College Planning
On this page, you’ll find tips and tactics to help you with college planning.
Get Ready for College: Tips for High School Students
Discovering Your College Options
As you begin planning for college, you can start by reviewing your college options. CaliforniaColleges.edu has an article to help you understand – What kind of colleges are there?
In this article, CaliforniaColleges.edu discusses the differences between community college, public four-year universities, and private four-year universities.
Residents of the Inland Empire likely want to get to know their college options in California. In this article from CaliforniaColleges.edu, you can learn more specifically about the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU), University of California (UoC), and California Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU).
Choosing Your Major
After you discover college options, your next question might be, how do I choose my major? As you continue to plan for college, the tools below provided by Californiacolleges.edu are very useful when choosing your major.
- To begin, you can start by taking a career assessment that creates your interest profile.
- Next, you can build a career list using a career search tool.
- Then, you can then use the major search tool to look up majors by name. By doing so, you can see how each major aligns with your career interests.
We also recommend you take a moment to review our Inland Empire Colleges page to discover college options in the region.
Quick Links
Remember, you can get FREE help from our College Success Advisors!
If you’d like to ask for advice and guidance about planning your college journey, connect with one of our College Success Advisors.
College Planning: Before You Apply To College
After you choose your major, ensure you’re aware of what you need to apply to college.
First year applicants to four-year college or university, community college applicants, and transfers to university have varying application checklists.
Check out these helpful articles from letsgotocollege.org below!
First year students
Students applying to a four-year college or university, or a community college from high school should read this article.
You’ll learn about important milestones to prepare to apply for college.
For example, you’ll learn why you should be on track to complete A-G requirements. You’ll also learn how to get timely letters of recommendations from teachers and why you should apply for financial aid.
Applying to community college
California Community Colleges is the institution that launches most student’s college journeys and careers. So, this article will inform you how to enroll in a local Community College.
Tips: Make sure to review our financial help page to learn why you SHOULD APPLY for the California Community Colleges California Promise Grant.
Transfer students
If you’re transferring to another college, then getting guidance is crucial.
It’s important to understand how to transfer, whether it’s from community college or one university to another.
With that in mind, this article discusses what students need to prepare to transfer to a college in the California State University or University of California systems.
Applying to College
Once you’ve chosen your major and done some college planning, you’re on your way to being ready to apply to college. Your next question is probably, what do I need to know about applying to college? Both CaliforniaColleges.edu andLetsgotocollege.org have helpful articles about the process of applying to college.
- California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California all have separate applications. Each California college application has different requirements from applying students. Get familiar with the requirements of the institutions you are applying to.
- In addition, all private institutions part of the California Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) use the Common Application. All CICU members have different application requirements for each private institution. So, make sure to learn about the Common Application system if you’re applying to a private college or university.
We recommend you review Inland Empire Colleges to learn more about all the colleges in the region!