<p>The graduation rates at SDSU kill its rankings.</p>
<p>Kluge: </p>
<p>My point about beds, or the lack thereof, refers to the fact that amoung the Cal States, only a few have any meaningful on-campus ambience today. Moreover, even if a school like Fullerton wanted to improve their college experience, they could not do much without campus housing. It might be interesting to see how the apps at the two schools (SD and LB) compare to local ecnomics or population growth. I'm would guess that the Dot-Com bubble burst negatively impacted the Bay Area schools.</p>
<p>SDSU has been very creative in the doctoral game. Since state law precludes the Cal States from providing doctoral degrees, San Diego has teamed up with UCSD, Claremont, (others?) to offer a joint degree program. However, since the coursework requires classes at the other university campus, I still find it hard to classify them as a national doctoral U...just my opinion.</p>
<p>Carolyn: I would surmise that SDSU is considered more prestigious than Merced and UCSC, as well. :-)</p>
<p>Dstark: That would be a classic "lagging indicator", wouldn't it? But Bluebayou may have a better explanation for the ranking.</p>
<p>Bluebayou, I think you're right about the difficulty of converting the CSUs (most of which were designed as commuter schools) into schools with more of a "collegiate" atmosphere. I don't know much about most of the UC's and CSUs (there's about 40 in all, right?) but that aspect of an institution seems to be pretty much determined by geography as much as anything else. Channel Islands, which I think was converted from a mental institution, and Monterey Bay - former army base - may have the best potential in that regard. I've never been to CSU Long Beach, and I don't know why it's gotten "hot" lately. That's interesting about the joint Ph.D programs at SDSU. I imagine there's an interesting story behind that, as well. </p>
<p>The dot-com bust doesn't seem to have hurt Stanford or Berkeley much, as far as I can see. ;-)</p>
<p>Not sure why LB has gotten hot, either. I do know that the LB Chancellor started an honors program there to compete withe UCs for kids. It provides a full ride to kids with great HS grades and test scores. Other perks of the program are priority registration and housing, personalized counseling, lunches/dinners with Deans, etc. A GREAT deal for the right kids.</p>
<p>One other poinit of note. California has its own version of the Common App, and thus, one app applies to all CSU's. I only raise this point because, perhaps, there are many kids applying to SD that have absolutely no chance at being accepted. That campus is 'impacted," as are LB, Fullerton, Chico, Pomona, San Marcos, SLO, and Sonoma. What that means is that kids in the 'hood (or county) have priority and are virtually guaranteed acceptance to their local Cal State if they meet the min requirements, i.e. 3.0 gpa, or 2.0 gpa + 1300 SAT-I. So, if you live in SD County, have the minimum requirements, and apply on time, you are in. But, if you live anywhere else in the state, you'll need a high 3+ even for consideration -- average gpa of those accepted to SDSU from outside of SD County was 3.7. </p>
<p>My guess is that GC's really aren't informing out-of-area kids that their 3.01 gpa just won't get them into SD or SLO, and that they should save their $ and apply locally, or to Humboldt or Stanislaus. But, just a guess.</p>
<p>"I do know that the LB Chancellor started an honors program there to compete withe UCs for kids. It provides a full ride to kids with great HS grades and test scores. Other perks of the program are priority registration and housing, personalized counseling, lunches/dinners with Deans, etc. A GREAT deal for the right kids."</p>
<p>Yeah, a kid from my HS had a 4.0, 1600, and chose Long Beach for their free ride. From what I can tell, he pays $0 for college, instead of the $160K for an ivy.</p>
<p>I visited Long Beach State last summer and I liked the campus; although, not as much as the UCs. There is a swimming pool right in the middle of campus.
Kluge, you are right about the graduating rate being a lagging indicator.
The students at my kid's high school are getting into the state schools with 3.0s, except for Cal Poly.
SDSU has different criteria for out of county kids, but it is still possible to get in without astronomical scores and grades.</p>
<p>A 4.0/1600 could have had a free ride from most UC's, so I'd have to say money was not his only reason for choosing LB. My guess is that the UCs tuition increases are making more families push CSU schools.</p>
<p>Bluebayou's right about the local service area or whatever they call it - sort of the CSU equivalent of UC's ELC. Here's an analysis I stumbled over which explains the whole thing:</p>
<p>Looks like it took a 1330 SAT to make the cutoff at SDSU with a 3.0 last year for an out-of-area applicant; The formula is (academic) GPA X 800 + SAT; cutoff 2003 was 3725 (page 11). No question about Cal Poly -- same sliding scale, but they say the cutoff's 300 points higher. Hm.
I think Bluebayou's right - the number of apps would drop if the likely cutoffs were more well known. Until 1999 it says that anyone who met the CSU minimum could go to SDSU. I guess the word hasn't gotten out yet. And maybe that's the ultimate answer to the original question right there.</p>
<p>I would just like to know why Cal Poly Pomona's acceptance rate is 30%(Princeton Review and College Board)? That's Lower than any other Cal State, even lower than SLO's and SDSU and Long Beach whica are considered to be better schools.</p>
<p>liek: SD and LB are excellent schools and have some great programs, but SLO is considered the creme of that crop.</p>
<p>kluge, I read your link. I am not sure where you got the 1330 SAT-3.0 gpa score that is necessary to get into SDSU from out of the area. From people I know, that is not true. In fact, the one thing that bothers me is how few 1400+ SAT scorers apply to the school. You posted that link from the high school in the LA area (Arcadia) on another thread. I didn't see anybody apply to the school with a SAT score over 1400. I hope that changes.
<a href="http://arweb.sdsu.edu/es/admissions/apply/applyftfservice054.html%5B/url%5D">http://arweb.sdsu.edu/es/admissions/apply/applyftfservice054.html</a>
shows what the average score was (4077) last year. It is going up every year.
It looks like SDSU changed the school starting in 1999. I guess that is why the numbers are changing slowly. The four year grad rate is up to 12% and the 6-year grad rate is up to 42%. Moving in the right direction.
It looks to me like the quality of students at SDSU now rivals the quality of students at Arizona, and Oregon. I haven't seen SDSU's campus. How is it? How does it compare to Oregon's and Arizona's? SDSU's campus looks nice on the web site.</p>
<p>I"m not talking about SLO, I'm talking about Cal Poly Pomona who has acceptance rate of 30 percent, Cal Poly SLO has 38 or something like that.</p>
<p>I don't know why, but the gpa and Sat scores of the students at Cal Poly Pomona , are average.</p>
<p>sorry, Liek0806 -- I misread your post (eyes are the second to go). I'm not knowledgeable about CS Pomona.</p>
<p>Sorry, Dstark - I was in a hurry and left out the explanation. The paper talks at length about the "average" index, but the only reference I found to the cutoff was this: "80 percent of admissions are granted solely on the basis of academic merit. For these first-time freshmen, the minimum eligibility index required for acceptance has increased annually and for the Fall of 2003 was 825 points above the CSU-minimum of 2,900." From there, I figured 2900 + 825 = 3725. Applying the GPA X 800 + SAT formula, I took a 3.0 GPA X 800 = 2400. 3725 - 2400 = 1325. That means with a 3.0 a 1330 was needed to make the cutoff (if my arithmetic's right!) Of course, the slightest increase above a 3.0 drops that SAT requirement - 80 points for every 0.1 increase in GPA. At 3.2 its 1170; 3.3, 1090, etc.
I don't know about the Arizona and Oregon schools (never been there) but from what I know of my son's friends who went, and the info in their CDS postings I'd say that academically they're pretty similar to SD. I would think that students with 1400 SAT's would be setting their sights on UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD if they've got the grades, maybe Santa Barbara, Irvine or Davis if they don't. Only about 2 % of the enrolled freshmen at SDSU had SAT's over 1400, from what I can see on the common data set.</p>
<p>Kluge, thanks for the explanation. The minimum to get into the school now is what the average was 6 years ago.
Have you visited SDSU's campus? What do you think if it?</p>
<p>It's big (duh!) Hey - it's San Diego, warm and sunny when I was there. It's obviously grown over the years - there are still pockets of private property inside the main campus area, and some of the older parts of campus look sort of like doll's houses compared to the big new buildings. It's kind of a hodge-podge that way. There's been a lot of construction in recent years, which seems to be drawing to a close. They're supposed to open the on-campus trolley station next year, I think. That will be a great connection to the rest of the city. There's a lot of fraternities and apartment houses adjacent to the campus, so with the dorms on campus plus the surrounding neighborhood it's pretty lively. It seems like a great place to spend 4 years if you're 18, in terms of traditional campus activities: Division 1 sports, football, basketball, baseball, etc.; great new gym/workout facility for "regular" students, new films are previewed there on a regular basis before being released generally (studios testing audience response, I think) etc. Of course, all those distractions (did I mention Tijuana a half hour away across the border?) can be a bad thing, too. Like any school, I guess it's what you make of it. I do think that the new admissions standards and accompanying fairly rapid recent rise in the academic abilities of the students has sort of invigorated the campus - everyone likes to be part of something that's on the way up. You definitely get a sense that the administration is "on a mission" to make a name for the school - and not just on Playboy's "party school" list.</p>
<p>I've had the best semester of my life here at San Diego State. Personally, I love walking from class to class with the spanish architecture surrounding me. Plus, it's almost always sunny here. My friends who are at colleges in the east coast are shovelling feet of snow, while i'm at the beach.</p>
<p>Hi Saved. Glad SDSU is still working out for you - I knew it would.</p>
<p>An article in the San Diego Tribune this week discussed SDSU's growth plans for the next 20 years. They anticipate adding an additional 12,000 or so students and are attempting to expand the borders of campus, add dorms, etc.
<a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20050123-9999-1m23sdsu.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20050123-9999-1m23sdsu.html</a></p>