So how do all of these schools compare academic wise? Ranking? What are like the “top” ones and what are the lower rated ones? Or is this all just a matter of personal opinion?
Overall all CSU’s have good programs but does depend upon what you want to study since not all CSU’s will have strong programs in all majors.
Rankings do not show the whole picture, the rankings can be variable and Undergrad programs are not ranked, only Graduate programs.
Overall top/competitive CSU’s are the following (my rankings) based on GPA/test scores and impaction:
Cal Poly SLO
San Diego State
Cal State Long Beach
Cal State Fullerton
San Jose State
Cal Poly Pomona
Cal State Fresno
Non-impacted CSU’s but not necessarily lower ranked:
Cal State Stanislaus
Cal State Dominguez Hills
Cal State Channel Islands
San Francisco State
Cal State Bakersfield
Humboldt State
Cal State Northridge may not be a top ranked CSU but they have a highly respected Accounting program while East Bay’s CS program is also highly respected.
The link below shows average CSU and test scores for the 2018 In-coming Freshman class based on stats, so you can determine the “top” Cal states.
I’d add that the CSUs vary a lot more in size, surrounds and student experience than they do in the quality of instruction. I’d also discourage you from thinking of colleges in terms of absolute best and worst. All 23 CSUs provide credible degrees to their students. Some like CPSLO are really hard to get into so they aren’t accessible to the average student. Some are residential - like Sonoma, Chico SDSU and CPSLO with a high density of students living on and around campus - and provide what many seem to want as the ‘college experience’ While others like Sac SF and CSLUB are surrounded by large metro areas and students who are distributed over a larger geography - often living in their family home - but, perhaps provide better access to internships and such… Some schools like Humboldt have really unique locations that make them perfect for a forestry major (and Sac for Poli Sci)
Rather than thinking about this process as a quest for the best, look at is as a search for a fit - financially, academically and socially. Even at your busiest times, you’ll spend 20 hours in a classroom each week. That leaves another 150ish hours for other stuff. How do you want to spend that time? What are your qualifications, budget and what’s important to you?
Note that admission standards may vary significantly by major, such as at SJSU.
Some impacted CSUs have a small local area preference, while others (e.g. CSUN and CSULB) have a large local area preference.
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What majors are impacted at San Jose State University?
SJSU is an impacted campus so all majors are impacted.
http://www.calstate.edu/SAS/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html