What do colleges look at when admitting students?

ACADEMICS

Colleges want to see a strong GPA. They also want to see that you are taking challenging classes (like honors, AP, or Community College classes).

While your senior year grades do not get considered (you won’t have any final grades by when you apply to colleges), colleges still want to see you are taking challenging classes. Senior classes and grades are still important though as college acceptances are conditional- meaning they are admitting you based on the idea that what you said in your application was correct and that you pass your classes. Due to this colleges can take away your admission if you fail any of your senior year classes, though this practice varies by college and often depends on the class failed. 

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Besides your academics, colleges want to see that you are getting involved! Join clubs, play sports, volunteer, and take part in summer programs.

Volunteer

Are there animal shelters, community centers, YMCA, clinics, after school programs, or non-profits/organizations that you can volunteer at? Reach out to them to see if they have volunteer opportunities.

Colleges like to see that you are involved in things you are passionate about. For example, if you want to be a veterinarian, volunteer at an animal shelter. If you want to go into education, volunteer with an after school program, as a tutor, or at the local YMCA/Boys & Girls Club.

Summer programs

Summer programs are a great opportunity to get involved. You can find summer programs that focus on leadership, preparing you for college, or area/topic that you might be interested in like coding, animation, social justice, creative writing, etc.

There are many free summer programs out there, as well as many virtual options.

AWARDS, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, & TALENTS

Keep a list of any awards or achievements you’ve received, academic or in a particular field like athletics, arts, music, debate, etc.

Some colleges are also interested in your special talents, skills, and interests. Here are some things you can share: Have you started your own community service projects? Do you speak or are you learning multiple languages? Do you play musical instruments? Have you dedicated yourself to researching a particular area of study?

OTHER ITEMS

College Essays

Essays are a chance for you to demonstrate your writing ability, but most importantly your personality and share things about yourself that you haven't yet.

The reason you want to take part in activities you are passionate about is so you will have things to write about. Colleges want to see what excites you, what makes you unique, and what you would bring to their campus.

Letters of Recommendation

Not all colleges require letters of recommendation. But for those that do:

They want to see what people around you (teachers, coaches, mentors, etc.) have to say about your academic capabilities, social skills, and character. Make sure to develop those relationships so when the time comes, they can write outstanding letters of rec.

When exploring your college options, it is important to make sure that you apply to colleges with a good college fit.

College Fit means that college or university meets your academic, social, and financial needs. It is based on each students individual wants and needs for factors like a colleges location, the academic programs they offer, the size of the college, student services they offer, students groups they have on campus, or more. College fit is important because a good college fit means you are more likely to graduate.

Once you’ve identified colleges that are a good college fit, work on creating your college list (a list of schools you will be applying to). When making your college list keep in mind college match.

College Match is how you compare to that college’s average admitted student. You compare your GPA and test scores to the average GPA and test scores of admitted students. This gives you a good idea of your chance of getting into a college. Obviously there are many factors colleges consider, such as extracurricular involvement, leadership, college essays, letters of rec, etc., but this is an easily quantifiable way to understand your chances. You can sort each of your schools into Reach, Target, and Safety schools.

• Reach schools: These are colleges where there is less than a 25% change that you will be accepted. 1) This may be because the colleges themselves have very low acceptance rates. For example: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia have less than 8% acceptance rates, meaning these are incredibly hard to get into no matter how strong of a GPA you have and how involved you are. I would say if a school has an acceptance rate below 15% it is reach for anyone, regardless of GPA. 2) Or it can be based off the colleges average GPA for admitted students compared to yours. For example: Santa Clara University’s average GPA for incoming students is around 3.73; if your GPA was a 3.34 Santa Clara would be a reach school for you.
• Target schools are schools where you have a 50% chance of being accepted. This means that your GPA and the schools average GPA for admitted students are similar. For example, if you have a 3.85 GPA San Diego State might be a good target school since their average GPA is 3.77-3.97.
• Safety schools are schools where you have a 75% chance of being accepted. This means your GPA is well above the average GPA and therefore you will most likely be accepted. For example: if you have a 3.5 GPA, CSU East Bay would be a safety school since their average GPA is a 3.27.

This does not mean that you do not apply to reach schools! You are highly encouraged to apply to reach schools, because again they consider so much more than GPA. But this does mean to make sure that you are applying to a good mix of colleges. If you apply only to safety schools, you could be missing out on colleges that challenge you and help your professional development. If you apply only to reach schools, there is a chance that you do not get accepted to any of your options. 

Colleges on your college list should fit your needs/ wants and you should have a variety of safety, target, and reach colleges. 

College tours are a great way to get a feel for the campus and see if you can envision yourself attending these colleges.

In Person Tours

Most colleges offer college tours to students, families, and groups. Their sign ups can often be found on the college’s website and are usually available year-round. This could be a great family outing, a fun visit with friends, or an informative stop in your vacation.  

Virtual Tours

Distance and cost can make it hard to tour, but luckily we live in a digital age. Here is a virtual tour resources with 100s if not 1,000s of colleges you can tour virtually: YouVisit. You can also get a great idea of what a college is like by going to The College Tour and watching their featured videos at different college campuses where they get real isnire directly from students. 

Are you interested in exploring Historically Black Colleges and Universities?

These are colleges located primarily in the south and were first established to educate Black students during segregation. While these colleges and universities are now open to all students regardless of race or ethnicity, they still remain majority Black/ African American and produce almost 20% of all African American graduates. 

If you are interested consider: 

• Attending the Black College Expo, it happens every year in Sacramento in October or Oakland during February! There, you can get: 1) Accepted to colleges on the Spot, 2) College Application Fees Waived, 3) Scholarships on the Spot, and 4) Informative Seminars and Workshops
• Applying to 65 member HBCUs for only $20 total using The Common Black College Application.

If you are interested in learning more about HBCUs, here are additonal resources and articles:

• Find My HBCU
• HBCU Lifestyle
• The Hundred Seven

FAFSA

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the form you MUST to fill out to get financial aid to help pay for college. The colleges you apply to, use your FAFSA information to calculate how much aid (federal, state, and institutional) you qualify for in order to create your financial aid award. The FAFSA is FREE to fill out and asks for information about you and your family’s finances, including tax returns, so you’ll need your parents’ help to complete it.

Students need a social security number in order to apply to the FAFSA (if you do NOT have a social security number, look at the CADAA instead).

Priority deadline to complete is March 2^nd. 

CLICK HERE FOR FAFSA 

CADAA

The CA Dream Act Application allows undocumented and/or DREAMER students interested in attending eligible California colleges and universities to apply for state financial aid. Undocumented and/ DREAMER students are unable to fill out the FAFSA or apply for federal aid, but there are still many financial aid opportunities from the state government and from the colleges and universities they are applying. There are plenty of grants and scholarships out there, so fill out the application!

• Information is used ONLY to determine eligibility for state financial aid.
• Students do NOT need to have DACA status to attend college or receive state financial aid.

Priority deadlne to complete is March 2^nd. 

CLICK HERE FOR CADAA 

The CSS Profile is a financial aid application from the College Board that allows colleges and scholarship programs to award non-federal aid by providing a more detailed picture of a student's financial circumstances than the FAFSA. It's used by many private and some public institutions to award their own grants, scholarships, and loans by considering factors like home equity, business assets, and other family-specific financial details.  

CLICK HERE TO SEE IF YOUR COLLEGES REQUIRE CSS PROFILE

Befor You Start

• You'll need your most recently completed tax returns, W-2 forms and other records of current year income, records of untaxed income and benefits, assets, and bank statements.

• If you have a College Board account, sign in using the same credentials. This will save you time and help us apply fee waivers you received to your CSS Profile application. Only noncustodial parents will create a separate parent account. Learn more about creating a parent account on our Profile for Parents page.

• To make sure your application will be considered on time, submit your CSS Profile by midnight Eastern Time of your earliest priority filing date.

After Submitting

• Review your dashboard. Your dashboard includes your payment receipt and any next steps, such as uploading documents through the Institutional Documentation Service (IDOC). You may also add additional schools at any time by clicking on “Add a College or Program.”

• If you made a mistake on your application or need to include additional information after you submit, you can update your application by clicking “Correct Your CSS Profile” on your Dashboard. 

Any Questions? CLICK HERE FOR CONTACT INFO

CLICK HERE FOR CSS PROFILE

Scholarships are free money you can get to help cover college tuition and college related expenses. This is money that does not have to be paid back! There are millions of nationwide, statewide, and local scholarship to which you can apply (if you are eligible). But keep in mind that scholarships all have different eligibility requirements, applications, and deadlines. So stay organized!

Search for scholarships for students like you (you can look for scholarships based on your race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, interests, college major, career goals, extracurricular involvement, etc.)

Here are some helpful scholarship searching websites that can help you find scholarships.You may have to create a free account and create  profile so that it can help filter scholarships you may be eligible for:

• Fastweb 
• Cappex
• Unigo
• Big Future
• Niche
• Scholarships

NOTE: There are sadly scams out there. If you find a scholarship application that looks questionable or are unsure, reach out to your counselor. Some warning signs:

• Does it ask for you social security number? Some legit ones do, but so do scams!
• Is it asking you to pay? You should NEVER pay to apply for a scholarship. If you are being asked to pay then it most likely a scam!

There are colleges and universities that have strong financial aid programs. Majority of these are private colleges with a large endowment (aka large amounts of money they have accumilated over time thanks to donations) and they can therefore afford to give students more in financial aid. They also tend to be compeative colleges, which means students need to first focus on earning their acceptance. 

There are colleges that meet full financial need without loans. That means that they will offer students enough financial aid to cover the difference between a college's price of attendance and a family's ability to pay, without including loans!

The way it works is that when a student completes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which includes information about that family’s income and assets. The FAFSA then determines how much money a student’s parent/guardian can contribute to their education. That information gets sent to the colleges the student listed. Then each college, taking into account how much the parents can reasonably contribute, then provide each student that was accepted with a financial aid award letter letting that student know how much fiancial aid they can give them to help them pay the cost of attending that college. 

With colleges that meet full financial need with NO loans. The college will provides the rest of the money needed to attend through grants, scholarships, and work-study (which are all types of aid that do NOT have to be paid back).

There are also colleges that meet full financial need and include loans, but they are still a great option and try to limit the amount of loans offered.

Read the article “Schools that Meet 100% of Demonstrated Financial Need”. It lists the schools that meet full financial need without loans, as well as those that meet full financial need with loans.

Most, if not all, should provide the same opportunity to undocumented students. If you are concerned about this or want to make sure, call their financial aid office to ask.

If you are interested in going to college out of state, here are some things that you should know!

Yes, some out-of-state colleges charge out-of-state tuition, which is basically an increased price for students who are not residents of the state where the college resides. But a couple things to consider are:

1. There are private colleges in other states, and typically they cost the same regardless of if you are from that state or not.
2. Sometimes, even with higher in-state tuition, the cost may still be affordable given other states lower cost of living. Plus some schools provide scholarships tohelp bring that price down for out-of-state students. 
3. There is a program called the Western Undersgraduate Exchange. 

What is the Western Undergraduate Exchange? 

160+ colleges from 15 states and various territories participate in the Western Undergraduate Exchange, which allows students from participating states (California is one of them!) to pay discounted tuition rates. Typicaklly the price of tuition lands slightly higher than in-state tutiion (the cost if you lived in that state), but much lower than out-of-state tuition (the cost if you live outside that state). 

To see what colleges participate go to Western Interstate Commission for Higher Ed (WICHE).

What is career exploration?

• Discovering and exploring various career options 
• Assessing personal interests and skills
• Researching job markets and requirements
• Making informed decisions about future careers

Why is it important?

• Helps identify students passions and strengths
• Provides direction for academic choices
• Increases motivation and engagement in school
• Prepares students for college or additional post-high school training
• Reduces uncertainty about the future
• Enhances self-awareness and confidence

When should career exploration begin?

As early as possible! And in one way or another we are all exploring careers throughout our life through exposure in our daily lives- seeing the postal worker who delivers our mail, going to the doctor, seeing the staff employed by your school, etc. 

But there are so many vast and varied careers that most people will not get simply through exposure. So as a child gets older it is best to start explicit career exploration, this can and should be happening in middle and high school. 

Here are ways to start explicit career exploration:

• Take career assessments- A great way to get a variety of careers suggested for you based on your interests, values, personality, etc. 
• Job shadow or informal interviews- when you encounter careers that interest you learn more by reaching out to your networks and seeing if you can connect to someone in that field. You can ask to shadow them for a day to see what that job is like day to day, or you can ask to speak to them and ask questions about their career. 
• Career fair, panels, and events- Attend in person or virtual career fairs, career panels, or other events where people in the careers that interest you discuss how to enter the profession, what challenges and benefits they face in that career, etc. 
• Extracurriculars and summer programs- There are many many organizations that expose students to differnet career fields, some of which are free, and even some that pay students! Summer program examples: Girls Who Code (tech), The Hidden Genius Project (tech and entrepreneurship), CLYLP (government and community engagement), UCSF Summer Student Research Program (medical), and more!
• Volunteer work and internships- Again a great way to explore is to start to gain some hands on experince and find out if a career is a good fit. If you are interested in exploring medical fields- see about volunteering at hospitals, clinics, blood drives, nursing homes. If you are interested in education- volunteer with an afterschool program, be a tutor, volunteer to work with kids through your local community center, etc. 
• Community college classes- As a high school student they are able to take community college courses which can help a student see if that major/field is a good fit. Students can take criminology, psychology, automotive tech, political science, engineering, and many other types of classes. 

There are various resources to help students identify and explore potential career interests:

• CaliforniaColleges has various assessments that use a students personaility, interests, values, skills, and more to help them identify careers that are a good fit for them. 
• Career One Stop
• Big Future through College Board
• My Next Move

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship program trains you to become skilled in a trade or profession. Apprenticeship training typically combines classroom learning with hands-on work. Because apprenticeships are considered full-time work, you do get paid though the average starting wage for a new apprentice is $15 an hour.

Apprenticeships are common in skilled trades like carpentry, plumbing, electrical, hairstyling, hospitality, transportation, and manufacturing.

To find an apprenticeship look at CAL Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship USA.

Vocational Training

Vocational Training is short term, hands-on training that focuses on training you for a specific job/ trade. Jobs that may require vocational training are: HVAC, automotive repair, plumbing, culinary arts, welding, and more.

There are for-profit vocational/trade schools, but there are also many vocational training programs available at your local community college.

Check out these local community colleges and the vocational training/certificates they provide:

Solano Community College

Napa Valley College

Contra Costa College

Laney College

College of Marin

Diablo Valley College

Merritt College

Berkeley City College