As California State University applications opened on Sunday, Oct. 1, senior students around the world prepared to begin their application processes. Rancho Cucamonga High School held a first-of-its-kind Admission Day event to provide students with an experience where CSU staff members can advise students with the application process.
On Saturday, Oct. 7, members of the California State University, San Bernardino staff joined RCHS’s senior students and families to guide them through the application process. At this event, senior students could submit a CSU application with a university that has a guaranteed admission agreement with the CJUHSD district.
“If we could, we wanted to be able to help, and we were actually able to make sure that we had [fee] waivers for everyone that was here today,” Mr. Jeremy Hansen, Assistant Principal of Achievement at RCHS said. “That means one free college application to CSUSB.”
RCHS made it possible for any student who attended the event to receive a college application fee waiver. This allowed students to apply to CSU colleges without paying an application fee. Cal State applications without the waiver are $70 per campus. With the waiver, you can save up to $280 by submitting four free applications. Each student at the event qualified for the fee waiver, initially meeting the requirements or not.
To have a more personalized experience during the submission process, classrooms were limited to 20 students with one parent each, so 40 individuals total per classroom. The classrooms were organized by the students’ major of choice.
One member of the CSUSB staff was in each classroom personally helping students apply. They walked students through the application process step-by-step and made sure that they were applying to their campuses of choice correctly.
This was the first time that RCHS has held an event like this. In the past, there have been college fairs on campus, but never a specific admission day.
“This was an idea I had back in the summer. I reached out to Cal State San Bernardino and we’ve been working on it for months to get this program started,” Hansen said. “This is not only the first time this has been done here at Rancho, not just the first time this has been done in the district, no other school in San Bernardino County, the largest county in the United States, is doing what we did today.”
On top of helping with the CSUSB application, this event also helped students submit applications to other Cal States.
“It was extremely helpful and helped me with multiple submissions,” senior James Hamilton said.
Hamilton described the experience as rewarding because he said that he wasn’t sure if the event would be helpful and walked away with four Cal State applications submitted.
According to the students who attended, it was overall advantageous and supported RCHS students with their Cal State applications.
“It helped me understand more information about how the school has a lot to help students with,” senior Jianna Eguilos said. “It seems like a great school overall.”
