October 5, 2009

Thumbs Down on the Near-Perfect Applicant

At Transfer Time, Thousands of California Students Hit a Dead End 2

Alison Yin

After he was unable to transfer to San Jose State U., Jake Parent gained late admission to the U. of California at Santa Cruz. Many other transfer students have not found places to continue their studies.

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close At Transfer Time, Thousands of California Students Hit a Dead End 2

Alison Yin

After he was unable to transfer to San Jose State U., Jake Parent gained late admission to the U. of California at Santa Cruz. Many other transfer students have not found places to continue their studies.

By Josh Keller

Jake Parent did almost everything right.

The 28-year-old political-science student at De Anza College compiled a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, helped start an orphanage for boys in Afghanistan, and was one of two students to receive the college's annual President's Award. This year he received a conditional acceptance to San Jose State University for this fall.

But Mr. Parent had made a mistake. He had accidentally marked the wrong major on his online admissions

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