College Applications
Below are the most commonly used 4-year college applications. Please speak with your counselor if you have any questions navigating these links. Miramar College information will come out later in the year as the application will not be open until Spring, but you can click here for tours and additional information.
Find your future at the California State University.
With 23 campuses and thousands of degree choices, the CSU is a great place to start your journey. Explore your options below, and start your CSU application today. Deadline for Application is November 30th.
SDSU, CSU San Marcos, CSU Bakersfield, CSU Channel Islands, CSU Chico, CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU East Bay, CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, CSU Monterey Bay, CSU Northridge, CSU San Bernardino, Cal Maritime, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State LA, Fresno State, Humboldt State, Sacramento State, San Francisco State, San José State, Sonoma State, Stanislaus State
Click here for the CSU Campus Match to research each campus.
Search degrees here.
Did you know CSU's have degrees in Interior Design, Fashion, Viticulture, Agriculture, Dairy Science, Pre-Vet, Pre-Law, Music Sound Recording, Teaching, Nursing, Computer Animation & Game Design, Construction Management, Manufacturing, Landscape Design, Nutrition and Food, Hospitality and Tourism, Communication Disorders, Botany, Women & Gender Studies, Forestry, Fisheries, Film & Electronic Arts, Aviation Administration, Fire Protection Admin & Tech, Urban Planning, Photography, Cyber Security, LGBTQ+ Studies, Forensic Science, and SO MUCH MORE!
Welcome to the University of California's application for undergraduate admissions and scholarships. By starting your application, you're taking your first step toward the best public university system in the world. Deadline for Application is November 30th.
There are nine colleges in the UC System for undergraduate admissions:
Click here for information about the UC Application.
Explore nearly 900 colleges and universities using Common App, including top-tier private and Ivy League schools. Check to see if the college you want to apply to is on Common App, before completing any other apps for the college. Deadlines for Application vary by college.
Here are some of the colleges who can be found on Common App:
Stanford, USD, USC, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Cornell, Rice, Duke, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Caltech, Clark University, Dartmouth, U Penn, Princeton, Point Loma Nazarene University, and many, many more!
Please note: If you apply to a college via Common App, you MUST:
connect your account with Xello (click here to see video with directions)
notify your counselor
use Xello to request teacher letters of recommendation. Make sure to log in to Naviance using Clever and the Active Directory (use district login credentials).
Click here to see Common App Essay Prompts.
Click here to log in to Xello via CLEVER.
Workshops are during lunch in the Library
You must eat first before attending the workshop; no food in the Library
University of California and California State University application deadlines are 11:59 PM November 30th
Need ideas about how to draft your Personal Insight Questions (PIQ) or College Essays?
Click here to view last year's presentation with Rob Humbracht from Passport Admissions that may provide you ideas about what to include/not include in your PIQ/college essays
Click here to view a recording from the University of California Counselor Conference that specifically addresses each of the 8 PIQs and suggestions about how to answer them
College Application Tips
Did you take or are you taking Miramar College classes?
Select the link to see what UC or CSU Subject Area your Miramar class or classes fall under when inputting them in your UC or CSU applications: Miramar College Class Title and UC and CSU Subject Area
Need a letter of recommendation?
*No letters of recommendation are needed/accepted for UC and CSU campuses.
Click here to read about letter of recommendation etiquette.
Click here to access the Brag Sheet. You will need to use your student login to access Xello via Clever. The Brag Sheet will be under assignments on your Xello home page.
First Gen Journeys & The Transition to College
Click the links below to hear stories and advice from first generation students. Learn about their journeys from high school to college. See how they overcame challenges and discovered their career paths.
Jocelyn, Markease, Danielle, and Chloe - Four students share their perspectives on education, race and culture, and learning during a pandemic.
More College and Career Stories
Roadtrip Nation: Community Driven - Follow three California Community College students as they travel across the state interviewing successful CCC alumni
What does the 4-year College Application process look like? Use the following as a checklist to make sure you are moving forward in the process. For most students, the process will look like this:
Apply for college
CSU deadline: Nov 30th for most campuses
UC deadline: Nov 30th
Common App college deadlines: vary by school, usually Nov-Jan.
There will be college application workshops, put on by the counseling department, every Tuesday and Thursday starting Oct 6th through Dec 4th via Zoom (more information ABOVE).
Apply for the FAFSA or Dream Act
Application opens October 1st
Application closes March 2nd (though students should aim to submit by end of January, at the latest to get the most accurate Financial Aid information from your college).
FAFSA workshops, put on by the counseling department and Cal-SOAP, will be offered in December and January (more information to come).
Pay close attention to the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) number you are given once you submit the FAFSA. This information is what colleges will be using to determine your Financial Aid Package. Also, if you qualify for a Cal Grant, you will get an email asking you to create a Webgrants account, where you will eventually add the College you plan to attend, once you've made that decision (click here for more information).
Scholarships
Deadlines are ongoing throughout the year. See the Scholarships tab in the VCC for many opportunities.
Create College Portals for each of the colleges you applied to.
You should get an email from each college with information on how to create your portal. Check your portals frequently for new items on your TO DO list. These items have deadlines and you will not be accepted to the college if you do not complete all items on your TO DO. The portal may be the first place you will find out if you have been accepted by the Colleges.
Colleges may ask for you to send transcripts at this time so they can double check the info you have self-reported. If there is a discrepancy, your acceptance may be at-risk, so be very careful when completing your applications. If you have transcripts at Miramar/City/Mesa college, you will need to request those transcripts get sent to the colleges via your mySDCCD portal. MMHS cannot send your college transcript, only you can request that from your Miramar portal.
Colleges also may ask for you to send AP scores from Collegeboard. You will need to go onto the Collegeboard website, log in, then go to the section in AP that says "send scores." Click here for more information. Keep in mind, if you are planning to take AP tests this school year, you will need to request the final score report to be sent in July.
Start getting College Acceptance emails or portal updates!
This can begin as early as December and as late as April, it varies by college.
Start viewing your Financial Aid packages
These will be updated in your college portals, once the colleges have received your qualification information from FAFSA/Dream Act. SDSU has a separate portal for Financial Aid called Aidlink, though most other colleges have a separate tab/section in their portals.
Speak with your counselor if you'd like help breaking down what the financial aid package means for your cost of attendance. In most cases, you won't be paying as much as it appears, since amounts are approximate and usually based on max amounts. The main costs which won't vary are Tuition and Fees. Items like personal and transportation are not a required fee, and may not be applicable to you. Housing and Food costs can vary based on amount of roommates, type of housing, type of meal plan, whether you live on-campus, off-campus, or at home. If you receive an EFC = 0, are accepted to SDSU or CSU San Marcos, and are planning to live at home, most likely- you won't have to pay anything!! So don't let cost deter you, and check-in with a counselor before you change your mind about attending a 4-year college because of the cost!
If you can afford to, and have the ability to, now would be a good time to check out the college campuses, if you haven't already, to aid in your decision. Sometimes a student "just knows," which campus is right for them by stepping foot on the campus.
Make your decision!
You must choose your college by May 1st (this deadline may be altered or extended based on COVID impact, just make sure you find out your college's posted deadline, and complete your Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) before the deadline.
Make sure to attend the MMHS college signing day event to announce the college you will be attending to the school staff and all your peers!
Complete all necessary applications/contracts (housing, meal plan, honors programs, work study, etc) ASAP! Keep in mind that deadlines for housing are paramount, and you should complete these applications well before the deadline. In places like San Francisco, where vacancy rates are abysmal, you should secure your housing application ASAP, as getting off-campus housing is near impossible, and on-campus fills up FAST. DO NOT WAIT! Often the college will require a housing deposit fee (which may be up to $500), so make sure you save up for those fees well in advance, in order to keep you from putting off submitting the application.
Our Registrar, Mrs. Hight, will be sending out a Final Transcript Request form, around May, to all seniors. She will fulfill requests in the order they are received on this form request only. Please do not inundate her with email requests before that time, as she cannot send off your final transcript until after all your final grades have posted, including college classes which are usually added to the high school transcript after the last day of school. Keep in mind, in addition to sending the high school transcript, if you have college credits, you will have to have your Miramar (City, Mesa) transcripts sent by requesting it in your mySDCCD portal. Once again, MMHS cannot send your college transcript for you, and the credits posted on your high school transcript do not count for college credit, so you must send your official transcript from the community college.
Start preparing for your transition to college! You've gone through a lot to get to this point, don't start freaking out now! You have spent most of your life in a traditional educational experience. College is a different kind of experience, one we think you will enjoy immensely. It's normal to have fears about the future, and start to second-guess your decisions, but this is NOT the time to back out. You will find there is plenty of support at your college to help you get through your transition, from support programs, orientation, advisers, mentors, etc. You will be fine. Talk to your counselor if you start having second thoughts. We'll help you through this! You've got this, you are well-prepared, and you owe it to yourself to move forward on the goal you have had for yourself for so many years!
Best of luck to you!
MMHS Counseling
College Apps FAQs
Started a college app, but you have questions or are having difficulty? Check out our FAQs page to help with some of the common issues. Also, you may attend our College Applications workshops every Tuesday/Thursday from 1:00-1:45 October 6th-December 4th.