Consider adding Whittier and Redlands to your private school list.
The area around CSU LA is not user friendly, in that it’s really not walk able and the public transportation is virtually non-existent. It’s located between Alhambra (San Gabriel Valley) and East LA. Not to bash that area, but it’s far from student-friendly, and as such, the school attracts local commuter students. Very few student live on campus and most students have other jobs in addition to their studies, making social life even more of a challenge than the typical ‘suitcase’ schools.
Although it is a decent school for many majors, it tends to attract students on the lower end on the admission spectrum in California and if you look at the Student Life section on their web site, you’ll note that the primarily links are to ‘Disruptive Student Behavior Guide’ and several academic remediation programs. https://www.calstatela.edu/studentaffairs
Other CSU’s that would be more out-of-state friendly include: Cal Poly Pomona, SJSU, SFSU and Fullerton.
I worked near CSULA for many years and it was considered a high crime area with many gangs. I do not frequent the area that much anymore, but would definitely consider other CSU’s especially if you are coming from OOS and paying the high price tag to attend. As stated by @hop, it is very much a commuter campus although there is a Metrolink train stop by campus which will take you into LA Union station where you could catch the Red line or Blue line subways but eventually you will need access to a car just to get some shopping areas and other places of interest.
Yikes!!! I live in Memphis and I am ready to leave behind gangs and shady neighborhoods. I guess I will mark that off my list. I am still rooting for SDSU and I applied for the Liberal Studies Major since they have an higher acceptance rate. If I get accepted then I will consider Northridge and SFSU.
I would still try to visit the campus. Different people have different perspectives and it has been several years since I frequented that area. I am sure the campus itself is very secure, it is just some of the surrounding areas are not that nice.
SJSU is not in a great area of San Jose either. Definitely commuter. Students from my area (So Cal) have gone to SFSU, but not SJSU. The draw of being near San Francisco is more appealing than San Jose, even with all the Silicon Valley stuff. The residential CSUs are Cal Poly Slo, SDSU, Chico and Sonoma. Fullerton is a nice enough campus - only has a few dorms for frosh though - probably technically commuter as well. You would definitely need a car in Fullerton! Gumbymom has described the location of CSULA well, and it only has a SEVEN PERCENT four year grad rate.
Thank you very much for the info. A commuter school isn’t a big deal to me because the schools are in large cities. I am definetly bringing my car with me to college. At this point I am serious about SFSU and CSUN. I would like to be somewhere socially liberal and SF would be the home for that.
SDSU and CSU Fullerton are easily the best choices from an academic standpoint. I definitely wouldn’t recommend CSULA, very weak university from the looks of it.
So CSUN sent me a letter today saying that they need my high school and college transcript. I thought you just self-report your grades and you only send them if you are admitted. SDSU is like that at least.