Saddleback Transfer Fair of 2023

On April 20th, Saddleback college held its annual Transfer Fair. Many colleges were able to come and set up their booths and provide any information a student might need for transferring from Saddleback to a college of their choosing. Here is what some of them had to say:

Cal State Long Beach booth director speaks with student. Photo by Kiyyaa Semeret.

Chapman University with Aaron Perry

What do you look for in transfer students?

I think it just kind of depends on the major. We’re looking for folks that are certainly ready to make the transfer to move themselves. Typically a little more established in their trajectory of their undergraduate studies — they have an idea of what they want to do, because we’re not really as keen on having folks make a decision that’s sort of in between or being unsure. We really want them to be sure of their major or what they want to do here because when they transfer it’s ideally a very focused time. You’re going to hopefully be in and out in about two years. So, not a lot of room for error or room to change your mind necessarily.

What about grades and other requirements?

Grades are important, of course. Having a solid GPA keeps folks competitive, which is ideal. And if you’re applying to a talent-based major, having that really solid, creative portfolio piece is going to be super crucial as well. Ultimately, I think just having purpose and knowing what you want to do is probably what makes for an ideal transfer student.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

I think the size is really great. We’re a medium sized institution, so for a student that prefers to have a smaller classroom experience, they have that, but they’re still a part of a larger campus community with stuff to do, sports to watch, all that fun stuff. So I think the student life is really spectacular for what you have right in the middle of Orange County. The student life… the level of support you have here, it’s tough to fail. You’ve got people in your corner — academic advisors, and program advisors — that are there to help you and get you through your time with us.

UCLA with Ana Ramos

What do you look for in transfer students?

We look for transfer admissions requirements; completion of major profession courses; and we also do a comprehensive review of the application, meaning we take into account a person that’s ambitious, as well as in extracurriculars and progression in academics. So, we look at the entire application in its entirety.

How many students are currently enrolled?

Let me double check… so, we have about 31 [thousand] undergraduate students.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

We are the number one public university in America. Definitely some bragging rights about that.

What is your acceptance rate for transfers?

Our admin rates will actually vary depending on the major that you are considering. If you want the full list of rates, I recommend visiting our website.

UC Irvine with Gabriella Barrios

What do you look for in transfer students?

UC Irvine takes a holistic approach to our evaluation of transfer students. So we look for students who are well-rounded and have leadership. Of course, we also look at grade point average and we look at major prerequisite courses that are completed, but that’s not all we look at. We look to make sure that students have leadership, that they have extracurricular activities, and that they’re involved in their community.

How many students do you currently have enrolled?

We’re a large school. We have over 30,000 students on campus.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

Let’s see… Well, we are in the top 10 public schools in the nation. Number one, best value public university. Number two, we’re a cool school for sustainability. And number three, for diversity. We’re also centrally located in Orange County which means that we’re surrounded by a lot of Fortune 500 companies that come to campus to offer students internships and jobs. Another thing that stands out about us is our cool mascot, Peter the Anteater. That’s pretty unique about our school.

Cal State Fullerton with JC Elamparo

What do you look for in transfer students?

We have our transfer eligibility requirements. To transfer, we’re looking for 60 transferable units, a student has to be in good academic standing, 10 of the classes have to be G.E. courses, complete the golden four, and meet the G.P.A. cut-off. And the G.P.A. cut-off depends on the application poll that year. It could be higher or lower. But if the student is in music, dance, or theatre there may be an audition component to that. Our school of nursing has a different requirement. And criminal justice requires a class for students to complete before they can transfer.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

We are the biggest Cal State in terms of student population; We are at over 40,000 students. So, that’s one. But what stands out? The value we offer. If you look at our tuition cost and the quality of our programs, that’s what stands out.

Cal State Fullerton School of Nursing with Neftali

What do you look for in transfer students?

So that’s going to depend on the pathway. Obviously, we’re looking for a well-rounded student — someone that can contribute to the program but also the field in general. We have different pathways. All of those are listed on our website and just depending on which student, it would vary on the requirements. So we recommend that students go to our website since we have literally everything that you could possibly need on there.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

Sure! So, we are local to Orange County, of course. We work with all of the hospitals in the area, plus we also have partnerships with hospitals in L.A., Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Our goal is really to give back to the community in any way that we can and prepare our students to do the same.

University of San Diego with Scott Yahner

What do you look for in transfer students?

We look at the application realistically, but we only require 24 transferable units, having a 3.0 GPA or higher — makes it a little more competitive when it comes to that, but we’re just making sure they can be well-rounded and successful at USD. 

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

A couple… we’re 1 of 41 campuses in the world that’s designated Ashoka Changemaker campus. We’re the most beautiful campus in the nation this year. Our school of business has been in the top 15 in the nation for the last five years in a row. And our school of engineering ranked 15th in the nation.

What is your school known for?

Business is probably the big thing. And engineering. And with all of our science majors, part of the degree plan includes a minimum of 100 hours of undergrad research, so for those students who are pre-med, and pre-dental, it can often be pretty competitive in applying to grad school.

Cal State Long Beach College of Business with Derek Chacon

What do you look for in transfer students?

With transfer students, I mean, we’ve got to start academically. We just look for students completing the major-specific requirements for any given major, really. For me, students have to complete financial accounting, managerial accounting, micro and microsecond. Students may have the opportunity to do statistics or calculus here at Saddleback, but preferably, they want both done.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

I mean, I just like our student body. I think we just have a great student population, very diverse, and I think the student clubs and organizations work really hard to grow professionally before they graduate. I think they’re a great bunch of students.

What is the acceptance rate?

Honestly, that’s more of a question for admissions. I don’t know the exact numbers. But I will say, even for just the general CSLB, they do target more local communities and it does get more competitive the further away you are. So for instance, the general requirement for College of Business is a 2.5 G.P.A., but since you’re at Saddleback, I would strongly suggest that business students try to achieve, like, a 3.0 or higher since you’re a little bit further away.

University of the West with Thomas Calobrisi

What do you look for in transfer students?

University of the West is a values-driven organization. Our values are character, compassion, and community. So, we’re looking for students who not just want an education for a skills base but are also about creating moral foundations for a more successful life well beyond college days. It’s not just what’s going to get you a career, but how are you going to be a good person in the world? That’s who we’re looking for as transfer students, but of course we do have programs that are going to set you up for skills-based — Business, psychology, liberal arts, you know — which will take you to pathways. So yeah, we want people who fit our values, but of course, we also want people who are looking for those skills, as well.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

What stands out, I’d say, are three things. Number one is our size. We’ve intentionally been a small university since our founding in 1991. We have a 10 to 1 student-to-faculty ratio, so it’s a very personalized education. You’re never going to have a class where there’s 100, 200, 500 students and you’re just a face in the crowd. Another thing is our cost. We’re the most affordable private liberal arts college in the United States, not just Southern California or California in general. Finally, we’re comparable to a CSU, but one of the added advantages of personalizing education is the diversity of our campus. So we have a 50/50 international domestic split — over 44 countries from across the world — so you’re going to meet people from all walks of life at University of the West. So those are the things that really make us unique at the institution.

Washington State University with Ivy Donaldson

What do you look for in transfer students?

We don’t have any minimum requirements. So if you come in with an associates degree that covers the UC or CSU curriculum, that will also cover all of our general education requirements. That’s usually the easiest and cleanest way to transfer but we also accept students with less than a year’s worth of college credit too. Our average GPA for transfer students is around a 3.1, but as long as you have above a 2.0 you can apply. On our application, we’re just looking at transcripts so we don’t have any test scores required and there’s no essay. Very simple to apply. And if you have a 3.0 or higher there’s a transfer scholarship that is $11,000 per year.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

We are a big school. So we’re a large Tier 1 research school, but we’re in a really small college town so our students make up about two-thirds of the town of Pullman. So it’s not a commuter school, staff and students live, work and study in Pullman. It definitely is a big school, but a really small community.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas with Dave Tankenson

What do you look for in transfer students?

Basically, I look for — or try to find out — what they’re interested in generally. Sometimes they focus specifically on areas of study and that’s good, but it changes all the time. So I try to find the most general thing and help guide them. So, just someone that’s interested in continuing; someone that’s interested in creating value for themselves and helping them on that path.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

There’s a couple of things that stand out. One is that we have the top hospitality program in the United States, in the world actually, so we draw people from all over the world specifically for that. The other thing is, we’re the second most diverse campus in the country. So we’re extremely welcoming and everybody gets along and loves each other, and it’s a really popular environment with diversity from all cultures and backgrounds. No one cares what people look like or what they wear. They even put up with me.

Grand Canyon University with Jaelyn Cooper

What sort of help do you provide transfer students?

Our motto for students is to find their purpose, so when we’re working with any kind of students, especially transfer students, we hope to guide them toward finding the degree program that they’re able to find their purpose in and excel.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

We have been able to remain a very affordable option to all of our students no matter what socioeconomic status they’re coming from. Our tuition has been frozen for over a decade now, allowing us not only affordable education, but also quality education.

Southern New Hampshire University with Tania Ochoa

What do you look for in transfer students?

We have a partnership with all of the California community colleges so we will extend a 10% scholarship discount on the tuition for any alumni. So we look for students that have their Associate from a California community college.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

Lots of things. We’ll accept up to 90 credits, depending on the program that a student is looking to transfer in. We still have a pretty competitive online tuition fee. And we have excellent resources and support to help the students be successful and help get them all the way through graduation.

What is your population on campus? How many students are currently enrolled?

We have over 3,000 students in our Manchester, New Hampshire campus. But our online platform, where our partnership with California community college lies, it’s over 180,000 online learners.

Keck Graduate Institute with Yvonne Rivera

What do you look for in transfer students?

So, we’re more of a graduate school. So we want our students to have their B.A., but we do have a community college to pharmacy pipeline where students are able to take the prerequisites at a community college and transfer over to the pharmacy program and they’ll have their pharmacy degree within four years — so six years in total.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

I would say that we’re mainly focused on applied life sciences. One thing I’ve found about our school is that it’s very hands-on, so our school is generally small — I want to say about 150 students, but with professor to student ratio I want to say it’s from 1 to 12 students. So it’s kind of nice because you get that intimate feel and they do a really good job at networking with students. They bring in contacts from all over and previous alumni that work in the healthcare field. A lot of students end up in a position within six months after graduating and are making about 100k a year.

Sofia University with Rachel and Ray

What sort of help do you provide transfer students?

I believe we can provide great education and we do offer online programs and great places for a sustainable life and study and places to work.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

We started as a psychology school and we have personal psychologists that offer lots of things. It’s been designed to the curriculum and for the bachelor science and business program. Where we differ from other business programs is that we design psychology to the curriculum so that students can handle relationships and handle opportunities better. They can handle setbacks better. It also teaches personality and motivation. I believe it prepares them to become great leaders.

Azusa Pacific University with Sarah and Adam

What do you look for in transfer students?

Definitely want to make sure they’re meeting our main requirements. It kind of depends on the program and what you’re looking for. At APU, there is no minimum requirement for units, but they can transfer as early as 15 units and can use their college transcripts versus their high school transcripts.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

We are a private Christian university and we’re going to be right off the 210 freeway in Azusa, California, but we also have some regional campuses available as well. We have one in San Diego, one in Orange County, and one in Monrovia that’s a little closer to our main campus, but it just depends on what each student is looking for.

Laguna College of Art and Design with Jason Umphress

What do you look for in transfer students?

Gosh, it’s the same thing we look for in undergrad students. We don’t really have specific transfer requirements. We don’t have a minimum to transfer; you can transfer at any time. So, what we’re primarily looking for is students with strong foundation skills for their major. Right? So if it’s an animation student, we need to see not that they have strong animations, but that they have strong drawings. That tends to be the mechanical skill we’re looking for in a student’s portfolio. 

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

We’re a very small school, a very intimate community. We have about 700 students total, across seven majors, so students tend to stick around each other and grow together in our program.

Art Center College of Design with Jocelynn Nobouphasavanh

What do you look for in transfer students?

For transfer students, we look for aptitude and technical skills and the reason why I say that is because our college is very specific in the portfolio requirements that we look for. So we’re looking for students that not only have the skills, but also the capacity to thrive in the work they want to do.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

So, we’re really rooted in our students’ creative professionalism. So what that means is we want to be able to give them the skills and tools to be the master of their craft, but also be able to take that craft onto a professional level. A lot of stigma around being an artist and designer is the starving artist, and the Art Center answers ‘well, we’re preparing our students to be ready for the profession.’

Temple University Japan with Kelly

What do you look for in transfer students?

We are looking for adventurous students who are looking for something different because you have to think outside the box to want to go international. It’s such a great opportunity. Back in my day, this wasn’t even an option.

Is there something about your school that stands out more than the others?

Number one, we’re in Japan. Number two, you’re earning an American degree, you can just do it abroad at almost half the price. Tuition is $12,000 a year for students regardless of their residence. So in many ways, it’s cheaper to go out of country than it is out of state.

Are there any special requirements for going to school out of the country? Do you have to speak both languages?

Classes are all in English, except for Japanese. We hope you learn at least a semester or two of Japanese so you can order food. It’s important, right? But Japanese is also good for other things, of course. You need a minimum 2.5 G.P.A. to be able to stay in the country. That’s Visa regulation; so there are Visa implications you have to think about being there because you’re in a foreign country.

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