How college rep visits will streamline your college apps

College rep visits in the gym (Alana Moscoso-Mendoza / The Puma Prensa)

By Alana Moscoso-Mendoza, Opinion Editor

College applications: stressful, exciting, terrifying – and it's just about time to submit them. At least for early action and decision, anyway; if you’re unsure what college you want to apply to, no worries. College rep visits, arguably the least-spoken-about aspect of applying to colleges, can offer vital insight and information about applying to certain colleges and universities. 

Wanting to apply to UC Davis? What about UC Santa Barbara? University of Oregon? All of these colleges and universities and more are either coming to visit Maria Carrillo High School in the coming weeks or have already visited – if you want to find exact dates, check your grade level’s counseling Google Classroom. College rep visits offer detailed information about each college, covering topics such as campus life, academics, the application process, and much more. College admission officers will visit high schools to provide this information, making them effectively essential to your college admissions process.

While they are most useful to seniors who are either beginning the admissions process or rapidly approaching it, college rep visits are useful to high schoolers of all grade levels; freshmen, sophomores, and juniors can also benefit from the valuable information that college admission officers provide.

The Regional Admission Counselors of California college fair was an event that was held the morning of Sept. 4 during advocacy in the small gym. Multiple admission officers from out-of-state colleges set up their booths during this college fair; the colleges represented were University of Utah, Utah State, University of Tennessee, Arizona State University, University of Oregon, Penn State, DePaul University, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The officers offered information about their colleges, brochures/flyers for their colleges, and more.

Utah State, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Arizona State University all share a similar application process: if you meet the minimum 3.0 GPA, SAT score of 1070 (900 for Utah State), or ACT score of 21 (17 for Utah State), you are either guaranteed admission or are highly likely to be admitted. This offers a sort of safety net for individuals applying to these colleges, as long as the requirements are met.

As for the remaining colleges, they all have unique admissions requirements, but share test-optional policies.

Many colleges will require completion of certain high school courses in order to apply, as well as minimum GPA requirements. Colleges may also request letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, community service/volunteer work, and more; while oftentimes these are merely recommendations in order to create a more solid application, they can quickly become essential depending on the school. Thankfully, college admission officers can answer all of your questions about applications, especially those rooted in the specific colleges that they represent.

The best place to ask them questions? College rep visits.