Transferring Made Easy at SMC
By Jonathan Black
Corsair Staff Writer

The 2002 College Fair, which features representatives from schools all over the country, will occur on Oct. 24 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Santa Monica College Clocktower area.

The College Fair presents a perfect opportunity for prospective SMC students who are entertaining thoughts of transferring to a four-year school and to gather vital information from a large number of different schools.

The fair will host 80 to 100 four-year schools, many of which will be from the University of California and California State University systems.

Various private and out-of-state colleges and universities from coast to coast will also attend, including the University of Madison at Wisconsin, Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Michigan State University.

According to the Post Secondary Education Report, SMC has been the No. 1 school for fall transfers to UC schools for 13 years.

In recent semesters SMC has sent 490 more students to UC schools than the second-best college in this department, Diablo Valley Community College.

Although SMC has been No. 1 transferring students in this state as mentioned, from 2001 to now, SMC’s transfer rate went up a staggering 32 percent.

When asked for his thoughts as to why SMC has enjoyed such astounding success in his department, Dan Nannini, SMC Transfer Center co-ordinator, said that since 1998 the entire country has experienced what he referred to as “Tidal wave No. 2.”

Nannini said that the children of the baby boomer generation have reached the age of college matriculation and have started going to school at this level.

According to Nannini, SMC has capitalized by using extensive outreach programs where counselors go to high schools informing kids of SMC and their favorable transfer ratio.

“Success breeds success,” said Nannini.

The schools that seem most popular with SMC students are UCLA and Cal State Northridge.

With all these transfer statistics it’s no wonder that so many schools will be here on campus to compete for attendance at their schools next fall.

CSU and UC schools will also be on campus offering transfer counseling before and after the College Fair.
For any more information concerning the College Fair go to www.smc.edu/collegefair.