In the past year, LMC has seen great increases in closely monitored statistics on its students that apply, receive acceptances or earn other guarantees.

LMC President, Bob Kratochvil, was well aware of the improvements seen in reports of the school’s key goals.

“The trajectory has been good on a lot of things — our graduation, the number of people that have been participating in our commencement ceremony, numbers of transfers, our dual enrollment numbers,” said Kratochvil. “All of those are going up each year for the last five years.”

The numbers of particular greatness include a 34 percent increase from last year of Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) applications to the UC system, with a 33 percent spike in approvals. In addition, the 2017-2018 school year had LMC’s highest number of students transferring to CSU and UC campuses — a 123 percent increase from the year 2007.

Numbers in closely-watched demographics, such as Hispanic/Latinx and Black/African American students, have both seen around a 40 percent increase.

It is not just Transfer and Career Services that deserves the praise, according to its director, Rachel Anicetti, but the whole campus as it works together.

“The reality is that transfer success is the result of work across the campus. More students are transferring at LMC, not just because they receive excellent preparation from our office and Counseling,” said Anicetti, “but also because the English and Math Departments have created courses to help students finish faster, and Financial Aid works to get students money they need to enroll full-time, and EOPS has study groups… the list goes on and on.”

Anicetti also elaborated that a major department goal is to help students find their major earlier at LMC, so that they can have a clear pathway of courses to take, and transfer more quickly; a goal shared around campus.

“We’ve been very purposeful and deliberate in providing funds and staffing that help our students in those two major areas,” said Kratochvil, “moving into four-year institutions as well as getting jobs.”

With all this growth it is important to maintain a good supply of the resources transfer hopefuls require.

“We’re real cognizant of that and putting funds and staffing into those various efforts,” said Kratochvil.

The staffing that many of those who interact with first are the student assistants.

“They are rock stars. If you see the… students on campus, please know that they are transfer and application experts,” said Anicetti.

Those assistants have not gone unnoticed by others on campus. Two of which, Jack Stehn and Jerrilynne Junio highlighted their surprise with respect to the number of students coming back to let them know they had been accepted or simply to thank them for the help.

But their work with transfer students is far from over now that application season has ended. The next batch of applicants are looking to find the right schools for their lists or are even applying for admittance in the Spring of 2020.

While students are wondering how long it takes to get word back from schools and others who have heard back, many need assistance with the next process of getting full, rather than conditional admission to the schools. The process differs from school to school, nevertheless, Transfer and Career services are there to help. Getting the word around early during students’ stay at LMC is crucial.

“We want students to talk about transfer options with each other, with their professors and those they know at LMC,” said Anicetti. “The more people speak with one another, the more prepared they are when it comes time to complete the application.”