It’s November, we are halfway through the Cal State Application window, and many students likely still need to hit submit. The application deadline is on Tuesday, November 30th when the priority application window closes, and we’d love to help get your students to submit before the Thanksgiving break.
First off, the basics:
CAL STATE APPLICATION ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
To be eligible for the Cal State system, students:
must be a high school graduate
need to complete 15 unit a-g courses
earn qualifying a-g GPA
Minimum academic eligibility is:
2.5 GPA or greater for CA residents
3.0 or higher for non-residents
2.0-2.49 GPA may be considered at some campuses
Below 2.0 GPA - not CSU eligible
HOW TO APPLY:
Students will need the following information as they head to Cal State Apply to start their application:
Unofficial transcripts (to use when entering course and grade information)
Social Security number
Credit card or PayPal account (see FAQs below for fee waiver info)
Household annual income
Students will use this one application to apply to as many Cal State University campuses as they would like. But remind them they will be charged per campus - $70 a pop.
EVALUATION IN A TEST-BLIND ENVIRONMENT:
To replace the role of test scores in the admissions process, campuses continue to use multifactored admission scores. Note that these factors are different for each campus and can vary by major as well.
Supplemental factors include:
Math/QR GPA
English GPA
Lab Science GPA
Courses exceeding minimum “a-g” courses
Math/QR courses exceeding 3 years
Promise/Partnership Programs
66% of more free and reduced lunch school
First generation
Household income
Educational participation program
Youth services
Work experience
Extracurricular involvement
Leadership roles
And now…
a few quick updates for Fall ‘22 applicants:
GRADING:
Due to the COVID pandemic, grades of credit or pass will be accepted to fulfill “a-g” requirements for courses completed during Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall 2020 terms and during Winter, Spring or Summer 2021 terms.
The Cal State system is expecting to see graded courses from Fall 2021 forward.
IMPACTION CHANGES (AND WHAT EXACTLY IS IMPACTION?):
Impaction means that there are more qualified applicants than there are available spaces. Entire campuses can be impacted (like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) or just certain programs (Nursing). These high-demand majors and programs have additional admission criteria above the minimum admissions standards. Check out this Impaction Database and search by campus and/or program.
There are a few impaction changes for ‘22-’23:
Humboldt
Discontinued impaction for Wildlife
Pomona
Psychology and Sociology are now impacted
Discontinued impaction for Music - Industry option
Sonoma
Discontinued impaction for Biology, Business Administration, Communications and Liberal Studies
RACE AND ETHNICITY SECTION:
A reminder that this section is only used for statistical purposes and is not factored into admission or financial aid eligibility.
You’ll notice two new categories in this section:
Southwest Asian and North African is new high level race category
New sub-categories have been added under American Indian and Alaska Native
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
We’ve captured some of the questions we hear most often below, and hope that you can use it as a quick reference guide. Without further ado…
Now that I’m a senior, I want to take a lighter load and might drop one of my classes. Is that cool?
Remind students that senior year is not the time to take their foot off the gas. All students are strongly encouraged (that means do it!) to enroll in a senior year English course and a year-long math/quantitative reasoning course. No senioritis allowed!
I’m enrolled in college classes/dual enrollment classes. Where do I enter them?
Dual enrollment/college courses must be reported on the CSU application as college courses, regardless of where they are taught and whether the student will earn high school credit. The courses should be reported under the appropriate college and cannot be reported as high school coursework. The application automatically assigns a full year of credit and one honors point for college coursework, so it’s critical that students enter this information in the college section.
Note that the student will need to match those college courses to the appropriate “a-g” subject area. That field will not populate automatically.
I identify as undocumented or AB540. How do I fill out the citizenship/residency section?
Select none when asked to select the value that best describes your citizenship
Enter country of citizenship
Fill in the year that the student moved to the U.S.
List California for state that the student considers their permanent home
Make sure to check yes when claiming California residency (this has nothing to do with legal status)
I am a DACA student. Should I enter my Social Security number?
Yes!
Should I enter my high school P.E. and Health classes?
Students should not enter high school courses that do not meet an a-g requirement. Applicants should only enter high school courses that can be matched to a-g. If students are confused about which classes are a-g approved, send them to the a-g Course List to search for their high school’s offerings.
I submitted an application to one campus, but now want to make some changes before submitting to another campus. How do I do that?
In short, the student is out of luck. Once they submit their first application, the information in their application locks and they cannot make any changes. So, encourage all students to carefully review all of their information before hitting submit.
I’m trying to submit my application, but I keep getting a warning message. What’s up?
This is a new feature on the application this year, designed to catch mistakes before the student submits. Some of the common missteps are:
Missing a-g requirements. Have the student go into the a-g matching section and check for any errors
Repeated courses. Have student double check that they didn’t inadvertently enter any course twice. Classes taken for multiple years like Band and Journalism can be retaken for credit, so they can keep those on the list.
First Time Freshman vs. Transfer student warning. If an applicant is currently a high school student and is taking college courses, they are not a transfer student and should select I understand and have reviewed when prompted.
I can’t afford the Cal State application fees. How do I submit my application?
All eligible students are automatically considered for an application fee waiver based on the information they provide in their application. Eligibility requires that the student has lived in California for at least one year and is a U.S. citizen or who qualifies for an AB540 non-resident tuition exception.
Students must fully complete the application before their fee waiver eligibility is determined. They can select Check my fee waiver status on the Submit Application tab to view the result.
Here’s the Application Fee Waiver Checklist that students can use as a guide.
The application is saying that I don’t qualify for a fee waiver, but that can’t be right. What happens now?
Make sure the student entered their information correctly. The most common missteps are that students:
Reported themselves as a dependent applicant with household size of one
Reported the same amount in the Adjusted Gross Income and Untaxed Income fields
Selected none in response to What U.S. State/Possession do you regard as your permanent home?
My family has recently experienced a dramatic decrease in income, but I don’t qualify for a fee waiver. Is there anything I can do?
Yes, there is. The student may qualify for an Application Fee Waiver Appeal. Appeals are handled by the individual CSU campuses, so students must submit the form to each campus that they are interested in. Each campus will then determine if the student qualifies and will provide next steps.
I’m not sure how to answer the questions on the EOP Application. Help!
Check out our Essential Tips for the EOP Application, which includes how to tackle the biographical questions.
I already submitted my Cal State application and have since learned about the EOP Program. Is it too late to apply?
The student is in luck! The EOP Section is the only portion that can be changed after the student submits their initial application. However, they will need to meet each campus-specific EOP deadline.
What email address should I use on the application?
If at all possible, students should use their personal email address, not their school email address. Email is the primary mode of communication that will be used throughout the coming year, and the school email will likely be deactivated after graduation.
Here are a handful of our favorite CSU resources:
So, let’s get those applications submitted so that you can (hopefully) have a few restful days off toward the end of the month.
