I’m not sure it matters, except that I’m one who likes to understand things. My son got denied acceptance. He has a 3.5 CSU, and 25 ACT. I know that’s not high, but from something I’m looking at the average GPA last year was 3.43 and ACT was 18-24. (Although people staing their acceptances right now are much higher than that.) Based on that information, we thought it was somewhat of a safe school. We can’t remember what he put for his intended major, but he is undecided, and if that was an option, that’s what he chose. If this is one of the schools that would not let you choose undeclared, he chose, probably something math-ish, pure math, and secondarily maybe accounting or finance. We are in-state.
Has he been accepted to affordable schools? Maybe they thought he was using their school as a safety. Or maybe the stats for accepted math majors are higher than school averages.
I have no specific experience with CSU but the admission process can be a bit bewildering. I am not sure what you can learn from it. An average implies there are people above and below those numbers. Your son seems smack dab in the middle. The averages might be skewed for other reasons that we do not know.
Did your son apply to a safer safety? This school seemed like a match and not a safety. I am sure he is disappointed but it is not a reflection on him personally, it is really just a function of the school choosing different candidates for whatever reason.
As I understand it, these CSU effectively have two sets of standards for in-state students. One for students in their local services areas and one for everyone else.
If you have the good fortune of living in the local service area, then admission standards are pretty easy. If not within the service, then you’re in the mix with the other 70,000 applications.
Did he meet all the a-g requirements, language, etc…?
He probably chose an impacted major?
With only 34% applicants admitted, csu Long Beach has become one of the most selective CSU’s after sdsu and cal poly, and impacted majors will mean only top 25% or top 10% applicants get in. For sure finance is heavily impacted.
3.5 is their average GPA meaning it wouldn’t cut it for any impacted major.
25 is top 25% but test scores count less than GPA.
Thank you everyone. Answering all your questions so far: Yeah, I think he probably did choose an impacted major (but don’t get me started on my thoughts on 18 year-olds knowing what they want to do the rest of their lives). Socalmom007, he did meet all of the a-g requirements. He has been accepted to some affordable schools. I’m just nervous after this denial as to how the rest of the California schools will go. He has some options, SFSU and a few OOS, but really has no idea what he wants to do yet. We’ll have to do some visits when all the decisions are in.
And can I just add an unattractive parent whine? (That’s not a whine from an unnatractive parent - well, depending on who you ask - but rather a whine that is unattractive coming from a (I think) perfectly average-enough parent.) Such a bummer that the CA schools exclude 9th and 12th grade grades from GPA. His sophomore year was the only year he didn’t get straight A’s. And this year, 12th grade, is the only year he’s taken honors classes. Whine, whine. Oh well, he still has options. Whine back peddle.
All majors at CSULB are impacted including Undeclared/Undecided and as stated above, being in the local area definitely helps your chances vs. competing with the other out of area applicants.
His eligibility index is 950 which puts him in range for CSULB but with over 90,000 applicants, the applicant pool must be very competitive this year.
Best of luck to him and I am sure he will end up at a great school.
If he’s undecided, a CSU may not be the best choice.
Does he have non-CSU affordable choices?
I also don’t understand why UCs exclude 9th grade gpa. Isn’t 9th grade part of high school?
@websensation: UC’s and CSU’s along with schools like Stanford do not include Freshman grades in their GPA calculation. UC’s and CSU’s will still look at Freshman grades to make sure you pass the required a-g courses. Cal Poly SLO is on the only CSU that uses 9th grades in their GPA calculation.
MYOS1634, I understand. It’s daunting thinking about how he would get into a major once he decides even if he did get in undecided. I see this as a future thread when all acceptances (and denials 
) come in as he needs to decide. As of right now he has NAU, UofA, U of Montana, and SFSU acceptances. He still has a couple OOS’s pending, and one private, that we may not choose to afford depending on aid. It sucks that our state schools make it hard for young people who still need to explore and discover their true interests and gifts.
MYOS1634, I should’ve asked, what do you suggest as best for someone undecided? Of course it’s too late now for many options, but I’m still interested, and others reading may also be.
Are NAU, UofA, UMontana, affordable?
All three are very nice, with different environments.
Have you/has he visited? Any preference?
CSU’s are difficult for undecided students because they don’t have priority for major courses and there’s such a fixed path that if you don’t know, you may well lose a year.
Often, private universities let students test out many courses before having them commit to a major - this also ensures fewer false starts. Some universities that aren’t impacted will also be more supportive of undecided students. One thing to look at if the university’s large is if there’s a special freshman seminar for undecided students and if there’s a living-learning community.
I think Carroll Montana is still accepting applications and he could apply undecided. Montana State is good too, nice town. Creighton, Lewis&Clark, Austin college, Western Washington University.
Run the NPC’s to see if any of those may be affordable.
(There are more college in the Midwest and East, too, Like UMN Morris, Hendrix, or Muhlenberg).
Thank you MYOS1634. NAU and UMontana are affordable for us, U of A - prob the best among them? - is more than we want to spend. I’ve been looking at Carroll. I’ll revisit it with my son. He would not like a very religious school, so I’ll do some research. You’ve suggested some others I’ve looked at…now to see if my son is up for more applications. Sadly, he’s feeling “over it” and not able to allow his future aspirations to keep him motivated in this part. Thanks again for your help.
NAU is a great campus, my son '15 is going there! WUE makes it very affordable.
Most would just be “click submit on the CommonApplication dashboard”, although they may have a “why us” essay, which at this point he should already have a template for.
U Montana: not too big (10,000 students), 44% 3.5 GPA and above, average ACT 23 with 9% 30 and higher.
NAU: larger (25,000), 54% 3.5 GPA and above, average ACt 23, with 4% 30 and higher.
UA: Very large (34,000), 49% 3.5 GPA and above, average ACT 24(?), 12¨% 30 and higher
U Montana: 52% small classes (20 and under), 12% large classes including 3% 100 and more, 80% freshmen live on campus, 25% graduate in 4 years
NAU: 30% small classes, 21% large classes including 3% 100+, 85% freshmen live on campus, 34% graduate in 4 years
UA: 40% small classes, 21% large classes, including 8% 100+, 71% freshmen live on campus, 43% graduate in 4 years
To compare:
Carroll Montana: 64% 3.5+, 12% 30+, ACT ~25, 65% small classes, 3% large (0% 100+), 96% live on campus, 48% graduate in 4 years
Lewis&Clark: 81% 3.5+ GPA, 29 average ACT, 43% 30+, 67% small classes, 3% large (0% 100+), 98% live on campus, 67% graduate in 4 years.
This might help the OP understand the rejection if they live outside the geographic area encompassing about 40 high schools surrounding the university. The average GPA appears to be an average of much lower GPAs and test scores for the locals while those outside the area need near a 4.0 and a 1500 SAT o 33 ACT score. This surprised me.
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing that. That’s crazy! It’s interesting because it feels “fair” to give priority to local students, but, a) we’re not that far away, it’s kind of local to us; and b) the schools in which we may be local aren’t the schools my son wants to go to. Oh, and c) after local area, is there no priority for in-state students? I understand wanting a diverse student body, but it stinks that so many of out preferred - and affordable! - state schools are getting out of reach even for pretty good students with great potential.
And thank you MYOS1634. I’ll be working on him clicking on a couple more. 
It was shocking to me too. I believe they only get about 1% out-of-state students, so priority still goes to in-state students. What surprised me was the small geographic area they consider “local” i* and the disparity between the minimum requirements for them vs. applicants outside that immediate area. I also didn’t know it was so popular. If you read the article, it states that they expected over 100K applications and only UCLA, UCSD, UCI and Berkeley were expected to receive more applications among all California’s public universities.
Apparently they use a sliding scale, so those test scores of 1500 or 33 are the minimum for non-locals with the minimum required GPA of 3.0. The higher the GPA, the lower the test score needs to be, but the minimum for locals is 800 or 17. That’s a huge difference. Still, I doubt they are accepting many with anything near the minimum stats considering the number of applicants they have to choose from.
By the way, I know someone (California resident) whose son was in a similar situation. He now goes to NAU as an affordable alternative and loves it, so it all worked out well. Good luck to your son! I hope he lands where he’s happy.