Karina Desai

3 April 2016
WORK SAMPLE #6

For my career exploration, I went to many college representative meetings at school

during my first semester of senior year. Some colleges I got to learn about were Santa Fe
University, UC Santa Cruz, Marine Corps, University of the Pacific, Grand Canyon University,
etc. However, I only applied to UC Santa Cruz and Grand Canyon University out of all those
listed. I picked Grand Canyon University as my college representative meeting for my Senior
Portfolio because I learned the most from their visit, and I received the most communication
from them, both through mail and email. For my college visit, I toured the college, California
State University Sacramento during my second semester of senior year. I picked Sac State
because I actually applied there, got in and was close by. Also, during the time that I was
available, the tour dates were open at Sac State while UC Davis (another college I applied to)
had no tour openings, even though it was closer. I have chosen to pursue Sac State after I get my
GE classes done at a 2-year and when Im ready to transfer to a 4-year.

From the Grand Canyon University meeting, I learned that they are a private Christian
university located in Phoenix, Arizona. I had told the admissions outreach guy that I was
interested in Psychology, so he set me up with the bachelor of science psychology program that
they offer at GCU. 120 credits are required to graduate with a bachelors degree and 4 years is
the average time needed to complete the psychology degree. The average incoming GPA for all
psychology majors at GCU for fall 2013 is a 3.3. Some potential occupations that he brought up
in the psychology field are health educator, patient representative, secondary school teacher,
rehabilitation counselor, psychiatric aide, and a social worker. He also mentioned the campus

life, dining options, housing styles, modern facilities, career services, and athletic sports. The
campus has 2 heated swimming pools, a fitness center, a bowling alley, an arena, a live music
venue, and an aquatics center. GCU has 20 Varsity teams and is known for participating in the
NCAA Division 1 athletics.
My tour at Sac State was at 9:30 AM on a Monday morning. There were a lot of students
walking around; more than I had expected. There were about 30 people in my tour group with 2
tourist guides. At first, we met in the Admissions Presentation Room, and they briefed us with a
presentation on the requirements for incoming freshmen, the registration for placement testing,
and the different majors and courses they offer. Soon after they divided our group, so there were
about 15 people walking with me and 1 tourist guide. My tourist guide was a student attending
Sac State, studying business his 4th year. The campus is 300 acres long and has about 3,500
trees. It has 8 colleges and departments within those colleges. Its known for being in between
the American River, a bridge dividing the college in half. He first showed us around the different
buildings for different fields and explained to us their unique design for each. For example, the
Placer Hall building was shaped like the front of a cruise boat. The library building has no
windows and is 4 floors high. The tourist guide said that students can rent laptops in any brand,
instead of desktops for a maximum of 2 hours. The building called University Union has 2
floors, and the bottom floor is a dining area with Burger King, Jamba Juice, Round Table, and
Panda Express, while the top floor has a fitness area and a large conference room. There is also
the Wellness Center (WELL) that has an indoor rock climbing, and indoor track that outlooks the
football field outside, an indoor soccer or hockey field, a basketball court, and another fitness
center. The recently new Hornet bookstore is 2 floors as well, the bottom floor selling apparel,
while the top is all books (1.4 millions books total). There is also an outdoor theater called

Amphitheater, that is used for large concerts. They have a softball, baseball, soccer, football
field, tennis courts, and a stadium. In between the campus, you can see the Guy West Bridge,
which looks like a miniature golden gate bridge. It was named after Guy West, the first president
of Sac State.
To see this option through to completion, I plan to go to Sac State after I complete my
general education classes at Napa Valley City College. The reason why Im not attending Sac
State in the fall, even though I received admission, is because Im not sure what I really want to
study there. They have so many options, and I felt like if I made the wrong option, then I would
be wasting my time there. It would be cheaper and wiser to take classes at a junior college, figure
out exactly what I want to do, and transfer from there. To transfer to Sac State, I have to
complete 60 semester units, with 30 units being CSU General Education. Their general education
consists of oral communication, written communication, critical thinking, and math (above
algebra).
Based on all the information I gained, I liked hearing about Grand Canyon University,
because its a school Ive never dreamed of. Later, I thought twice about moving out of the state,
and I didnt think I could do it. Sac State became another choice for me, but I decided to put off
on it, because I wasnt ready for that either. I like Sac State because its a big, diverse campus,
and they have a lot to offer. Its nearby, easier to commute, and easy overall to get into. After
taking the college tour, I got more insight, knowledge, and understanding of the school, and
thats what really impacted my choice to transfer there after 2 years.