Las Virgenes Educational Foundation

College Prep Pathway

In the Las Virgenes Unified School District, there is a presumption that most students are working toward the goal of entering a two or four-year college upon graduation. With that in mind, the Las Virgenes Educational Foundation has posted some activities, procedures, and information sources that will assist students in achieving that goal.

There are 2,400+ four-year colleges and universities in the United States and they have varying levels of selectivity. Approximately 100 of them are considered "highly selective." Another tier of colleges is considered "very selective," then many more are ranked as simply "selective," while a final group is considered "non-selective."

The elements in a student's profile that a college will evaluate during the selection procedure often boils down to the following (listed in the order of their importance):

The strength of the academic curriculum (how rigorous/difficult is the curriculum a student is taking?)
How well did the student do in those courses (i.e. grades)?
What are the student's standardized test results (i.e. the SAT Reasoning test or the ACT, the SAT Subject Tests, and the APs)?
Is the student involved in any kind of extracurricular activities (sports, school government, clubs, church groups, community groups, work)?
Letters of recommendation from a counselor and teachers.
Well-managed application (strong essay, where required, demonstrated interest in college, where applicable).

Of course, not every school considers all these factors (for example, the UC system does not request or permit letters of recommendation during the initial application process), and the relative importance of a given element varies school by school.

While academic admission requirements are not the same for all colleges and universities, fulfilling the UC "a-g" subject requirements is recommended for students planning to attend not only the University of California (UC), but also the California State University (CSU), and other "highly selective" private and independent universities.

The UC "a-g" Subject Requirements: The UC college preparatory course pattern is also known as the "a-g" subject requirements. The University of California is the institution responsible for reviewing high school courses in the state of California to certify that they meet the college preparatory standard. To satisfy the UC subject requirements, students must complete 15 units of UC-approved high school coursework. At least 7 of the 15 units must be taken in the last two years of high school. Click on the " UC a-g" Subject Requirements" link to learn more about these requirements.