From Chico With Love

Hello there, future Chico State students!  I hope you had an amazing Valentine’s Day.    One of the fun things about writing this blog is seeing the search keywords people use to find us online.  As a little belated Valentine’s Day gift to you, I’ve decided to answer some of the questions that lead readers to chicoadmissionscounselor.blogspot.com in the first place.

Q. When will I hear back from Chico State about fall 2012 admission? 

A.  Very soon.   Decisions go out on a rolling basis so, it could be this week, it could be next month, but decisions are definitely going out.  Most students will know one way or another by early March.   It’s important to check your Chico State email account and Portal because what could be potentially holding up your decision is a request we’ve made of you, but hasn’t been fulfilled yet.   Remember deadlines are important!

Q.  What happens if you’ve missed the Chico State application deadline for fall 2012?  

A.  Think "Plan B” because Chico State is definitely closed for fall 2012.  Unfortunately, at this point there’s very little applicants can do.  We don’t have a waiting list.  It is possible to petition our office for special permission to apply late via a Hardship Letter sent to Admissions, but these requests are only granted for very extenuating circumstances, like military deployment, so it’s not likely that letters will be approved.  The next regular application period for fall 2013 will be from October 1, 2012 through November 30, 2012. 

 
Q.  Can I transfer to Chico State in 2012?   

A.  The application period for spring 2012 was from August 1, 2011 through August 31, 2011, so unfortunately transfers for this year aren’t possible anymore.   Students can contact us in late July 2012 to see what the status for the spring 2013 application will be.  We really don’t know what our spring 2013 plan is yet, but once we know students will see the announcement here and on our “Want to Apply”  webpage.    If we happen to open for spring 2013, the application will available from August 1^st through August 31^st of this year. 

Q.  What do I do once I’ve been accepted to Chico State?

A.  First of all, hurrah for you!   Congratulations and welcome to the Chico State family!  Once you receive your admissions decision you’ll be required to submit your Intent to Enroll (IE) decision and unless you are exempt based on financial need, your $200 non- refundable deposit by May 1^st.  This tells us you’re definitely coming and saves your space in Chico!  In your admission packet you’ll also find a “What’s Next” flyer with all the deadlines for making your transition to Chico State as smooth as possible.   Please read it closely and take action.

Q.  How do I become an admissions counselor? 

A.  I thought this was funny way of stumbling across our blog, so answering this isn’t completely gratuitous.  The road to the glamorous life of an admissions counselor is varied.  However, admissions counselors definitely have a bachelor’s degree; usually in a subject that lends itself to communicating with people.   I was an English major, but majors like communications, psychology or student services are also good.  Really, a student’s major is almost incidental in a way; practical work experience in higher education is the making of a future admissions counselor.  Working in university offices as a student is a great way to gain knowledge of what it’s like to be an admissions counselor.  If you can work as university tour guide, orientation leader or financial aid assistant, these will lay a good foundation for a career in higher education down the road. 

That’s all for now, stay tuned for my next post when I’ll tell you about some of the awesome activities taking place on April 14th for Choose Chico!   It's an amazing opportunity to see what the campus as to offer and you can help us celebrate our 125th anniversary at the same time.  Until next week! 

Fall 2012 Admissions Update

Hello potential students!   My apologies for the long silence, things have been hopping here in the Office of Admissions, as you can well imagine.  We’ve been receiving transcripts and test scores and all manner of required documents.  I hope you’re staying abreast of your own requirement deadlines and checking your Chico Portal account and Wildcat email regularly.  We’re getting tons of phone calls about whether we’ve received your transcripts and I just wanted to remind everyone that processing takes time; so we really appreciate your patience on our end.  

I’ve got some good news about fall 2012 admissions decisions.  A big part of the application process has been decided!    We know what the initial fall 2012 eligibility index is for in-state freshmen students!   If you’re an in-state, first-time freshman, who has earned a 3200 eligibility index and are on the way to completing your A-G requirements, chances are good you’ll be admitted.  Transfers who are waiting to hear can rest a little easier too.  We know that the out of our local admission area GPA cut off is a 2.5 GPA for transfers.  From this point on, more and more admission decisions will go out every week.  Check your mail boxes because there’s good news on its way! 

On a completely unrelated note, we hosted a PIQE Parent Empowerment Conference on campus last weekend and I wanted to share two of my favorite quotes from the day.  One junior said, “I’ve been here two hours and I love it already.  I want to come here!”  I did internal fist pumps for Chico State when I heard that.    One of the dads who attended called our campus, “a temple, a temple of learning.”  Not too shabby if I do say so myself!  Sometimes I think working for Chico State is the easiest job in the world because the physical beauty of the campus is such a huge asset.  It’s pretty much love at first sight when students visit.  Have you seen Chico State for yourself?  Schedule a tour!  It’s easy and we’d love to host you.  Until next time! 

New Links for a New Year

Happy 2012!  Are you excited to see what the New Year will hold?   Perhaps you’ll be a Chico State Wildcat in a few months time.  Wouldn’t that be a great way to kick off 2012?   In the spirit of new beginnings, I wanted to share some of the online places future Chico State students might find useful.    

·     Chico State’s Student Portal:  I know I talk about the Student Portal a lot, so this isn't exactly new, but that’s because the Portal is super important.  It holds the key to a lot of the processes that you’ll have to complete before you come to campus.  If you’ve applied to our campus and haven’t created your portal account yet, do it ASAP.   All you need is your Chico State student ID number we’ve sent to you and your date of birth.   It’s easy peasy and you'll save yourself tons of trouble by staying abreast of requirements and deadlines. 

·    Need to make a safe and secure online payment? CashNet is a great tool to do just that.  Note that VISA is not accepted, but most other major credit cards are.  

·     Scholarships:  Okay, also not new, but what can I say, I'm a giver!  I want students to benefit from all the amazing opportunities we have here.  They are often based on academic achievement, but there are also athletic scholarships, community service scholarships and scholarships that are attached to different majors.  Students should to apply in the fall the year before they plan to attend.  

·     Housing:  Students can take virtual tours of all our housing facilities.  That’s right; students can see floor plans and get inside and outside views of all Chico State's dorms and common areas.   

·     Did you know Chico State has a nationally recognized, awarding winning student newspaper?   Check out The Orion  for an inside view of what current Chico State students are thinking, writing and talking about. 

·     Are you interested in playing for one of Chico State’s Division II sport teams?  Fill out the recruit questionnaire as a first step and then checkout the Athletics page.

·     Go to college and see the world?  Is that possible?  Yes!  Chico State's Study Abroad program sends students to every continent except Antarctica.  How’s that for adventure in the New Year?

I hope 2012 will be amazing for you and that Chico State will be a major part of the bright future ahead of many, many students.   Go Wildcats!

Fall 2012 Admitted Student Deadlines

As some of you may already know, our first batch of admission packets have already gone out!  Congratulations to those of you who have been admitted for fall 2012!  This is an exciting time and I hope you’ll make Chico your campus of choice. 

Decisions from now on will be rolling out on an on-going basis.  Don’t lose heart if you haven’t heard.  We have over 22,000 applications to process, so be patient.  Remember to keep checking your student portal and Wildcat e-mail for information about your admission decision or any requests from our campus.  Once students are admitted, several other deadlines must be met before beginning next fall.  Failure to meet these deadlines might result in having your admission rescinded, and we all want you to avoid that.  Here’s a list of important deadlines to be aware of for both first-time freshmen and transfer students.

• January 31, 2012: Application fee deadline. Students can submit a paper application fee waiver if you think you’ve made a mistake on the on-line version or you can pay via CASH Net. The CSU application fee is $55.
• January 31, 2012: First time freshmen deadline to submit SAT or ACT test scores.  
• February 15, 2012: Initial transcript deadline for TRANSFER students ONLY.  
•  March 1, 2012: Transcripts due ONLY from first-time freshmen applicants whom we’ve specifically contacted.  If we've requested a transcipt, it means we need extra information to make a decision.  Don't delay in sending it in.
• May 1, 2012:  Deadline to submit your Intent to Enroll (IE) and make Chico State your campus of choice for both transfer students and first-time freshmen.   Your Intent to Enroll (IE) can be submitted via your Chico State student portal.   You can refer back to our older post for how to do this.
• July 14, 2012:  Final Official Transcripts due for all admitted students, both first-time freshmen and transfers. Transcripts can be mailed to Office of Admissions, 400 West First Street, Chico, CA 95929-0722. We will also accept transcripts sent to us electronically from other institutions.

Students will also receive regular reminders about these deadlines in their student portal and Wildcat email accounts so you’ll be sure not to miss them. Good luck to those of you who are still waiting and Happy Holidays!

Advice for Senior Applicants Part 2

Let's pick up right where we left off in the last post.

4.  Don’t be afraid to call for help, but realize that you’re not the only one who is calling.  
It’s important to realize that high traffic times like submission deadlines can cause a glut of phone calls.   University staff is only human.  Getting a patient, helpful answer is almost guaranteed when you’re not calling at the same time as a hundred other students.   At Chico State, we pride ourselves on answering the phone and being as helpful as possible, but sometimes we need a little extra time. 

5.  Make friends among staff and faculty.  It’s always a good idea to have a connection that is in the know.  The people who work at Chico State care about students and want them to be successful.  It’s very smart to find someone who might go out of his or her way to help you.  An introduction, a good attitude and a word of thanks go a long way towards this.

6.  Reduce your stress and plan ahead.    We live in age of high speed Internet and on-demand everything.  However, the University doesn’t always function that way.  If students submit test scores or transcripts, especially during a high traffic time, it doesn’t mean offices will get that information five minutes later nor have it posted to your file.  The best thing students can do is send test scores, transcripts, or any other information in a timely manner allowing for travel and processing time.

I could go on with this list, but I just wanted to share a few ideas to give you the inside track on the admission process.  Good luck to those of you who have applied.  I hope I see you on campus next fall! 

Advice for Senior Applicants

One of the reasons I work in higher education is because I love helping students succeed.  Nothing makes me feel better than knowing that a student is thriving at Chico State.   While answering a ton of panicky phone calls on November 30th (the very last day of the fall 2012 application period), I thought to myself: “I wish I could help seniors avoid these pitfalls!”  Then I realized, I blog, I can totally do that!  So here are my helpful hints for seniors who've applied to Chico State.

1.  Never, ever wait till the last minute to submit anything!   We had over 2,000 applications submitted in one day for Chico State’s fall 2012 term.  If you multiply 2,000 by 23 campuses that's roughly over 40,000 students trying to apply at the same time.  If that isn’t a website crash waiting to happen I don’t know what is.   Really, for your sanity’s sake, don’t wait till the last minute. 

2.  Realize that submitting an application for admission is just a first step.   Your college process is not complete by a long shot.  There are going to be a lot of steps you’ll have to follow up with beyond the application:  submitting transcripts, an intent to enroll, testing, financial aid and housing are just some of the things admitted students will still have to complete.

3.  E-mail, e-mail, e-mail.   Most Universities are now communicating with students by e-mail or university portal accounts.  One of the first things you’ll be directed to do is create a portal account.  If you wait too long or neglect to do this, you will likely miss important deadlines that could result in your application being cancelled.  Chico State’s portal link can be found on our website.  Once you create your account, check it often. 

I’m not done here; there's lots more I'd like to share.  Look for part 2 of Advice to Senior Applicants.

CSU, Chico Online Scholarship Application Now Available

 The scholarship application for California State University, Chico for the 2012-2013 academic year opened on October 1, 2011.  Scholarship recipients are selected in the spring for the following academic year.  In order to be considered  for 2012-2013, students must submit an application no later than December 15, 2011.  CSU Chico provides scholarships based on a variety of criteria including academic merit, financial need, participation in clubs and activities, volunteer and community involvement, major and career goals, etc.  All students are encouraged to apply.  Please follow this link for more information on how to apply www.csuchico.edu/fa.   Don't wait to hear about your admissions, appy now!