What Students and Counselors Need to Know for Fall 2027

How CSU admission works, what changed in Cal State Apply this year, and how to fill out every section correctly and completely.

My colleagues Jen Turfler and Claire Schadler and I hosted a webinar on the Cal State application for Fall 2027. Below is a lightly edited transcript. Audience questions appear where they came up. The slides, including an appendix of every link we shared, are linked as a PDF at the end.

Speakers: Venkates “Swami” Swaminathan, Founder and CEO, LifeLaunchr; Claire Schadler, College Admissions Coach, LifeLaunchr; Jen Turfler, College Admissions Coach, LifeLaunchr

The Video

Welcome and Introductions

Swami: Welcome, everyone. My name is Swami, and today’s LifeLaunchr webinar is about filling out the California State University application, Cal State Apply. Our audience today includes students, parents, independent counselors, and school counselors, so we’re presenting this as a resource for everyone. If you have questions as we go, put them in the chat or in the Q&A, and we’ll answer as many as we can. Let’s do introductions in reverse order. Claire, will you start?

Claire: Hi, everyone. I’m Claire Schadler. I’ve been a college admissions coach for about 10 years. I’m a member of NACAC, and I’ve worked with LifeLaunchr for over a year. I’m excited to go through the details of this application today.

Jen: Hello, everyone. I’m Jen Turfler. I’ve been doing college counseling for the last seven years. Before that, I was an undergraduate counselor at UC San Diego and a high school English teacher. I’m so glad you’re all here to learn about the Cal State application.

Swami: Thanks, Jen. Thanks, Claire. I’m Venkates Swaminathan, Swami. I founded LifeLaunchr in 2014. I’m a member of NACAC and HECA, and I chair HECA’s new AI committee. My background is in engineering. Over the years, I’ve worked with many students who applied to both the UCs and the Cal States, so these are systems we know well.

What We’ll Cover

Swami: First, I’ll explain how CSU admission works. It’s very different from UC admission and from Common App schools. It’s much simpler, but it has nuances that matter. Then we’ll walk through Cal State Apply itself. The application changed this year. The content is very similar, but it looks very different, and there are some new features. Finally, we’ll talk about what happens after you apply.

California’s Three Public Systems

Swami: California has had a Master Plan for higher education since 1960. It sets up three tiers. The University of California, the nine undergraduate UCs plus UC San Francisco, are research universities. Roughly speaking, they’re meant for the top one-eighth of California high school graduates, about 12%.

The California State University system has 22 universities. It used to be 23. They focus more on teaching and career preparation. They do research, but it isn’t their primary focus. They’re meant for roughly the top one-third of California high school graduates.

Then the California Community Colleges are open access. Anyone can enroll: adults, high school students, everyone. They offer associate degrees, certificates, and transfer pathways to the UCs and CSUs.

These three systems have different GPA rules, different A-G details, and different deadlines. None of them use the Common App. And the UCs and the Cal States don’t share an application either. The UCs have their own, which we covered in a separate webinar. The Cal States use Cal State Apply.

Claire: I’ll put the link to our UC webinar in the chat for anyone who wants it, since today is just about the Cal States.

One Application, 22 Universities

Swami: Cal State Apply is a single application that can go to all 22 Cal States. There used to be 23, but Cal Maritime is now part of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. You pay $70 per campus. Some students can apply to four campuses for free, depending on family income.

November 30 is the priority deadline. The more selective campuses, like Cal Poly and San José State, only accept applications through November 30. Some less selective campuses accept applications later. But if you can, apply by November 30, because your chances are much higher.

A few important things. There are no essays. None. There are no letters of recommendation. And the CSUs don’t consider the SAT or ACT for admission.

Claire: I’ve put the fee waiver and application dates links in the chat. It’s worth repeating that those things aren’t considered. Students often ask what they can do to make their application stronger. Unlike the Common App, where many pieces highlight different sides of a student, the Cal State application is much more straightforward. It doesn’t rely on those extra pieces.

Swami: Right. People ask, “What can I do to improve my chances?” And the answer is really nothing. You put in all your information, and the decision gets made. If you have a letter of recommendation, or special circumstances, there’s no place to provide that on the Cal State application, and the Cal States won’t consider it.

What’s New This Year

Swami: First, there’s a new design. Cal State Apply looked the same for a long time. The new version is meant to be mobile-friendly, with a section-by-section layout and a progress wheel. It’s nicer to look at, and hopefully easier to use.

Second, it opened earlier this year, on August 1. But some important parts, like the high school sections and A-G matching, didn’t open until later. That’s a bit confusing. Honestly, the whole application takes a couple of hours, so it doesn’t matter much. You still have plenty of time.

Third, course import. California students can now import their courses from CaliforniaColleges.edu. If you have an account there with your transcript loaded, you can connect it to the UC and Cal State applications. Sometimes the import isn’t exactly right, so you have to check it. Most of the students we work with enter their courses on each application by hand, just to avoid mistakes.

And as I mentioned, Cal Maritime is now a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus, and the deadline is November 30. We’ll talk about Direct Admission later.

Jen: You also mentioned a new tool this year for course import.

Swami: Yes. If you’ve taken college courses, like community college classes, there’s a new AI tool that lets you upload a transcript and enter the courses into the application automatically. That’s only for college courses, not high school courses.

Who Is Eligible

Swami: The basic requirements are 15 A-G courses with grades of C- or better, a qualifying A-G GPA of 2.5 or higher for California residents and 3.0 for everyone else, and a high school diploma or an equivalent like the GED or HiSET.

If you’re below the line, you may still be considered. California students with a 2.0 to 2.49 GPA, and out-of-state students with a 2.5 to 2.99 GPA, can be considered based on supplemental factors that each campus sets.

Jen: I’ve added links to the freshman admission requirements and the CSU Admission Handbook.

Audience question: Can you share what California GPA roughly corresponds to being in the top third?

Swami: Unfortunately, that data doesn’t really exist. And CSU admission isn’t based on whether you’re in the top third. The Master Plan just says the CSU system is meant, roughly, for the top third of California graduates. Admission doesn’t depend on your rank at your school or in the state. It depends on meeting the minimum criteria. Impacted programs have their own criteria, which we’ll get to. At non-impacted campuses and non-impacted programs, everyone who meets the minimum is admitted. If you have a 2.5 or better and apply to a non-impacted program at, say, Chico State, you’ll be accepted.

A-G at the CSU vs. the UC

Swami: A-G for the Cal States is similar to the UCs, but a little different. You need two years of history. You need two years of science: one biological and one physical. You need two years of a language other than English. That can be the same language, or two first-level courses in different languages, so Spanish 1 and French 1 together count as two years. That second option is new on this year’s comparison. You also need one year of visual or performing arts.

Repeated courses work differently, too. On the Cal State application, you report a repeated course once, with the highest grade. Say you took physics, got an F, retook it, and got a C. You report the C and leave the F out. On the UC application, you report both, and the UCs sort it out.

How the CSU Calculates Your GPA

Swami: You report your courses, and the Cal State system calculates your GPA. Every year, this causes confusion. People say, “My GPA on the Cal State application doesn’t match my transcript.” It won’t match. That’s just how it works.

The Cal States use your A-G courses from the summer after 9th grade through the summer after 11th grade to calculate your GPA. Other A-G courses don’t count in the GPA, but they do count toward whether you have enough A-G courses.

UC-approved honors courses, AP, and IB get an extra point. So a B in AP Physics counts like an A in regular physics. That’s capped at eight semesters, and only two can come from 10th grade, so most will be from 11th grade.

The application lets you enter pluses and minuses, but the Cal States don’t count them. Everything counts as the letter grade. And Ds and Fs are still reported and still count in your GPA, even though they don’t count toward your A-G years.

Claire: I’ve put in a few links. The side-by-side comparison of UC and CSU A-G requirements is helpful, and so is the A-G course list.

Swami: The A-G course list is really helpful, because it’s the only way to know whether a course counts as honors. If it’s listed as honors on the UC site for your school, it’s an honors course. If it’s not, it isn’t.

Audience question: A student has taken four science classes but no physics. Will that student be denied?

Swami: No, not necessarily. You need one year of biological science and one year of physical science. Physics isn’t specifically required.

Audience question: Is it only Ds and Fs in courses that weren’t repeated that count? If a student got a D, then repeated the course and got a higher grade, that first D wouldn’t count, right?

Swami: Correct. If you took the same class again and got a better grade, you don’t report the D on the Cal State application at all. Say you took English 3 and got a D, then took English 3 again and got an A. You report only the A. On the UC application, you report both, and the UCs ignore the lower grade.

Jen: For everyone, there’s also a CSU A-G GPA calculator. I’m sharing that link too.

Impaction

Swami: Impaction is really important to understand. There’s a minimum GPA, but at some campuses and in some majors, more applicants meet the criteria than there are seats. So those programs use extra criteria to choose.

Say you’re applying to computer science at San José State, and they can take a certain number of students. More students than that meet the CSU minimum, so they have to choose among them.

At some campuses, every program is impacted: Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, San Diego State, San José State, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. At other campuses, the campus is open, so generally everyone who’s eligible is admitted, but some programs are impacted. Nursing is impacted almost everywhere. It’s one of the most selective majors. Engineering, computer science, business, and biology are impacted at several campuses. The impacted programs list shows all of them.

Claire: I’ve put in several links: impaction for the whole CSU system, plus San José State and Cal Poly pages that show their specific majors.

Audience question: If an out-of-state student has lopsided grades, As in math and STEM and Cs in English and history, is there any chance of admission with an unweighted GPA over 2.6?

Swami: Absolutely. The fact that it’s lopsided makes no difference. For out-of-state students, the minimum GPA is 3.0, not 2.5, but students between 2.5 and 3.0 can be considered. So apply to less impacted campuses and programs. Most Cal States aren’t impacted for most programs.

What Changed in Impaction This Year

Swami: A few changes compared with last year. Cal Poly Pomona used to be a highly impacted campus. It’s no longer impacted as a campus for first-years, but some majors still are, including engineering, computer science, biology, and architecture. At Cal State LA, only nursing is impacted now. At Sacramento, San Bernardino, and Sonoma, psychology is no longer impacted. Criminal justice is no longer impacted at Sacramento and San Bernardino. And Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, as it has been for a long time, is impacted in everything and still won’t consider alternate majors.

Audience question: If a student gets a D or an F in a senior year course, does that have to be reported, and could it affect admission?

Swami: A current senior won’t have senior year grades yet. A student who has already graduated reports all their grades. What matters is the whole record, not any single grade.

Jen: I think the parent may be asking about after they apply. If a student gets a D or an F in the second semester of senior year, could that affect admission?

Swami: Thanks, Jen. Yes, it can. Say you’re admitted to Sacramento State and then get a D or an F in a senior course. You do have to tell the colleges. My advice: if you have several offers, call each college before you decide and tell them. Don’t wait until the last minute. Some colleges won’t mind and others will, so find out where it makes no difference, and accept that offer. Be proactive once your decisions arrive.

Local Admission Areas and Other Factors

Swami: At impacted campuses, several factors besides GPA and A-G courses make a difference. One is the local admission area. The Cal States are meant to serve their local area first, so each has one. Long Beach’s includes districts like Anaheim, Bellflower, Compton, Downey, and Huntington Beach. San Diego State’s is San Diego County high schools south of Highway 56, plus Imperial County. Students from those areas get preference for impacted campuses and majors.

There are other factors, too. The most common is courses beyond the minimum. If you’ve taken more than the 15 required A-G courses, that matters a lot. If you’ve taken extra community college courses or extra AP exams, report all of them. They all count.

Household income matters. If it comes down to it, they’ll choose students with lower incomes.

Extracurricular involvement matters, but they don’t care about the details of what you did. They care how many hours you spent. They ask a few very simple questions, and you should enter the highest number of hours that is honest.

And as we said, where you went to school. Every impacted campus publishes its list of supplemental factors. Understanding them helps up to a point. But in the end, you apply, you enter all the details, and the campus makes its decision.

Claire: One more impaction question. Does applying undeclared help?

Swami: It works very differently than at the UCs. You pick a major when you apply, and it just depends on whether that major is impacted.

Example: How San Diego State Decides

Swami: San José State and Cal Poly publish how hard it is to get into particular majors, like computer science at San José State. We’ll share those links after the webinar.

Now let’s take San Diego State as an example. SDSU considers your A-G courses and GPA. The average GPA of admitted students is 3.9, which is far above the minimum. It looks at preparation for your major, so for computer science and engineering, it looks at your math and science grades. It gives special consideration for the local admission area and for obstacles overcome, like family income or being a first-generation student, and for taking part in college prep programs. Those aren’t research programs. They’re programs that communities offer to help low-income students get to college.

Some programs have their own rules. Nursing requires a B or better in intermediate algebra, biology, and chemistry with lab. Some arts majors require auditions or portfolios. SDSU won’t accept applications after November 30. And students from outside the local area must live on campus for two years, so you can’t commute if you’re not from the San Diego area.

Jen: I’ll add the link for SDSU admissions.

Direct Admission

Swami: One new thing this year is Direct Admission. Many students may already have received a letter from the CSU saying they qualify for admission, before they even started the application. The CSU sends these letters based on students’ records. Those students just have to fill out the application and submit it. Their admission is guaranteed at the participating campuses.

Claire: I’m sharing two links about it, one for families and one for counselors.

Swami: You still have to apply. And the most selective campuses, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Diego, San José, and San Luis Obispo, aren’t part of the program.

Audience question: If admission is already guaranteed, how would we know which major without applying?

Swami: The guarantee only works for non-impacted majors. You have to apply to a non-impacted major.

Before You Start

Swami: So how do you fill it in? Start at Cal State Apply, and gather what you’ll need. That means your high school transcripts, college and dual enrollment transcripts, and transcripts from every high school you’ve attended, including BYU, UC Scout, Apex: all of them.

Every course and every grade has to be reported. You have no choice in the matter. You can’t leave out a poor grade.

You also need your citizenship status, your CaliforniaColleges.edu login if you have one, how many hours you’ve spent on activities, your Social Security number if you have one, your parents’ income, your Statewide Student ID, and an email address.

Jen: I’m sharing the Freshman Application Guide in the chat.

Create Your Account and Start a New Application

Swami: You start by filling in your basic information: name, phone number, and so on. Then most freshmen will see a page that’s a little confusing. Choose “Don’t Copy, Start a New Application.” The Transfer Planner option is almost exclusively for transfer students who filled out the Transfer Planner ahead of time.

Audience question: Can you repeat what you said about transfer students?

Swami: Sure. When you start the application, it asks whether you want to click “Don’t Copy, Start a New Application” or “I already have a Transfer Planner account.” If you don’t know what a Transfer Planner account is, click the left button, not the right one. The Transfer Planner is where community college students enter their coursework ahead of time, for things like the Transfer Admission Guarantee. If you have one, you can copy that coursework into Cal State Apply.

The Extended Profile

Swami: Next you answer a few questions. You’re seeking a first bachelor’s degree, and you’re a graduating high school senior. The question that trips people up asks whether you’ve earned or plan to earn college credit before graduating high school. If you’ve taken a community college course or a dual enrollment class, say yes. Otherwise, there’s no place in the application to enter those courses.

Then you answer questions about military status and visa status. The visa question only applies to students who need an F-1 or J-1 student visa. If you’re in the U.S. on another visa, like an H-4 or L-2, you answer that you don’t need a visa to attend the CSU.

Claire: I’ve put a link to the CSU residency page in the chat for anyone who wants more information.

Pick at Least One Campus and Major

Swami: The first thing to do is pick at least one campus and major. You don’t have to pick them all now. Pick one, like Cal State LA and criminology, and you can add the rest after you’ve filled in the application.

The Four Sections of the Application

Swami: Let me share the actual application so you can see it. It looks very different now, but it still has the same four sections: Personal Information, Academic History, Supporting Information, and Program Materials. Academic History is the hardest, so for most people it’s easiest to start there.

High Schools Attended

Swami: The first step is to list the high schools you’ve attended. It asks whether you went to high school in California, and if so, whether you want to connect to CaliforniaColleges.edu. I can’t show that connection, because this is a test account. Katherine Williamson isn’t a real student and doesn’t have a Statewide Student ID. So I’ll click Ignore. If you have an account, you’d click Connect.

Then you add every high school you’ve attended. This is the step that trips a lot of people up. BYU Independent Study, UC Scout, UC Berkeley’s ATDP, and Johns Hopkins CTY all have “university” in their names, but they’re all high schools.

To add a school, you pick the country, the city, and the school. Let’s say Amador Valley in Pleasanton. Then it asks for your term type. Some transcripts report some courses as two semester grades and others as a single full-year grade. If yours does, enter the same school twice, once for each term type. Then enter your dates, say August 2023 through June 2027, and save. When you’ve added all your high schools, you confirm you’re done.

Some schools are hard to find. Take BYU. You have to know that it’s in Utah and that it starts with “Brigham.” I can’t tell you how many students didn’t know that BYU stands for Brigham Young University. If you type BYU, nothing comes up. And BYU Online High School isn’t the one you want. It’s BYU Independent Study High School.

Audience question: If a student took a course through Apex, but it isn’t on their high school transcript, what do they do?

Swami: Enter Apex as a high school as well. Every high school you’ve attended goes here, and every course has to be reported. You don’t get to choose which grades to report. Good grade or bad grade, if you took the course and got a grade, you report it.

Audience question: If a student took one summer class at a different California high school, but it’s listed on their home school transcript for credit, do they add the other school?

Swami: Not necessarily. You could add it, but if it’s on your home school transcript, you can report it there.

Jen: There’s another question about summer programs at Johns Hopkins. There are two different Johns Hopkins programs: the online high school, and college summer programs where you earn college credit.

Swami: Right. The rule is that if you took a course and got a grade, you report it. The grade is what matters. If you did an experiential program with no grade, just completion, you don’t report it.

Audience question: Can you try adding UC Scout? I’m trying and can’t find it.

Swami: Sure. UC Scout is a little confusing. Here it is: it’s listed as Scout from University of California, in Santa Clara. Add every school you’ve taken courses at. And if you took a class elsewhere and it’s on your high school transcript, you’re still better off reporting it under the school where you actually took it. Just make sure every course is reported exactly once.

If you took courses outside the United States, you’ll say so, enter your GPA, and upload transcripts from that school.

Colleges Attended

Swami: Next is Colleges Attended. Report every college. There’s a new coursework import tool here. It’s an AI tool: you upload your college transcript, and it reads it and adds your courses. You can always enter them manually instead. Enter every college and every course you’ve taken at each one.

Entering Your High School Courses

Swami: Now, high school coursework. This is where people struggle, so let me show you. You add a grade level, say 9th grade, 2023-24, not a summer course. Then you start typing a course name. Every course at every California high school is in here, so please don’t type in your own course names. Start typing, then choose from the dropdown.

Here’s a great example. I’ll pick Honors Freshman English. When I choose it, the course type says None. For California students, don’t change that. The title says honors, but the UCs don’t consider it an honors course, so the Cal States don’t either.

Then you enter your grades, say an A- in the first semester and an A+ in the second, and save. You add every course and every grade this way, one by one. For 12th grade, first semester is In Progress and second semester is Planned. For a one-semester course, choose No Course for the other semester. And if you took the same course twice, enter only the better grade.

Claire, you had a question about that?

Claire: Yes. Some students get a low grade, then take a similar class, but not the exact same one. Maybe it’s at a community college, with a slightly different name.

Swami: The CSU and UC systems both say that if you retake the same or an essentially identical class for a better grade, they only consider the better grade. On the UC application you enter both, and they ignore the lower one. On the Cal State application, you only enter the better grade. But if you took a different class, say you got a D in physics at your high school and then took AP Physics or another physics class elsewhere, you report both grades, because they aren’t the same course.

Jen: If in doubt, ask your high school counselor. They can tell you whether two courses are essentially the same. The names don’t have to match exactly.

Claire: And to repeat what you said, Swami: if you’re a California student, don’t enter courses manually. It’s all in the dropdown. Students sometimes see a small difference and want to override it. Don’t.

Swami: The reason is that when you pick from the list, the A-G matching happens automatically and correctly. If you type it yourself, you have to do the A-G matching, you may get it wrong, and the campus has to check it. It slows down your application.

Audience question: A school has a combined English and history class, one line on the transcript, 10 credits. How does that count toward each A-G area?

Swami: Great question. If it’s a California high school, it will sort itself out automatically. If it isn’t, reach out to the CSU and ask how to categorize it. I don’t think there’s one answer for every student. Your school may report it as two separate courses, but you’ll have to work that out.

Dual Enrollment and College Courses

Swami: After high school courses, you enter your college coursework. Every course at every California community college is listed. Use exactly the course code on your college transcript, and enter the grade the college gave you. You’ll often have to match college courses to A-G areas yourself, because automatic matching doesn’t always work for them.

All dual enrollment courses go under the college where you took them. Even if the class met on your high school campus, if it was a dual enrollment class, add the college and report the course there. That’s the only way you get the extra credit those courses earn. Match the course code exactly, and turn on the Transferable toggle. For tuition status, most high school students choose Not applicable.

Claire: I’ve shared a link with some of these special cases.

Tests

Swami: Then you enter standardized tests. They ask about many kinds. You’ll see the SAT and ACT there, but the CSUs don’t consider either for admission. They only use them for placement after you’re admitted. So there’s no particular reason to add them.

Jen: What about CAASPP scores?

Swami: The application just asks whether the CSU can see your CAASPP results. Everyone should say yes. CAASPP is the test California public high school students take, and it isn’t used for admission at all. It’s used only for placement.

For the SAT and ACT, there’s no reason to report them on the application yet. If you’re admitted and enrolling, you can send your scores then to place out of introductory English or math.

But report every AP exam where you scored a 3 or better, because it gives you additional credit. A 3 or better can fill an A-G requirement, like that fourth year of English.

Audience question: I have a student who’s graduating a year early, at the end of junior year. Does she ignore the senior course list?

Swami: Yes. You enter courses for the years you attended high school. It’s an unusual case. In essence, you’re applying as a junior, so you need to have completed the 15 A-G courses in three years. You don’t have a fourth year to finish them.

Audience question: Would it be flagged if a student added SAT or ACT scores now?

Swami: No. Add them or don’t. It makes no difference to admission. But report every AP score of 3 or better, because those make a difference in A-G matching.

A-G Matching

Swami: Let me show you A-G matching. At the end, you get a summary showing how many years each area requires and how many you’ve reported. I only entered one English class, so that’s all that shows up here.

When you’ve entered all your coursework, click Update A-G Courses. It shows every course. Make sure every course has an A-G letter assigned on the right. No course should be left without a match unless it really doesn’t belong.

It’s also worth knowing that if you type in health or physical education, it won’t show up in the dropdown. The Cal States don’t want to know about it, because it isn’t an A-G class. Just skip those classes.

If you don’t have enough courses in G, the elective area, you can reassign extra courses from other areas. Say you show zero electives, but you took four science classes when only two are required. You can pick one of those science classes and change its letter to G.

Jen: And for out-of-state students who enter courses manually and see No Match?

Swami: They have to assign every course manually. That’s generally straightforward, with some exceptions. Computer science courses like AP Computer Science A are categorized differently, so look up the categories.

Recap: Repeated Courses and Tricky Cases

Swami: To recap: enter all your high schools and grades. Don’t type in course names unless you’re from outside California, in which case you have to.

Repeated courses have specific rules. If you retook a course for a better grade, enter it once with the higher grade. If the retake is still in progress, say you got a C in physics and are retaking it as a senior, enter the original grade and enter the retake as In Progress and Planned. If you made up a grade with a different class, enter both.

Some courses, like band, journalism, and leadership, can be taken again and again. The application will warn you that you’re entering the same course twice. Just acknowledge it and enter them all.

And if you have a D or an F that you didn’t replace with a better grade, report it. You don’t get to decide which grades to leave out.

Swami: One more thing on A-G totals. Check them and make sure you have enough in every area. If you have extra, that helps a lot at the most selective campuses. So don’t forget to enter AP courses.

Supporting Information: Don’t Undercount

Swami: Let me show you Supporting Information. Under Educational Programs, you indicate whether you’ve participated in any of the listed programs. Any of them can potentially make a difference.

Then you enter the average number of hours you worked per week over the most recent 36 months. Work means a job that paid you money, like a coffee shop job or a parks and rec job. They all count. It also asks whether any of that work related to your intended major. That makes a difference. Then it asks how many hours you spent on extracurricular activities, and whether any were leadership positions.

These are simple questions, but they’re the extra questions that make a difference at places like Cal Poly and San José State. So enter the highest number of hours that’s true and that you can defend.

Audience comment: Speaking as an out-of-state counselor, A-G matching and meeting the requirements is critical. I learned the hard way with a student that SDSU will not adjust an error at all. They deny, then tell the student to appeal.

Swami: Yes. Please take the time to match your A-G courses correctly. The Cal State application is simple, but these details make a big difference. When we do applications with students, we check, double-check, and triple-check that the A-G matching is correct, because it matters. Thank you for that point.

So don’t undercount your hours. Count everything you did: sports, activities, volunteer work. Add it all up.

EOP and Finish in Four

Swami: Finally, two programs are mainly for students with fewer resources: lower-income students and first-generation students. EOP, the Educational Opportunity Program, is a support program for them. Finish in Four is a program that helps students graduate in four years. If you’re eligible and interested, select them. If they aren’t meant for you, say no.

Claire: I’m putting links to both programs in the chat.

Swami: Claire, you had a question about what first-gen means.

Claire: Yes. Some colleges count a student as first-gen if their parents graduated from a college outside the U.S. Is that the case here?

Swami: There are a few colleges where that’s true, but the Cal States aren’t among them. For the CSU, first-gen means you’re the first in your family to go to college anywhere.

Jen: Going back to Finish in Four, who should say yes, and what does it actually give them?

Swami: It’s a support program. The Cal States launched it because some students lack the emotional or social supports they need. Nobody in their family has been to college. The student gets to college and doesn’t know how to navigate it, and they need support to stay in school and finish in four years. So it’s really for students who don’t have someone at home who knows what college is like.

It gives several benefits, and the biggest is priority registration. You get to register ahead of other students. But if you’re not in those categories, it isn’t meant for you, and you shouldn’t take a spot from someone who really needs it.

Program Materials and Submitting

Swami: At the end, each campus has its own questions. They’re simple, like whether you plan to live on or off campus. Answer them, and then submit.

If you see warnings, read them. If it says your A-G requirements aren’t met, pay attention. If a warning really doesn’t apply, that’s fine.

And once you submit, you can’t really change anything. Say you’re applying to five Cal States. Once you submit to the first one, the only thing you can still do is add campuses and submit to them. The rest of the application is frozen. So it has to be right the first time.

Claire: I’ve put a link about fee waivers in the chat.

Jen: What happens if a student makes a mistake on their application?

Swami: They have to contact every campus individually to get it corrected. So first of all, try not to make mistakes.

After You Apply

Swami: Once you’ve applied, watch your email. As with other colleges, you’ll set up a portal on each campus’s website and check your status there.

Finish strong. Complete all your planned courses with a C- or better, and keep your GPA up. Offers are sometimes withdrawn.

It isn’t on the slide, but some programs need supplemental materials after you apply, like an audition. If you’re applying to music at San Diego State, for example, they’ll ask for audition recordings, and you have to turn them in.

Report any changes. The best thing is not to drop or change a senior course. If you said you’ll take a class in the second semester of senior year, take it, and get a good grade. If you do change something, contact every campus and tell them.

And send transcripts when you’re asked. Usually after you accept an offer from a UC or Cal State, they ask for your transcripts and any other documents they need.

Out-of-State Applicants

Swami: Out-of-state students have slightly different requirements. The GPA minimum is higher, they get lower priority, and they enter all their courses manually. It’s still not a difficult application. You just have to be more careful, because the application does less for you.

Claire: I’ve shared a link with guidance for out-of-state students.

Five Things That Trip Students Up

Swami: A few things to remember. If you’ve taken a college course, answer yes in the Extended Profile and report those courses in the college section. Say yes to releasing your CAASPP results. It doesn’t affect admission. If you’re a California public school student, you have a Statewide Student ID, usually on your transcript, so put it in your application. For activities, count everything and choose the highest range that’s true. And if EOP and Finish in Four are relevant to your situation, look for them in the application and say yes.

Audience comment: This year, the EOP application is expected by December 15 at several campuses. Overall, it’s due by January 15, and recommendations and supporting documents are due by January 31. This changed deadline is important for students who need EOP support.

Swami: Thank you for that. If you’re applying for EOP, you do have to complete the EOP application, and it takes work. You’ll only be selected if you actually meet the criteria, so don’t select EOP just to try to get something.

Questions

Swami: Any final questions before we finish? And if you’re watching, we’d love to know whether this was helpful. Even a short note in the chat helps.

Audience question: Does it help to submit early?

Swami: No. Submitting before November 30 doesn’t help.

Audience question: What about international students?

Swami: An attendee shared a helpful link, which I’ve copied into the chat. If you’re an international student, you answer yes to the question in Academic Information about completing high school outside the U.S. After you apply, you’ll submit transcripts. What’s required depends on where you went to school. Some students need a translation or evaluation service, and for others the CSU accepts the transcript as is. Some students also need to provide results from national exams, like those in the U.K. or India. International admission is different, so check the requirements for your situation.

Closing

Swami: I think that’s everything we needed to share today. Claire, Jen, thank you so much for joining me. And thank you to everyone who watched. Please let us know whether you found this helpful, or what you’d like to see done differently.

Claire: I’ve put two final links in the chat. One is about LifeLaunchr’s coaching package for the UC and CSU applications. The other is for a free consultation, if you’d like to meet with us and learn more about how we work with students.

Swami: Wonderful. Thank you, Claire. Thanks, Jen. And thanks, everyone, for being here today.

Resources

• Cal State Apply: start your application and choose Fall 2027.
• Freshman Application Guide 2027-2028: the CSU’s step-by-step guide.
• Coursework Entry Guide for Applicants from Out of State: manual entry and A-G matching.
• CSU Admission Handbook 2027-2028: eligibility, GPA, and validation rules.
• UC-CSU comparison of A-G requirements: the two systems side by side.
• UC A-G Course List: your school’s approved courses and UC-approved honors.
• CSU A-G GPA calculator: check the GPA the application calculates.
• 2027-2028 Impacted Programs Matrix: impacted campuses and majors.
• CSU Local Admission and Service Areas: each campus’s local area.
• Supplemental factors by campus: what each campus weighs beyond GPA.
• San José State first-year impaction results: results by major.
• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo first-year student profile: applicants, admits, and GPA ranges by college.
• San Diego State first-year admissions: SDSU’s criteria and requirements.
• Explained: CSU Direct Admission: what the letter means.
• CSU application fee waiver: who qualifies and how appeals work.
• Educational Opportunity Program (EOP): support for low-income and first-generation students.
• Finish in Four: the CSU’s four-year graduation pledge.
• CDE: Early Assessment Program: how CAASPP results are used.
• Our UC application webinar: recording and transcript.

Questions?

If other questions come up, email us at help@lifelaunchr.com.

For personalized help with the UC and CSU applications, schedule your free initial consultation at this link.