<p>
A few points -
- Not all ‘CA state schools’ are the same. There’s a wide ranging number from UCB to UCM, from CalPoly-SLO to SDSU to Sonoma to other CSUs that all have their own attributes in this regard.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The graduation time can vary with the major - ex: most engineering majors need to take more courses than most humanities majors and the courses are difficult and one needs to take care to manage the schedule to try to not pack one quarter full of the most difficult courses so engineering majors can take longer to graduate than humanities majors (as an example).</p></li>
<li><p>Beware of putting too much into a limited number of anecdotes from both those who’ve experienced the difficulty of classes and long grad times and those who haven’t. It’s best to know the details including the particular Uni as well as the specific issues.</p></li>
</ul>