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AOC School Code: 053-262


COC School Code: 004-117

Applying Direct to a University

The materials on this page are for students who are applying to a four year college or university direct from high school (ie, not transferring from College of the Canyons or another community college). 

For underclassmen who are considering applying to a university directly from high school, please note that the information on this page (and the resources listed here) will change from year to year based upon the requirements and procedures being used by the California universities for that year. 

Every year in late september, Ms. Cubbage gives a workshop for students who are applying direct to a university – all of the information on this page will be reviewed and your questions about applying direct will be answered during or after the workshop.

You can read through all of the information on this page, or use the links below to skip to the section you are interested in. 

 

Join Ms. Cubbage’s Email List:

As updates to applications/due dates/admissions notices and other news comes across Ms. Cubbage’s email, she forwards most of these announcements to students she knows are applying to a university this year.  If you are interested in getting on this email list, please email Ms. Cubbage at jcubbage@hartdistrict.org.

 

College Planning Tools

The tools listed here are designed to help you in preparing for the college application process.

Who Do You Want to Be? The website partners with the California Community College System, California Department of Education and State of California to connect you to the latest information on careers and what education is needed.

The Big Future The College Board's newest search tool for colleges and careers is interactive and gives you multiple ways to search.

University Application Links

 

Application Resources

The process for applying to colleges and universities is time sensitive and students undertaking this task should leave plenty of time for filling out applications, completing personal statements, and getting letters of recommendations.  The following tools are designed to help walk you through the process.  Note: These are the same materials that Ms. Cubbage goes through in her Applying Direct Workshop in the fall.

 

Suggestions on the UC Application

(Information on the 2013 UC Application will be available Fall 2012)

 

Suggestions on the CSU Application

(Information on the 2013 CSU Application will be available in Fall 2012)

 

Notifying Schools of Changes to Your Application After Submission

You usually have to notify the schools to which you applied if there are changes to you application for these 2 situations:

1) earned less than a C in a fall semester high school or college courses

2) change in COC courses you put as "planned" on the application.

When you notify the campus of the change, include what you will do for spring semester and/or why you can't do what was planned. For example, if you can't take the class you wanted, you can write something like this, "The college is not offering "course you wanted" in the spring semester on a day and time that works with my high school schedule; therefore, I am taking "this course" instead. The new course is not a major prep course but it does fulfill a humanities general education requirement for the UC and CSU systems."

If you received a substandard grade, tell them that you received the grade and what you've learned about the experience instead of detailing why you failed. If you are retaking it in spring semester, tell them that you are repeating the course and will pass it. If you aren't repeating the class, explain why. For example, you might write (if this is appropriate), "I am choosing not to repeat the class in spring semester since it is a major preparation course that I would rather complete at the university. I am taking a humanities general education course instead." This is one situation that might or might not apply to your situation. If the class you have to repeat doesn't work in your schedule, you can give that as a reason, too.

The procedure is not the same for every campus. For detailed notes on the proceedures for each campus, please download this communication from Ms. Cubbage to seniors applying direct.

Language Other Than English Requirement (LOTE)

Probably the biggest concern many students have on some of the applications is the LOTE (Language Other Than English) requirement. ALL of COC's language 101 classes correspond to two years of high school foreign language. You should say this in the additional comments section of the application and include the web address for the page in COC's catalog that shows the course description.

Most of our students who applied to the CSUs last year did not have any problems with the LOTE requirement but a few did and we had to write a few appeals. If you want to be proactive about this, contact the office of admission at the campus(es) where you apply (any school if you want) and tell them about this situation. For the CSU and UC, you can ask for a manual review of your application because you are meeting the LOTE with a college course. Be ready to give them COC's website address and tell them how to access the college catalog on the left menu bar of the main page. If you can give them the page number in the catalog for your course, that would be very helpful, too.

 

PSAT

The PSAT or "Practice SAT" is administer once a year in October. 10th grade students are encouraged to take it for experience. 11th grade students who want to be entered in the National Merit Scholarship competition MUST take it in 11th grade in order to qualify for the competition

 

SAT and ACT

The SAT and ACT with Writing are the two admissions tests most commonly required and accepted by colleges and universities for the freshman application. All UC and CSU schools will accept EITHER test but the ACT must include the writing component. Most other colleges and universities will accept either test, but SOME schools prefer one test over the other. Students should check each school's test preference. Students should take their first test in the spring semester of 11th grade and the second in September, October, or November of 12th grade. Students can take both tests if they want.



SAT®-type Prompts In MyAccess
The MY Access!® prompt library presents a wide array of prompts that can help students practice persuasive and expository writing techniques that will be tested on the writing portion of the SAT. Several IntellimetricTM prompts and 10 pilot prompts will present writing prompts in a similar format to the writing portion of the SAT. Use the keyword SATPREP to find these prompts in the Assignment Center. And as always, graphic organizers are available to help students gather their ideas and develop content. Search for the graphic organizers using the iSEEK search bar in the top right section of any My Access! screen.

 

School Codes (AKA a CEEB#)

AOC School Code: 053-262

COC School Code: 004-117 (or 4117 if asked for a 4-digit number)

 

Parent Resources

Parent Application Night Information (This workshop is given to AOC parents each fall)