September 25, 2024 – In a college-wide festival with activities, food vendors, and over thirty transfer schools, Clovis Community College (CCC) held a fun-filled Transfer Day event for their students to look into opportunities of higher learning.
This event kicked off the start of the college application season for students applying to CSU and UC campuses, with the applications for both programs opening on October 1st.
CCC boasts a major reputation for being the #1 transfer college in the state of California, according to their 2023-2024 Annual Report. This #1 ranking is for the rate of transfer for Latinx and first-generation students to 4-year institutions.
Transfer Days in past years have certainly provided a helping hand to this achievement, offering students a glimpse into higher education right on their own campus to meet with prospective universities, learn more about schools, and see where they might fit in best.
Crush, the CCC mascot, greeted students with enthusiasm as they perused the quad where the festival took place, offering high-fives and fun dance moves to make the day exciting while they had a brief glimpse into their futures as transfer students.
One of those students, Adly Gomez, expressed how she was grateful to the college for providing events like these for students to get involved.
Gomez is a Psychology major looking to transfer somewhere such as UC Monterey Bay or CSU Long Beach next year, having attended Clovis Community for a while.
“I think Clovis Community is a really good school, they always have stuff like this, they always have events like this. And even though it’s a community college…I feel like they try a lot,” Gomez stated, portraying how grateful she is to be attending the college and how involved they are with their students.
She expanded on this point additionally by saying how thankful she is for the counseling center, saying that it’s “very helpful and very accessible” for students looking to transfer, see what classes they need to take, and generally providing help for what students need.
These events, hosted not only by CCC but also by other community colleges, showcase a variety of potential schools, from the local Fresno State and Fresno Pacific Universities to areas much farther away such as UC San Diego and CSU Stanislaus.
There were over 30 universities in attendance, including a row of private, CSU, and UC schools. Two of the private universities, Loma Linda University and Samuel Merritt University, enjoyed conversation under the shade of their tents as the sun beat down on the pavement.
Terri Mosley, a Program Coordinator and Instructor at Loma Linda University, explained that the school has no lotteries or waiting lists for being accepted, something that potential transfer students may find preferable when applying to schools.
Mosley added that the school is known for their cardiac and cancer research, mentioning that the school has international programs for students in those respective fields. Additionally, unbeknownst to many students, the university has a Nuclear Medicine program.
Vanesa Sierra also offered information about Samuel Merritt University as an admissions counselor there.
She stated that the admissions counselors review applications from a holistic perspective, allowing students to talk more about themselves and their extracurriculars as opposed to just their academic accomplishments.
Currently, their Fresno campus offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program (BSN) or an Accelerated BSN, but Sierra explained that there are campuses farther away that offer other programs as well, such as the Oakland and Sacramento campuses.
Students at CCC and the surrounding community colleges have their work cut out for them when it comes to preparing for their transfer to a university next year, but through the help of the Transfer Centers available at the schools and the counseling departments, they have a multitude of resources ready to help them as they navigate the transfer process.