UHCL Days offers transfer students assistance and on-the-spot admissions
The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) is headed to local community colleges in the Houston area for UHCL Days. Students who attend the event will be able to receive help filling out their transfer application and receive guidance from admissions and transfer advisors. Attendees can also get admitted with on-the-spot admissions decisions, visit with financial aid officials and learn about the academic programs offered at UHCL.
UHCL Days began as a way to educate transfer students at local community colleges on all of the opportunities that UHCL provides.
“UHCL Days started last year when I arrived at the university,” said Brandon Byrd, associate director of admissions, undergraduate admissions and recruitment. “The overall objective and strategy were to give transfer students the opportunity to connect with key departments on campus like admissions, transfer advising and financial aid, and these key departments make or break a student decision when determining if they will enroll in your institution.”
UHCL Days will take place on several community college campuses from April 1 – April 18 including College of the Mainland, San Jacinto College South, Lee College, San Jacinto College Central and Alvin Community College. The event aims to facilitate seamless transfers between local two-year colleges and the four-year institution.
Research from Community College Review, a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research and commentary on community colleges, shows that nearly 8.7 million students each year attend community college.
Nearly 31 percent transfer to a four-year college and 42 percent graduate with a bachelor’s degree within four years. Their research states that the key to successfully transferring to a four-year institution begins with early planning.
Once students are accepted to UHCL, the university requires a mandatory New Student and Transfer Student Orientation for accepted students to further help them make the transition from a two-year community college to a four-year institution.
Angie Montelongo, director of orientation and new student programs, said UHCL approaches its orientation session from a student success perspective.
“Many institutions require orientation for new transfer students and while some campuses offer an online option, we firmly believe that a transfer student has a much better chance at success if they attend one of our in-person orientation programs,” Montelongo said. “Our goal is to introduce transfer students to UHCL so they understand better who we are, they know more about our policies and procedures but they also start to feel more comfortable on their new campus. We want them to be prepared for their first semester and knowing where classes are or where to park or where to get food are all important questions to have answers to before your first day of classes. We want them to leave knowing they have made the right decision to continue their education at UHCL.”
UHCL Days will offer students multiple opportunities to speak with advisors regarding financial aid, course catalogs and international student advising. In addition, the Office of Admissions can perform on-the-spot acceptance as long as students provide their academic transcripts.
Students who wish to participate in on-the-spot admissions must bring official transcripts, sealed and printed within the last 60 days, from all previous colleges and universities and any required test scores with them to the event. These documents will not be returned to attendees and any documents submitted to UHCL prior to the event cannot be accessed for on-the-spot admissions.
On-the-spot admissions is not available for freshman, international and doctoral students. Although an on-the-spot admissions decision is not available during the event to these students, all students are still encouraged to attend this event to get more information about UHCL.
This event allows UHCL to partner with local community colleges in the area to give transfer students an easier transition.
“We wanted to show our partnering community colleges that we care out about our relationship with them and, most importantly, we care about the student success when getting ready to take the next step to further his/her education,” Byrd said.
Further information about UHCL Days campus visits is available at http://uhcl.edu/uhcldays. Students can contact the Office of Admissions at 281-283-2500 or admissions@uhcl.edu.
