Are these California State Universities 'hard' to get into?

State Forums
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<p>Are schools like San Jose State, CSU Long Beach, CSU San Bernardino, San Diego State, and San Francisco State necessarily difficult to get into? I live in-state by the way. </p>

<p>I did pretty well my freshman and sophomore years of high school (full course load, all A's for the most part), but lagged my junior year for personal reasons (I only took five classes, got a B+ in one and barely managed to get a B- in the other). This year - my senior year - I'm taking five classes. No math, because I already completed Intro to analysis and I don't want to take Calculus, and a soft science. I've never really taken many AP classes, but some honors. My school doesn't offer too many AP classes anyways, but some. </p>

<p>My GPA is 3.98 unweighted, and my SAT score (first time, no studying) is a 1920. I don't know if I'll retake it. I don't want to get into a prestigious school. Up until this year, I wasn't even sure if I * wanted * to go to college, but I've decided to for the social/emotional development. I want to be able to make friends and get a decent degree. </p>

<p>My schooling has been pretty up and down these past few years - stints in Independent studies, some truancy issues, etc. I don't have many extracurriculars, and I don't play sports because I have severe endometriosis. I wouldn't consider myself a passionate student by a long shot, but my high school is one of the best public high schools in California, so maybe my ideas of what's "good" and "bad" have been skewed. </p>

<p>Do you think I'll have a lot of trouble getting into these schools?</p>

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<p>Out of all the schools listed SDSU would be the most difficult school to get in followed by SJSU and CSULB. You have a great GPA but you need to calculate your CSU GPA, see link: <a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;

<p>All the CSU’s use the Eligibility index for admissions (except SLO): (CSU GPA x 800) + (SAT CR + SAT Math)=EI
Depending upon your major, the schools have a cutoff for each major. SJSU does post their cutoffs, see link: <a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-10079.11705.html”>http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-10079.11705.html&lt;/a&gt;
But most schools do not. SDSU will calculate your EI and will rank all the applicants. Starting at the top EI for each major they will accept students until they fill their classes. Depending upon your major you may need an EI as high as 4500 for Computer Science/Engineering at SJSU/SDSU but much lower at others.
EC’s only count for 10% in your application for Cal States so do not worry too much about that part of the application.
You have a competitive SAT and a great unweighted GPA so you should have no problems getting accepted.</p>

<p>CSULB/SDSU/SJSU: MATCH
CSUSB/SF STATE: SAFETY
You might want to consider Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Fullerton. Good Luck.</p>

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<p>I am trying to reconcile your 3.98 GPA 1920 SAT and your comment that your schooling has been ‘up and down’. That’s mostly up where i am from. Assuming you’ve completed the required courses and your stats are accurate, you are probably a good candidate for most of the UCs, let alone CSUs you’ve listed. </p>

<p>Use the link above to calculate your CSU GPA and see where you stand.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>Thanks you guys! I feel very relieved</p>

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<p>Do ECs count for anything except for recruited athletes and those applying to SLO? Seems that the normal admission method at CSUs is simply rank ordering by eligibility index within major and campus.</p>

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<p>Note that many CSUs are heavily commuter campuses, so the campus life may not be as socially interesting for non-commuter students. Those with more residential student populations include SLO, Sonoma, Monterey Bay, Humboldt, and a few others. You can check the percentage of frosh living in the dorms (a proxy for non-commuter students) at each school’s entry on <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com”>http://www.collegedata.com</a> (campus life tab). The UCs tend to be more residential, though they do have some commuters.</p>

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<p>^ Extracurriculars count for up to10% of admission points only at SLO. Extracurriculars are not considered at the other CSU’s.</p>

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<p>Did you mean that your GPA is 3.98 weighted (not unweighted)? I don’t quite see how you could have that GOA unweighted with two B’s in junior year. </p>

<p>In any case, it’s your CSU GPA that matters. Go to the link posted above to calculate it. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Don’t sweat it. You’ll get in. Just concentrate your senior years and think about some impressive extracurriculars you can list.</p>