I came across CSUN and looked at their campus, tuition, etc. and they’re not terrible, but I noticed how low their graduation rate is. Is it worth applying there?
Graduation rates can be misleading. It does not take into account part-time students that need to work and go to school so it will take them longer. It also does not consider students that switch majors and end up taking longer. Did you look at the 4 year or the 6 year graduation rate? The 6 year graduation rate is a better indicator.
Persons who neither graduated from a California high school nor are a resident of California for tuition purposes, need a minimum index of 3502 (SAT) or 842 (ACT).
An applicant with a grade point average of 3.00 or above (3.61 for nonresidents) is not required to submit test scores. However, all applicants for admission are urged to take the SAT or ACT and provide the scores of such tests to each CSU to which they seek admission. Campuses use these test results for advising and placement purposes and may require them for admission to impacted majors or programs. Impacted CSU campuses require SAT or ACT scores of all applicants for freshman admission.
http://catalog.csun.edu/policies/freshman-requirements/
Even if you could afford the OOS rates of $36K to $40 K per year, as an OOS, your scores and chances don’t look good. In California, GPA and test scores are king.