Applying to a school is a way of formally indicating that you want to attend the school.   You submit information about your background and then they will decide if you meet the qualifications.    For City College of San Francisco (CCSF), the admissions policy is located here:

http://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en/student-services/admissions-and-registration/admissions/admission-policy.html

Basically, to attend CCSF you must be 18 as of the first day of the semester that you're applying for, have a high school diploma, or passed an examination like the GED.  You only need one of the three things, NOT all three!    Once you complete the application, you will be admitted to the school.

Other types of colleges might be more selective.   For those kind of schools, you would have to take examinations such as the SAT, write an essay, have teachers of yours write letters in support of your application, or maybe even han ve an interview with a staff person or teacher at the school you want to go to.   None of these are required in order to attend CCSF.

The application can be found at:

http://www.ccsf.edu/ccsf/en/student-services/admissions-and-registration/apply.html

Start by creating an account for CCCApply.   Once you start the application, the first page is labelled Enrollment Information.   It will ask what term you are applying for.   CCSF has two semesters, Fall and Spring.   These will always be in two different calendar years in one school year.  For example,  Fall '13 and Spring '14  together make up one school year.   Generally you are applying to start in Fall, but ask a parent or teacher if you're not sure.

The next question you'll be asked is your intended major orcourse of study.  You will have already figured this out in the last task, so choose it here.  You can change this in the future, so don't worry if you're not 100% decided right now.

Then you'll be asked for your education goal.  This is where you get to decide whether you want to earn a 2-year degree, a 4-year degree, or earn a career certificate without a degree.

 Which you choose depends on what you want to learn and what kind of career you imagine yourself in.

Here are the choices for your educational goal:

Obtain an associate degree and transfer to a 4-year institution -  this means that you earn the 2-year degree and then move on to another school to complete your four year degree, which is called transferring.   CCSF only offers 2-year degrees and certificates; they do not offer 4 year degrees.

Transfer to a 4-year institution without an associate degree - you don't need a 2-year degree to transfer to a 4-year school, so you might just opt to complete the requirements to transfer without earning the 2-year degree

Obtain a 2-year associate degree without transfer - for certain majors or careers, you might only need a 2 year degree and not have to transfer.

Obtain a 2-year career technical degree without transfer

Earn a career technical certificate without transfer - some careers only require a certificate, and you don't need a degree.

Discover/Formulate career interests, plans, goals - if you're not sure what you're looking to do in school or as a job and hope to take classes in order to discover this

Prepare for a new career (acquire job skills) - choose this option if you're looking to prepare for a career without earning a degree

Advance in current job/career (update job skills) - this option would be if you're already working and you're looking to improve your skills in your current job without earning a degree

Maintain certificate or license - some jobs might require you to take new classes from time to time in order to keep your license

Educational development - to learn more about various topics without earning a degree

Improve basic skills - to work on your reading, writing, or math skills 

Complete credits for high school diploma or GED - choose this option if you haven't finished your high school diploma

To move from noncredit coursework to credit coursework - some students complete classes that aren't for credit and you might be wanting to move from that into credit coursework.   Only credit coursework counts for the degree.

4-year college student taking courses to meet 4-year college requirements - choose this only if you're currently going to a 4-year school.   This likely doesn't apply to you.

Undecided on goal - means you're not sure what your goal is.   you can always change your goal later, so it's best to choose the one that seems like the best fit for you at the time.