…Students’ Admission to Competitive Universities (EDITED BY AARON, CHECK DATE IN LEAD)

Oscar Ortega / Roundup

A warning to students of an innocent mistake that could hurt them with their future admission to more competitive universities was announced during the Academic Senate meeting Monday.

            Elizabeth Atondo, Articulation Officer/Transfer Center Director, said a University of California, Los Angeles representative brought to her attention that an unconscious mistake by students who are planning to transfer to UCLA or other competitive universities will hurt them in the future.

             Since attendance has gone up at community colleges, students are experiencing difficulties enrolling in sequential courses.

            This has become a problem especially with science and math courses, because students are attending other community colleges outside the district and the courses may not be on the same level as those of the Los Angeles Community College District.

            By taking classes in other districts, students will lose some essential information that will help them when they go to upper division. The programs offered by Pierce College or other colleges are set to be in order so students won’t lack any knowledge in the course of taking sequential courses.

            Even within the district, Atondo is suggesting that won’t be a good idea, because every college has its own program.

            “They can risk having gaps in their knowledge and for competitive universities certainly, like UCLA, Berkeley or some of our privates like USC, students could jeopardize their admissions if they bounce around and take first-semester biology here and second semester in another school,” Atondo said.

            This will also apply to students who are planning to transfer to the California State University system, although it may not be as critical for their admission.

“Student may not be as prepared when they break their sequence. When they go to upper divisions like biology or chemistry, they’ll find that there are gaps in their knowledge,” she said.

            This information will be relayed to deans and staff members before being passed to students.

            In other business, Christian Marfil-Amatulli, president of the Associated Students Organization (ASO), said the “March on March” was a very successful event in Sacramento.

“About 6,000 students showed up to the march,” he said. “Our message was strong. Our message wasn’t to protest, but it was to thank the legislatures for keeping the community college ahead of the CSUs.”

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