I am a transfer student from a California community college in the Bay Area! I am studying psychology and applying for my ADT in psychology - so my GPA will be a 3.5 by the end of the semester which I’m applying with and the ADT will bump my GPA to a 3.6. What are my chances at these CSU’s?
Long Beach
Fullerton
Northridge
Channel Islands
San Jose
San Francisco
Thanks!
It’s all about the numbers. Look up the transfer impaction results and see whether your GPA clears the recent thresholds for psych. The result ultimately will depend on how strong a cohort applies this time around, but you can get a pretty good idea what range the cutoff is likely to fall in. Also look up which CSU you are local for, as you get an additional GPA bump for that.
For example, here’s the info for SJSU.
Psychology:
Applicants who completed five course requirements were admitted above a 3.15 GPA.
Applicants who completed four course requirements were admitted above a 3.35 GPA.
Applicants who completed three course requirements were admitted above a 3.55 GPA.
Applicants who completed two course requirements were admitted above a 3.75 GPA.
Applicants who completed one course requirement were admitted above a 3.95 GPA.
Applicants who did not complete any of the course requirements were admitted above a 4.15 GPA.
With an ADT in psych, you would automatically have at least three course requirements completed, probably more, so I’d think you would be fine, especially if SJSU is your local CSU.
You can also scan the results at each school for suitable alternate majors - note that many majors on this list do not have capacity to accept applicants who list the major as an alternate, but there are a number you can get into with no difficulty at all. (Public Health is one example; also Behavioral Science, which is an interdisciplinary major combining psych, soci, and anthro - you could still do your concentration in psych within that major.)
Channel Islands and SFSU aren’t impacted so those are safeties. I haven’t looked up the other three but just google “transfer impaction” and it’ll pop right up.
Upper division transfer impaction at the CSUs you mention:
| Campus | Campus Impacted | Psychology Major Impacted | Last Year GPA Threshold | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSUCI | No | No | 2.00 | Transfer Requirements for Upper & Lower Division - Admissions & Costs - CSU Channel Islands |
| CSUFull | Yes | Yes | ||
| CSULB | Yes | Yes | https://www.csulb.edu/admissions/fall-2021-transfer-major-specific-requirements-cla | |
| CSUN | Yes | Yes | 3.00 local, 3.30 non-local | https://www.csun.edu/prospective-students/transfer-impaction |
| SFSU | No | Yes | Impaction | Future Students | |
| SJSU | Yes | Yes | 3.15 + 0.20 for each course requirement fewer than five completed | Transfer Impaction Results | Admissions |
https://www2.calstate.edu/attend/degrees-certificates-credentials/Pages/impacted-degrees.aspx
This is a couple of years old but it gives average admitted CSU Transfer GPA for each CSU campus.
This link is specific for CSULB and it shows the average CSU transfer GPA for admitted Psychology students was 3.53 for 2020 admissions (most recent).
LB is a coin toss but, I think you will get into the others.
good luck