I am a community college student getting ready to transfer for the semester of Fall 2020 and my major is Communication Studies. I got into both CSU Fullerton and CSU Long Beach, which were both my top choices. I am having a difficult time picking which one to go to and would very much appreciate any information and some pros and cons about each college. Thanks to everyone in advance.
@CommGirl1266 This was from a couple of weeks ago, have you made a decision? It would help if I knew you were local to either school or SoCal in general; some of this info you probably already know.
Anyway, I rec’d my B.A. at CSUF & my Master’s at CSULB. Both were about 20 years ago, and I was a commuter at both. I felt like the campus of CSULB was somewhat less commuter, and it’s surrounding community has more to offer in terms of activities and nightlife & culture. Long Beach is definitely more urban.
CSUF was fine, I had a few professors in my major that I adored, a couple that were blah. There’s also has a lot of restaurant/eateries near campus. It’s definitely more suburban a vibe, right next to the 57 freeway. Downtown Fullerton has a big nightlife scene, lots of bars & eateries, but of course that’s for 21+ I know that they’ve recently built more dorms at Fullerton.
As for living off-campus, you probably have more choices near CSULB, but there are apartments in & around Fullerton & neighboring Brea that have lots of student-majority apartments, too.
Since it’s SoCal, it’s always preferable to have a car to go far, but Long Beach has a lot of mass transit options including some shuttles to the campus, and is generally closer to L.A. and the beaches of OC.
In terms of prestige, you probably already know that CSULB is ranked in the top 3 of in the CSU system. This is all very general, bu hope this helps!
SoCalKel thanks for your response. I am not local to either of the colleges, I live in San Diego. I decided to pick CSU Fullerton because it was my top choice to begin with but I’m starting to second guess my decision because Long Beach offers a variety of Communication Studies classes. Again, thank you for responding.
@CommGirl1266 You’re welcome and good luck at Fullerton! (IMHO, I think you should stick w/ your top choice and try not to second guess too much!) 
Heyy
So I have been deciding betweenn CSULB and SDSU for a different major, but comm-related minor
and I started having a lot more clarity on the choice I might make (depending on UC admissions) by going onto the website and looking at the required courses. I noticed that SDSU requires my major to have a minor and it is built into my units needed without extending my time at school. Also SDSU had more courses that suited my path.
As far as LB vs Fullerton, I used to spend every single week in both LA county and OC, and Fullerton is very central to a lot of regions, versus LB being nestled in the corner of LA that is distant from what most people like doing in LA. Both cities will be TONS of traffic, but LB is only 15min drive to Huntington Beach and is actually an easy drive, I’ve done it a lot. Fullerton being very central and next to the CC and next to the high school, is almost impossible to get to any city without traffic & is a highly impacted campus.
As someone who has been to the bars in both cities plenty of times, there’s tons in Fullerton but you’ll probably end up at the same 3 bars, standing in lines to get in. In LB, there seems to be a bigger variety of bar types (dive, college-y, speakeasy, etc.) & you’re actually near the ocean, hard not to see it everyday, versus being in Fullerton and it taking between 30min-2hrs in traffic to get to any oc beach. I was stuck next to Fullerton way too many times at nearly 0mph, but every time I went to LB, getting around the city was easy, but going from LB to DTLA was terrible.