you know that?) Good teachers teach along terrible teachers for the same pay.
hired teacher receives tenure, (life-long job protection) from the present two years to five years. The unions spent over $200 million dollars to defeat this and other measures. Arnold put $7 million of his own money into this effort. The passage of some of these measures would have helped ease our present mess.
The majority of voters bought the union lies on the education money reforms, and those denying the outrages of the bloated state bureaucracy, and the measures did not pass.
As some of our teachers hold class-disruption pink-ribbon days this spring to brain-wash our students into believing that teacher-layoffs this year are some unjustified tragedy, no one mentions the millions of non-teacher union employees who have lost their jobs. Teachers are accustomed to hiring-to-retiring tenure.
In addition, our California students are not told that firing rules are determined by the unions, not the school boards.Hence, last hired, first laid-off, and only after the district proves economic hardship or declining enrollment.
Remember that teachers HAVE to belong to the union whether or not they wish to give their money to the unions.

Pets and College
A Moral Note
Please. When you arrive at your apartment at the beginning of the school year, DON'T go to the animal shelter to adopt a pet (usually a kitten.) What some students do is to indifferently care for the animal during the year, perhaps not even spaying or neutering.
Then if the animal has kittens, and you may find equally indifferent homes for them. They are left to roam and be killed, abused by others, or killed by animals or cars. In addition, they reproduce, over and over. More sad, homeless animals that will only live long enough to reproduce.
AND, at the end of the school year, you leave the animal to fend alone at your apartment complex.
Or perhaps, you shove the pregnant animal outside, thinking it can fend for itself. (It can't.)
As a Humane Society volunteer, I cannot tell you how awful this is, and how irresponsible it is of people to do this.
BY THE WAY: If this behavior describes you: DON'T tell people you love animals, because you don't.
IF YOU ARE SO INCLINED, GIVE SOME THOUGHT TO THE ANIMAL YOU WILL BE NEGLECTING/ABUSING.

Minority Students
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