College of Marin / Concurrent Enrollment

CURRENT TL STUDENTS, GRADES 9-12: There will be a College of Marin Counselor at TL this year to help students register for classes, and explore transfer and certificate options at COM. Use this link to schedule an appointment. 

1. Check in with your TL School Counselor to discuss the possibility of taking college classes in high school. IMPORTANT: you need to be doing well in your current classes at TL to be eligible: grade of or higher. 
2. Follow the registration steps listed here under "JUMPSTART (CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT)", and set up your COM ID and account if you haven’t already.
3. Identify a COM course that you'd like to take. Review the schedule of courses, and speak with your counselor to ensure that the course you'd like to take is a good fit.
4. Follow the steps outlined here, and complete an alternative credit form before you register for the course (applies to all outside courses). Note: Per District policy,  all outside courses must be reported on the high school transcript. Once you’ve submitted your form, and your request has been approved, you can register for the course.

SRJC also offers concurrent enrollment opportunities for high school students. See this registration link and the schedule of classes for more information.

Taking community college classes online: California Virtual Campus allows you to search and register for online community college classes throughout California. 

Minimum 2.0 GPA required to take a COM class as a high school student                                                               

Minimum 3.0 GPA to take more than one COM class at a time

College Information, Search, and Application

Contact your counselor for assistance identifying potential colleges, and review these notes on building your college list.  In addition to working with our staff, all students are encouraged to use TL's new college search platform California Colleges (more information below), and College Scorecard  (federal resource for searching and comparing colleges and universities) to research potential colleges/universities. 

Looking for more information and tips about the college application process? Check out our college application guide, linked on our Seniors site. 

Interested in colleges that do not require testing? Check out Fairtest.org. 

COLLEGE SEARCH & EXPLORATION: California Colleges

TL utilizes California Colleges as a primary college and career search platform. Students: Register your account using these instructions if you haven't already. See this playlist for more information about utilizing California Colleges.

BUILDING YOUR COLLEGE LIST

When building your college list, take into account both balance and strategy: 

BALANCE is a mixture of:

• Reach (colleges whose admitted student profile, such as average admitted GPA, is higher than yours; minimize these so that you do not have too many)
• Target (colleges whose admitted student profile is close to yours, sort of a 50-50 chance, could go either way; make target colleges the majority of your list)
• Likely  (colleges whose admitted student profile, such as average admitted GPA, is lower than yours; just 2 or 3 of these should be OK)

STRATEGY is basically the college's type of application plan:

• EA/Early Action (apply by about November 1-15; often receive a decision by mid-December; non-binding)  ED/Early Decision (apply by about November 1-15; often receive a decision by mid-December; but binding, so you must attend that college if they admit you)
• Rolling (no deadline, but you can apply as early as September or October; often receive a decision by mid-December; non-binding)
• Regular Decision (apply by about January 1-15; receive a decision by April 1 at latest; non-binding). 

Note that the UC's and CSU's/Cal States only offer Regular Decision. 

There is generally no downside to Early Action or Rolling, and statistically your chances of admission might be better than if you applied to that college Regular Decision, so it is recommended that you consider applying to some colleges with Early Action or Rolling plans. Just be sure that your transcript represents you strongly for a November application; if you feel that a strong fall semester of senior year would help you even further, then it might be best to wait to apply Regular Decision, in January. Discuss with Brad or your counselor!

ADDITIONAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN BUILDING YOUR COLLEGE LIST:

Size: small, medium, or large; 1,100 - 30,000+ undergrads...the size of a college can affect its class size, ranging from small seminars of 8-10 students, up to large lecture halls with 400-500 students

Setting: urban, suburban, rural

Geography: Bay Area, southern California, Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Midwest, South, or Northeast

Weather: do you prefer palm trees & beaches, or winter snows...or in-between sweater weather?

Major/Minor: even the smallest colleges have 40-50 programs of study; it's OK to be undecided, too!

Politics: liberal, moderate, conservative

Religion: many colleges Catholic, Jesuit, or other religions, such as:

Diversity: ethnicity, geography, LGBTQIA+, nationality, political, race, religion, socio-economic, etc

FACTORS CONSIDERED BY COLLEGES WHEN EVALUATING YOUR APPLICATION (VARIES):

Transcript (always the most important factor): course rigor, cumulative GPA, trend in GPA

Soft skills such as intellectual vitality, how engaged you are with your classes, how you demonstrate your critical thinking skills, creativity/originality/innovation, risk-taking, perseverance through challenges, teamwork, seeking help when you need it, going above and beyond minimum requirements, and how you respond to setbacks.

ACT/SAT UC & CSU no longer require or accept standardized test scores when determining eligibility for undergraduate admission, though some colleges and universities still do. See FairTest for a complete list of test-optional colleges. Make sure to research your schools to determine requirements!

Extracurriculars & leadership: arts, athletics, home responsibilities, internships, jobs, volunteering, etc.

Letters of recommendation: 2 teachers (preferably junior year, and core subjects) and counselor

• Give your teachers & counselor at least 1 month notice before your first application deadline!
• Waive your right to see your letters of recommendation.  This is in the "FERPA" portion of your applications.  Waiving your right to see your letter signals to your colleges that the letters they receive will be candid, which strengthens your application/s. 

Essays: See the UC section below for a link to PIQs, and the Common Application section for Common App prompts. Writing essays can be the most time-consuming part of your application process, so begin to brainstorm and write in the spring semester of junior year, and during the summer before senior year. Share your essays with teachers, your counselor, or others you trust to get feedback and recommendations. NOTE: some colleges, such as CSU campuses, do not require essays. 

Demonstrated interest - some, but not all, colleges consider this: Have you visited their college campus (if possible), their website (everyone can do this), attended a presentation (everyone can do this), emailed the admissions rep to introduce yourself (everyone can do this), interviewed (if interviews are offered), etc.

COLLEGE TOURS

Many colleges and universitiies now offer virtual/online tours!  You can simply Google the name of the college you are interested in, and then "virtual admissions tour," which should get you there.  For example, "UC Davis virtual admissions tour" gets you here!

RANKING

There are many sources of rankings out there; use them cautiously, compare multiple sources (Forbes, Kiplinger, Money, Niche, Princeton Review, QS World Rankings, Times Higher Ed/Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Ed/UN Sustainable Development Goals, US News), and also consider aspects that are not always ranked such as campus safety, diversity, student mental health, student competitiveness with each other versus collaboration, availability and quality of counselors and advising, quantity of student activities, freedom of speech, school spirit, town-gown relationship, % of students living on campus, and other factors that might be important to you.

COMMON APPLICATION

The Common App is for 900+ out-of-state public, California private, and out-of-state private 4-year colleges; the Common App is not used for the UC's or CSU/Cal States. Common App essay prompts 

UC / UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (9 campuses)

UC Admissions Profiles  |  Applying to UC  |  A-G Course List  |  UC Admissions Requirements 

TAG/Transfer Admission Guarantee:  if you attend a community college first, and satisfy the recommended UC admissions requirements for certain coursework (60 credits, or about 2 years) and GPA's, you are guaranteed admission to either UC Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, or Santa Cruz!  

CSU / CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY (23 campuses):  

Cal State Apply | Explore Campuses | CSU Admissions Requirements 

EOP/Educational Opportunity Program: Provides admissions, financial, and academic support for low income and first generation to college students. 

CSU application note: DACA, undocumented, or AB540 students should enter “None” as their citizenship status.  Under “Residency,” they should select “California” as their state of residency, if they consider California their home.

CALIFORNIA PRIVATE COLLEGES

California Independent Private Colleges/Universities 

Northern California: Stanford, Santa Clara, USF, Dominican, St. Mary's, Mills, UOP

Southern California: Westmont, CalArts, Cal Lutheran, Pepperdine, LMU/Loyola Marymount, Otis College of Arts & Design, USC, Occidental, CalTech, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona, Scripps, Redlands, Whittier, Chapman, USD

COMMUNITY COLLEGES: 116 IN CALIFORNIA!     

California Community Colleges 

COM / College of Marin: COM Enrollment Steps     

SRJC / Santa Rosa JC: Steps for New Students

TAG/Transfer Admission Guarantee:  if you attend a community college first, and satisfy the recommended UC admissions requirements for certain coursework (60 credits, or about 2 years) and GPA's, you are guaranteed admission to either UC Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, or Santa Cruz!  

ADDITIONAL COLLEGE SEARCH RESOURCES

Colleges That Change Lives