<p>BUMP! Any updates?</p>
<p>After a 4.0 this semester, and a significant improvement on the June SAT, here is “our” current list</p>
<pre><code>* Cal Lutheran U
<p>Still reach heavy, but we are getting there…</p>
<p>I would highly recommend taking UNM down. I live in New Mexico, and anyone that didn’t completely fail high school goes there. I think a 3.0-3.3 kid could do much, much better. (of course, their nursing program is pretty good)</p>
<p>Sorry Deziky, same thing could be said by nearby residents of almost all the public universities mentioned on this thread. True, many of these schools accept lower stat kids but they (and higher stat ones who goof off) soon fall by the wayside leaving the more motivated ones. Also check out the honors college there: [University</a> Honors Program home](<a href=“Honors College | The University of New Mexico”>Honors College | The University of New Mexico)</p>
<p>Shrinkrap- I don’t know if I have ever seen Point Loma and UC Santa Cruz on the same list.
My son who is going to be a college senior had several of those schools on his final list. He got into several of them and not into a few others. Son also had an upward trend. Just make sure he has all the UC and Cal State requirements completed with no D’s.</p>
<p>Is it my imagination or is CSULB becoming increasingly selective and better regarded? S mentioned it the other day and asked if we could take a drive out to visit because it’s NOT the slacker-surfer dude U that we had both mistakenly thought it was. Granted, this was simply assumption based on no facts at all. Does anyone know more about it?</p>
<p>My big question for any of the Cal State campuses: how likely is it that freshmen can get the courses they need to make significant progress towards graduation requirements. I keep reading horror stories of kids not being able to get into fundamental classes (English, math, econ,…)</p>
<p>I think CSULB is at LEAST considered popular. the CSU website will say if the school, or certain majors use more selective impacted criteria.</p>
<p>Campuses That Have Higher Standards
<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
Long Beach is listed…</p>
<p>“I don’t know if I have ever seen Point Loma and UC Santa Cruz on the same list.”</p>
<p>mom60;</p>
<p>Are you referring to stats or campus culture here? He’s been in a Point Loma environment for the last 12+ years… He has no D’s; in fact, his problem is primarily that he got 4 C’s in core classes in the first semester of sophomore year. Not much less than a B, before or since.</p>
<p>Campus Culture!</p>
<p>To the recent questions regarding CSU Long Beach: for this year, kids from our average public northern cal. high school with 3.0-3.1 range were not accepted. Those with higher gpa’s (the ones I know of were much higher) that were accepted received a letter in the mail explicitly stating that they would not be able to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>I believe they use different criteria for kids outside the service area. So maybe those same 3.0 or 3.1 local to Long Beach kids would have been accepted.</p>
<p>SJSU, Sonoma and SDSU also have higher requirements for the kids applying outside the service area.</p>
<p>Of the CSUs, are there any that people know of where freshmen are more likely to get the classes they need? S has visited Sonoma State and will probably apply there. We were wondering if applying to SFSU and CSULB would just be a waste of time and application fees. S’s first choice is UC Santa Cruz, but their admissions seem quite erratic, so we wanted a handful of California academic and financial safeties – but not if it’ll take a decade to get a degree from a CSU! Thoughts? BTW, we are also looking at some east coast schools, but that’s a conversation for another thread.</p>
<p>We did a tour of Sonoma state, and they spoke of the bus that takes kids to the CC for classes. They made it sound like a GOOD thing. We also visited Monterey, and for some reason I got the impression this was less of in issue, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>I think one of the reasons that some students take longer to graduate from a CSU is that they don’t come in at a level of taking college writing and math.If you require remedial courses it will add on time. I know many kids in recent years who have graduated or will graduate this coming school year from San Diego State in 4 yrs.</p>
<p>I know of kids at several UC’s and CSU’s. The Kids at UC’s are having a better time getting classes. </p>
<p>At the CSU’s it is not the freshman that have difficulty. Freshman are guaranteed their classes. Unfortunately, sophomores have last priority, and I know of a few that had a hard time getting full time status at our local csu last fall.</p>
<p>I’ve also been hearing of problems directly from friends, and I’ve been reading about the problems too. In some cases, kids have lost financial aid because they couldn’t get enough courses to meet full-time requirements. I also have a friend with a child at Cal State Northridge who ended up with a very lopsided schedule spring semester (classes very first thing in the morning and then classes at night) because that was all that was available, and she apparently felt lucky to get them. </p>
<p>I wish that they’d more strictly limit the number of students they admit to better ensure that the students that they have already admitted can get the classes needed for graduation.</p>
<p>(Neither of the kids I know needed remedial math or English.)</p>
<p>There are some of the schools on this list that seem to be suffering from a dated reputation. Maybe there are a couple of kids with a 3.2 who got into Cal Poly SLO, Chapman, Long Beach or LMU, but they are rare. They must have great test scores or a great hook.
CSUs are all over the place in terms of selectivity and class availability. Long Beach can easily take seven years, but that still costs less than four years at Chapman.</p>
<p>Definitely CSULB admissions are more like SDSU these days…
My son and a friend got into CSULB. Our public HS is in SD County, out of the guaranteed area. He and one other had above 3.5 and above average ACT; son had 28. They were both accepted in Eng, which is not impacted. </p>
<p>You must take a additional math placement test, MDPT, if majoring in engineering. If you don’t place into calculus, you’ll definitely an extra year above the stated 5. This year, for the first time, CSULB chose classes for freshman engineering majors. We’ll see what that looks like this month when they go to orientation.</p>
<p>Note: Many kids could avoid English and Math remedial if they studied prior to taking the tests. Make sure your kids study, even for the English and Math placements.</p>
<p>"Cal Poly SLO, Chapman, Long Beach or LMU, but they are rare. They must have great test scores or a great hook. "</p>
<p>I don’t think these are on “THE” list, but they are on my sons list, which is indeed heavy in the reaches. We are taking Willamette off, as he will not have three years of a foreign language.</p>
<p>I was on Naviance today and note that the CSULB scattergram shows that if you had a 3.2/3.3 and an SAT (base 2400) of about 1600, you’d be in. This is an out of the area school.</p>
<p>I’m an incoming freshmen student who will be attending CSULB this fall so please take what I say with a grain of salt. I applied to UCLA, UCR, UCI, UCSD, CSULB, and University of the Pacific, and got accepted everywhere except UCLA. My GPA at the time of applications was a 4.25 W, but I’m graduating with a 4.6 W thanks to my APs that I took as a senior. My UW GPA is about a 3.8. I was forced by my parents to go to CSULB due to financial reasons. I’ve also had my orientation already, so I found out and observed many pros and cons coming to CSULB or any CSU for that matter. Some of which I knew already and affirmed my past knowledge, while other information was new. I would just like to comment on a few things.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Without a bias preference and a basis on what each CSUs can academically provide, the top three CSUs are SDSU, CSULB, and Cal Poly SLO, respectively. SDSU has a representation of being a party school, but their academics across all areas make it the best. Cal Poly SLO is known for its engineering programs. Unless you have 4.0+ GPA and high test scores, it’s going to be hard to get into its engineering programs. However, their other majors are easier to get into. </p></li>
<li><p>Source: CSULB’s Dean of Admissions who speaks at each student orientation</p></li>
</ol>
<p>CSULB’s had 47,000 applicants this year for 5,500 freshmen spots. The only school that had more was UCLA, with CAL coming in at third. The average GPA for incoming freshmen was 3.5 GPA.</p>
<p>Since CSUs are service schools that cater specifically to students in their area, you’re going to need a higher GPA and SAT scores than those students coming from Long Beach high schools. CSUs only take into account SAT scores and GPA, so the higher they are, the better the chances.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Although I was bitter that I couldn’t attend a UC, CSUs have such affordable tuition! My parents don’t have to be burdened with trying to work overtime in order to pay for my tuition. A semester tuition alone is a mere $2,303! This is quite a bargain compared to other schools! If money is a problem, I’d seriously suggest thinking about going to a CSU. I know many intelligent students opting to go to a CSU due to financial reasons which might explain the increased number of applicants and higher stats of incoming students. On a personal stance, I would also pick SDSU, CSULB, and Cal Poly SLO over the lower tier UCs: UCM, UCR, UCSC. Not only are they more expensive, but they are found in horrible locations and are known to be “drug” active. If the prestige of the college is a matter of concern to you, then unfortunately a CSU probably isn’t best.</p></li>
<li><p>CSUs are commuter schools so social life is lacking on most campuses. Most students just take their classes and leave. However their are plenty of clubs, organizations, sports, and other activities available on campus. I’m a firm believer in the saying that your social life is what you make it.</p></li>
<li><p>The budget crisis in California is not all hype. All schools including community colleges are impacted. This includes the UCs, but to a smaller extent. For that reason it is indeed true that it will most likely take more than 4 years to graduate. 10% of CSULB’s students graduate in 4 years, 23% in 5 years, and 14% in 6 years. CSULB has a graduation rate of 55% according to the dean of CSULB. Apparently the amount of students graduating CSUs is a problem that the dean of the entire CSU system is trying to address. Most students are coming in with sub-par math and English skills, so unfortunately they have to take remedial classes. You can avoid taking the placement tests, but merely scoring high on the SAT, ACT, and AP exams. Avoiding these remedial classes will also lessen the time needed to graduate. To help graduate in time, I would strongly suggest persuading your sons or daughters to take AP classes this/these incoming year(s). I personally passed 9/11 APs and coming in with 46 units of credit which is equivalent to 1.5 years of university credit!</p></li>
<li><p>The list of impacted majors at CSULB doubled from last year. I would say all majors are technically “impacted.” But then again you need to take your GEs and prerequisite classes before you can apply and technically be that specific major. CSULB is specifically known for its engineer, nursing, business, accounting, history, and art majors.</p></li>
<li><p>CSULB is in a great location. You’re right next to the beach and the weather is always mild. It never gets too hot or too cold. The people at CSULB are very welcoming and approachable! Most are coming from SoCal, but there are many students from NorCal as well. There are very few that are out of state. I know many people from outside of CA who wanted to come here and would pay the extra tuition, and did not get in. That is once again CSUs cater to CA students. I think it would be a good idea for CSUs to increase the amount of out of state students accepted to help with the budget crisis, but I would hate for CA students to lose out on a university education just because they can’t pay as much, as in the case of UCs, but that is a different story.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m seem to rattled on and on, so my apologies for this long post. I hope it helps and provides some insight on CSULB and other CSUs. </p>
<p>P.S. I think it’s absolutely amazing how active and caring you guys are. I wish I had parents that were more active in supporting me in my academic endeavors. I’m sure your sons and daughters appreciate it. :]</p>
<p>Thank you so much, The Power of One, for your detailed and helpful post about Long Beach. You answered every question I had in mind.</p>
<p>My next question, for anyone who has any inside info, is about Evergeen State College in Washington. I’ve been reading conflicting reports about this school. On the one hand, it is highly lauded as a creative environment for independent thinkers and learners. I believe it’s on the CTCL list. On the other hand, some people suggest that the “creativity” is a front for flaky disorganization, and that while you <em>can</em> graduate with a Bachelor’s degree, it’s not IN any particular major and that students are graded by way of an evaluative narrative as opposed to a letter grade (not that I don’t like this idea) – but what does that mean for writing a resume, applying for a job or grad school?</p>
<p>Evergreen is on my son’s short list, for now. I have no idea whether or not it should stay. He would love the indie, left-leaning lifestyle, but my concern is about the quality of the education… and how it is regarded after graduation. Thoughts?</p>