CSU Fullerton Takes Wait out of Admissions

In just a little longer than it takes her to get from one class to another, high school senior Kris Pate endured a ritual that has many of her peers in agony: She applied for college--and waited all of eight minutes to learn she was accepted.

Just like that. Right there in the Aliso Niguel High guidance office, after fidgeting, biting her lip and generally squirming while a Cal State Fullerton counselor scrutinized her high school transcript and college admissions test scores.

“Congratulations,” said Thomas Mauck, handing her an admissions slip good as a ticket to college.

“Oh my God, I’m so excited,” said Pate, who is still waiting to hear from her other choice, the University of Georgia.

For students across the county pitching mental fits over whether they will get into their college of choice, Cal State offers an antidote.

Under a growing program, the university conducts “on-site” admissions at local high schools and to a lesser extent community colleges, accepting students on the spot who meet the university’s minimum requirements and pay the $55 application fee.

The Cal State system does not keep track of how many students are admitted on-site, but administrators at several of its 23 campuses said they accept anywhere from a few hundred to more than a thousand students this way. Fullerton has accepted 1,167 students--about one-fifth of its projected admissions pool--so far this year in the field, compared with 817 last year.

Not only does the program ease students’ anguish over college acceptance--news they usually don’t hear until April--it helps boost enrollment because students are more likely to attend the school that admits them first, said Lawrence J. Labrado, Fullerton’s outreach coordinator. Last year at Fullerton, 58% of the students admitted in the field enrolled compared with 49% for the total pool notified by the traditional letter in the mailbox, whose applications take two to three months to process.

USC applications also take about three months; the wait to hear from the UC system is more like five months.

Attracting more students is especially important for Cal State, which is rebounding from budget cuts and tuition hikes in the early 1990s that precipitated a 50,000-student drop in systemwide enrollment between 1990 and 1994.

Several CSU schools use spot admissions in the field or on their campuses during special recruitment days as a way to make personal contact with students and address misperceptions they may have about the system, which draws from the top one-third of high school seniors in comparison to the more elite University of California, which targets the top 12.5%.

“Especially in south Orange County, they are trying to get into UC or private colleges and see Cal State as their last choice,” Mauck said. “What they don’t understand is CSU has a lot to offer, especially for business programs and education.”

Unless it has reached enrollment capacity, qualified CSU prospects are guaranteed a spot at the campus of their choice.

Applicants are evaluated based on their college prep courses and Scholastic Assessment Test or American College Test scores. The system does not require its applicants to submit a personal essay or other materials, so recruiters are able to swiftly calculate, from official student transcripts provided by the high school and admissions test results, whether a prospect qualifies.

High school students with a grade point average as low as a 2.0 or SAT score of 550 can gain admission in some cases, although the average last year at Fullerton was a 3.1 GPA and 960 SAT score. For community college transfer students the eligibility requirements are more complicated but they include at least a 2.0 in transferable courses.

“On-site admissions are a particular feature of the CSU campuses that can admit every qualified freshman or transfer applicant,” said Dea Nelson, director of student recruitment at San Jose State University and incoming president of the Western Assn. for College Admissions and Counseling. “The independent colleges and UC campuses that must read each application are not able to make the same type of instant decision.”

When the decision is reached, the student reaction ranges from stunned silence to nonchalance, but almost always includes relief, whether Fullerton was their first choice or a “safeguard” school to ensure they were accepted by at least one college.

One by one on a recent morning, Aliso Niguel students sat with Mauck as he made small talk and reviewed their record.

There was Tiffany Jones, who dared not look at Mauck or his scribbling as he calculated her GPA and SAT scores and applied them to a mathematical formula Cal State uses to tell who’s in and who’s not.

“Congratulations, you’re in,” he said, and with that Jones cracked a smile and breathed a sigh of relief. Fullerton is the aspiring teacher’s first choice.

“I was extremely nervous but I’m glad and excited,” she said afterward.

Vineet Mehta said she was scared she would not get into USC or the few UC schools to which she applied so she decided to go for Fullerton, which is close to home and her father’s alma mater.

For USC, the prospective political science major sat for an interview with an admissions officer “which was nerve-racking because I wanted to go so badly.” For Fullerton, she scarcely had time to get comfortable in the chair before Mauck admitted her.

“My first choice was USC but I haven’t heard from them and I’m scared I’m not going to get in,” Vineet said. “I wanted a backup school and this is it.”

Visiting Sierra Vista High in Baldwin Park, counselor Eduardo Aldas said he takes special pride in admitting students like Sandra Angel who are the first in their family to attend college.

“This means you’re admitted,” Aldas said as he handed her a copy of the admissions form.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool,” said Sandra Angel.

“I wanted to go to USC but I know I couldn’t get in,” she said afterward. “I heard from a lot of people that [Fullerton] has a good business school and I liked the campus environment when I went on a field trip there.”

With a broad grin, she summed up: “I feel pretty good.”

That’s not to say the counselors admit everybody they see. Usually those turned away do not have all their paperwork in order or are borderline cases who lack one or two requisite college prep class or fall short of the GPA and SAT requirements.

For them, the counselors offer advice on what courses they need to make up either in high school or a community college.

Richard Newman at Aliso Niguel High, who was missing a couple of courses, inquired about making them up over the summer. But he nevertheless was anxious to get in.

“What if you don’t get enough people? Would you admit me then?” he asked with a grin.

“Well, I’m pretty sure we’ll get enough,” Mauck replied.

Although an effective recruitment tool, campuses limit how many students are admitted on-site because, as Nelson put it, “it is labor intensive. The financial cost is not great but the costs in human resources are great.”

Six Cal State Fullerton recruiters fan out to 150 high school campuses in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, seeing as many as 30 to 40 students per day during the busiest season from November through January.

“It can get real hectic,” said counselor Linda Cambron. “It means being out on the road a lot.”

At least one CSU school, Long Beach, plans to reduce the number of admissions it does off campus and instead focus on an event it holds in the fall in which prospective students are invited on campus and in some cases admitted.

“It’s easier to deal with staffing to have everybody here on a Saturday,” said Gloria Kapp, the admissions director.

But Fullerton says it’s worth it to send counselors out, particularly at a time when the competition for students has never been higher.

“Everybody hustles for the students,” Labrado said. “The one who gets them first gets them enrolled.”