College advisors Tom Nguyen and Kessie Aguilar hold college representative visits as an opportunity for students to learn more about different colleges. WCHS offers 20 rep visits from 12 different schools including University of Irvine, University of Southern California, University of California Davis and Merced, University of San Diego.
In California there are 339 colleges and universities, ten UC and 23 Cal State Universities (CSU). College advisors Nguyen and Aguilar offer a variety of schools with representative visits like Cal States, UCs, privates and community colleges. Aguilar explained that one reason they host the visits is to allow information to be accessible to students whose families may not have the time or resources to go see college campuses in person.
“All students are welcome, even underclassmen are encouraged so they can get a better understanding of college requirements and expectations each school requires early on,” said Aguilar.
Seniors Johana Gomez and Genevieve Tran have attended three college visits. Gomez attended visits from UCI, USC and UCSD and Tran attended visits from UCSD, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara. By attending, Gomez and Tran learned information on colleges they are interested in, they learned more about the student life, requirements that need to be met to apply, and the different majors and undergraduate programs each of the schools offer. `
Researching colleges can affect students as it can be draining and feel overwhelming due to many potential factors such as the different application requirements, and looking at tuition rates for the different colleges. Gomez, currently in dance, has a busy schedule that includes long practice hours and homework. She found these representative visits useful as it made learning about colleges simpler by providing her with necessary information in an environment she could interact with instead of making her try and make time to do research on her own.
“I don’t have a lot of time in my day to day to research these colleges myself, although you can find more information, they give you a lot more information and insight to the colleges,” said Gomez.
Tran went to the representative visits in hopes of learning more about the application process and what the colleges have to offer in student life. The most useful advice she got was to showcase herself in the applications, and to think about if she can see herself attending her considered schools.
“I learned a lot…especially in the UC San Diego rep visit… I learned about the different requirements and traditions they had,” said Tran.
Every college is different and they all have different types of support groups within their college. During the representative visits one of the main points is the financial aid/assistance that certain colleges provide. For example, the University of California Irvine has a “Office of Financial Aid” that helps students with the process of earning grants, scholarships and loans and provides students the opportunity to participate in work studies programs.
With the school offering a variety of representative visits with examples of some passed and those upcoming it gives students options of schools to listen in on and ask questions about any uncertainty about students’ specific college of interest.
