A rising chatter begins to fill the afternoon. Paper flyers attempt to take flight in the breeze.
Students walk across the Library Lawn as they make a beeline for tables with colorful school emblems.
The Spring University Fair is in full swing.
All converging at El Camino College, representatives from over 40 different universities came to meet with students at the fair on Thursday, March 21.
“It’s a human way of doing it, rather than going online and looking up websites,” Transfer Center Coordinator Rene Lozano said on how the fair helps students looking to transfer.
Lozano said while transferring is a complicated process, it primarily involves student considerations about academic requirements, major and specialization offerings, and whether a given campus may be a good match.
“[The fair] is a good network opportunity for students to meet the representatives of the schools they’re interested in,” he said.
By meeting with representatives, students can get an idea of what campus experiences may be like at the different universities taking part in the fair, ranging from state public universities to private universities and art schools.
Nicole Pricer, the associate director of international admissions at the California State University Long Beach, said by being one of the “closest feeder schools,” transfer students at CSULB “aren’t taken like a fish out of water.”
Students from “feeder schools” go to a specific college or university within the same area.
Pricer said students can have a campus experience that embraces the “familial feeling of being from the same area.”
“What’s great about transfer students is they’re already coming in as juniors with so much credit, and a lot of them actually end up being more successful than those who were originally admitted as freshmen,” Betsabe Lopez-Morales, transfer admissions counselor at UC Santa Barbara, said.
James Stasher, CSULB engineering student success center academic adviser, said CSU schools are primarily major-driven and prioritize GPAs, while UC schools utilize a more “holistic-type process,” considering both GPA and extracurricular activities.
Stasher said GPA determines placement at CSULB because it is an “impacted” school, meaning that more applications are received than there is availability, especially for computer science majors.
About half of the students who visited the table were already accepted students, Stasher said.
“I just came to check in with [CSU] Long Beach because I got their acceptance,” Khin Di, 22-year-old mathematics major, said. “Because email can be kind of confusing, I got [the opportunity] to know in person.”
Out-of-state universities such as Arizona State University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Grand Canyon University were also represented at the event, as well as the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF).
Ariel Baumgartner, UAF transfer credit manager, highlighted the opportunities available at the campus for transfer students, such as fully-online degree programs and reduced tuition for California residents.
Palmer Muntz, senior regional admissions counselor at UAF, said all general education requirements are waived for students with associate degrees.
Students can expect to be like a “big fish in a small pond,” and the University of Alaska is a match for adventurous students who are “willing to try something new,” Muntz said.
While the event lasted only three hours, students can find more information and support for the transfer process at the El Camino Transfer Center. The center provides students with counseling, workshops, university tours, and meetings with college representatives.
“Our space is not just for students who are at the end phase of transfer,” Jaime Gallegos, El Camino transfer counselor, said. “We recommend students get an early start, as it’s never too early to start thinking about options.”
