SDSU was D17s safety with an acceptance rate of ~35 percent.
DS spent a week at a school that would not have been on his radar prior, he was very impressed with the diversity and vibes of the students he saw during that week. It is now on his potential list to apply as a safety. Funny how happy groups of different skin-toned kids mingling in the sunshine of a bustling campus could change oneās opinion about the image of a school.
Wish we could spend a week on every college on his list. 
For those of you who have kids applying to Bama (and Iām sure there are other schools with rolling admissions that open early and respond quickly): For the class of 2019, their application opened July 1, and if you believe CC posters, decisions came out as soon as July 2. Our kids could be getting some college decisions in (gulp) three months.
My kid will have her first safety decision around September/October. Plenty of time to re-evaluate if for some reason she isnāt admitted!
@momzilla2D Iām a mom of 3 OSU grads! And future MIL to one or twoā¦
@ShrimpBurrito I wonder how that would work getting a decision the following day. I guess youād have to have all supplementary materials requested well before the opening day - like scores, transcripts, recommendations, etc.
It was for my '17 as well but he was invited into the honors college so was far above the 75% mark. Because CSU admissions are based on stats only, it is easier to calculate chance of admission. That and the fact that selected major was not CS, Engineering or Nursing. 
Good to know. Application is $40 so not too steep. What other schools are rolling with quick notification?
@ebh87 Thatās a good point. Looking at Bamaās website, it seems rec letters are not needed, but test scores and official transcripts are. Not all high schools will send transcripts over the summer, Iām guessing.
My S was not accepted to the 2 summer programs that he applied to. Both of them were too high reaches (each for different reasons). The good thing is that he now realizes the hardship of putting in the time, effort and emotional investment in something that is too high of a reach. This will help him to be more realistic (hopefully) come college app time.
@Octagon
Same here. DS didnāt get to the second round of TASP, he wasnāt upset as he saw the acceptance rate to be 3%. I asked him when he applied whether he would like a second set of eyes to look over his application, he declined. I guess (hope) he might change it to yes when the big grinds come around.
@VickiSoCal Thatās interesting. Why is SDSUās acceptance rate so low if their average stats are so low? (Not really low, but relatively speaking.) Do they just not attract a lot of higher stat students, or attract a lot more lower stat students? Just seems like, usually, stats and acceptance rates are inversely related (lower acceptance rate=higher stats, and vice versa).
I would rank SDSU as the second most competitive California State University (CSU) in terms of admissions. In addition to academics, I think location and the campus atmosphere also draws people to SDSU.
There are 23 campuses with one application (no essay). To send to multiple campuses, you pay $55 per campus. You do not need to send test scores or transcripts to each campus, but just send to one and it is shared with all. Because of the ease to apply to multiple campuses, I believe many people apply to SLO, SDSU, CSULB and other very impacted campuses which leads to a lower acceptance rates.
Donāt get me wrong, some of SDSUās programs (ex. Nursing) are top programs and are extremely competitive to get into. I just think the ease of checking of a box and sending your application to multiple schools tends to bring acceptance rates down.
SDSUās admission rate is so low because California kids/parents donāt know how to calculate the eligibility index and realistically predict their admission chances.
Re: SDSU, the relatively cheap cost compared to the UCs, OOS, and private colleges and the fact it is located in San Diego all factor in. I also think many CA higher stat kids use it as a safetyā¦CSU Long Beach is very similar in this regard.
And yes, D17 applied to SLO and SDSU on one app and UCSD, UCSB and UCD on another, plus 5 UK schools on UCAS and one common app school.
Making her 11 apps really only 4.
Question about SDSU. Iām an alum but it was for grad school and it wasā¦ahemā¦a few years ago.
Looking at the CDS, it seems SDSU could be considered a safety for many high-achieving students, yet I rarely see it mentioned as such here on CC, especially for OOS students. Why is this? The price is very low and itās in a great location. Do they limit enrollment for OOS students? Is the impacted majors thing a big issue? Difficult to get the classes you need?
Edit: I guess what Iām asking is, should my high stat OOS S20 consider applying? He wants to major in Exercise Science and possibly apply to med school.
@ShrimpBurrito at my daughterās high school kids would rather use ASU or NAU as safety than SDSU because on a prestige perception scale at our school:
TOP 5 UC > SLO > out of state > Cal State/other UC
This is not based on numbers, or rankings or reality in any way. Purely on bragging rights.
Right now my D20 has just one school on her list. It is a safety school for sure in the fact that they assured admission for students with UW 3.5 GPA or top 10% of class, which she has both. It is also ranked top 15 in the nation for her chosen field of study. They also have rolling admission so if she gets her application turned in in August, she should know by the start of October. Application doesnāt require any essay or anything so that should be a huge sigh of relief to get that taken care of quickly and easily. Then she can decide if she wants to apply to any other schools for āfunā in September and will work on her application for the honors college at her safety school too. Hoping the whole process is wrapped up by November so she is done and not having to worry about things for the whole year.
@ShrimpBurrito I donāt know that CSUs have an official cap on OOS students but the UCs do (18% for most). If you follow the UC threads, you will see many who appear to have used SDSU as a safety. One nice thing for the high stats kid is that they admit the top kids in December and ask them to apply for the honors college (essays required). If you can afford the OOS tuition, I think it could be a nice safety. ETA: It is impacted so I would do research into your major before committing. Honors students do not get priority registration
@VickiSoCal at our HS, the perception in junior year is probably East Coast > top UC > other OOS > SLO > CSU. Fast forward a year and, in the end, a ton of kids go to top UCs and SLO and many go to SDSU and CSULB. I think, as @socaldad2002 says, it comes down to finances. Funny, the kids at our HS tend to look at Hawaii or Oregon as safeties rather than Arizona.
ā Honors students do not get priority registrationā
Well thatās kind of a biggie. Probably not worth it for my guy then. Thanks for the input.