I recently toured San Diego State University; it had been a while since I had visited.  Some important facts:

• SDSU received 83,000 applications last year!
• They admit by major and had a 30% acceptance rate for the 2017 school year.
• Their nursing program is now Direct Admit only!  Students cannot transfer in from a different major.
• Average GPA of admitted students is 3.87.
• If you are attending SDSU and come from outside the San Diego area, you are required to live on-campus for two years. 

SDSU is an excellent and affordable option for our California students!

Fewer students are going to college, yet there are more ways to continue one's education.  Some interesting thoughts from Jeffrey Selingo, just published in the Washington Post.
​www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/09/17/students-have-new-ways-of-measuring-degrees-of-success/?utm_term=.e2507a8d35a4

Cutoff scores for the National Merit Semifinalist competition were announced today and it looks like most states, including California, had an increase in scores over last year.  Here is an interesting assessment from Compass Prep:
​www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/

​If you want to know more about the National Merit Scholarship competition, check out the following website.  Commended Students and Semifinalists will be officially notified this month.  www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=424

I just attended a University of California conference to get updates on each campus.  UC Berkeley has always had an outstanding undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Business, offered through their Haas School of Business.  Entrance into that program has been, and still is, at the junior level after completing pre-requisites and submitting an application.  Berkeley recently added a very specialized Management, Entrepreneurship, and Technology (MET) major for entering freshman, allowing them to combine management, business, and engineering and receive two Bachelor-level degrees.  For fall 2018, Cal will be offering another business program for entering freshman, called Global Management.  I am sure it will be highly competitive and students will start in the summer after high school graduation and study abroad during their first semester at Berkeley.  Check it out here:  haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/gmp.html

I was at UC San Diego last weekend and noticed a lot of construction going on.  So I dug into UCSD news to get a glimpse of upcoming additions and changes to the campus.
​ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/changing_the_face_of_campus?utm_campaign=thisweek&utm_medium=email&utm_source=tw-2017-05-18

We all know that many new experiences await students heading off to college.  But here is one that is rarely discussed, even though we know that many students face this issue:  loneliness.  A worthwhile read for new college students and their parents.  
​www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/college-freshman-mental-health.html?_r=0