I've been fielding questions from those of you eagerly awaiting an official yes or no on your application as to just when to expect that official yes or no. So, in the interests of bureaucratic transparency I'll share what I know about the admissions process.
First of all, you should know that I have no role in the admission process. On this campus, admissions decisions are made in the Office of Admissions rather than at the departmental or college level. (Having just used "college" in this way, a way potentially unfamiliar to you, let me clarify. Cal State Fullerton is a university that has fragmented its academic areas into eight colleges. As a visual arts major you will be located in the College of the Arts, as opposed to the College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, or the College of Humanities.) So, as much as I would like to receive free chocolates and Lakers tickets from you all, such a gift won't help you get admitted because Admissions doesn't really care how I feel about you. So no matter how poetically I might wax about any one of you to an Admissions evaluator, it won't help.
Second, the campus will receive about 45,000 applications for approximately 4000 first year slots and 5000 upper division transfer slots. I tell you that hoping you'll understand that Admissions can't process all its applications over a weekend, even if submitted electronically. So patience is appreciated.
Third, as of mid-December about 20% of the applications had been evaluated and offers made--or not made. Some of you have already been admitted. Today, I came across one visual arts applicant who had applied the second week of October and was admitted the third week of October. Which demonstrates that CSUF has a rolling admission process. That is, rather than announcing the entire admit pool on a single day in, say March, Admissions admits as it evaluates.
Fourth, in general applications are evaluated in the order received (October applicants early, November applicants later), but also dependent upon whether they are complete (no test scores or transcripts or other required materials outstanding). If a document is outstanding that will delay the final decision. You ask, How do I know if I've turned in all my documents? I hope you all know the answer to that: sign in to your portal account at the CSUF home site and find out first hand. Admissions mails you notification of any outstanding documents, as well as posts that information on your portal account. Campus staff would all like to do away with snail mail and route all correspondence using email, but our attorneys just won't allow it. So, in general whatever you receive via snail mail will also arrive via the portal or email.
Gosh, this is getting long. I'm going to stop here and post part II early next week. No really, I promise! In the meantime, if you haven't already, go check out your portal account. All you need is your CWID and your PIN, which you should already have received in a letter from Admissions acknowledging receipt of your application.
Also, in Part 2 I'll be referencing this website, which you can visit this weekend.
QUALIFYING FOR ADMISSION
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