Gina La Monica
By Dr. Gina La Monica
As my last article was about taking advantage of community college courses, this one is about websites that can assist you in determining which courses to take both in high school and at a local community college. Not all courses are created equally; some earn only high school credit while others are recognized by both high school and college institutions. Before signing up for your high school or college courses, check out these three worthwhile websites.
The first one is on the University of California (UC) website. It outlines the high school subject admission requirements for each designated discipline. Thereafter, you can review courses within each subject area that have been approved for your specific high school. If your high school course is not on this list, it will not count toward these entrance requirements for UC universities.
For example, one of my daughters took a stained-glass class at her high school to meet her high school and UC visual and performing arts requirements, but when reviewing this website, her course was not approved for this area. Unfortunately, she then had to take another class to meet this requirement. The following is the UC URL outlining the high school entrance requirements: https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/subject-requirement-a-g.html
Make sure to meet these requisites with courses from your high school listed here: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist.
The next website for the California State University (CSU) system at https://www.calstate.edu/apply/freshman/getting_into_the_csu/pages/admission-requirements.aspx gives students information on what courses are necessary for admission along with important admissions deadlines.
Lastly, one of the websites I find extremely useful is Assist.org found on https://assist.org/ which lists courses from all the California college systems (community college, UC, and CSU) within each major in addition to their articulation agreements within each of these schools; which courses will transfer from a specific community college to a California four-year institution. Furthermore, each college lists valuable information on what classes are required within each major. Hence, students can get a head start on completing their lower-division major courses while in high school at a local community college. For those students interested in colleges outside of California or private institutions, contact the university’s articulation officer or registrar to obtain information about their articulation agreements.
Navigating the college admissions process as a high school or community college student can be daunting. The better informed you are, the wiser decisions you will make. Take advantage of the multitude of websites that can assist you in completing this process successfully. Also, your high school or community college counselor who can guide you to other beneficial resources.
Dr. Gina La Monica has a Doctorate in Education and has worked as a high school counselor, college administrator, and professor at many universities and colleges including the University of California, Los Angeles, California Lutheran University, California State University, Northridge, San Diego State University, etc. She was a tenured professor and an expert in career technical education and adult learning. She currently teaches at a local college and helps students of all ages from kindergarten to the university level with career exploration, college admissions, learning assessment, tutoring, and education plans.
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