My daughter is applying CSU LB, Pomona and Fullerton with a 3.29 CSU capped GPA. She is interested in the following Majors but wanted to know major give her better admission chance for CSULB, Pomona and Fullerton? Thank you!
Communications
Criminology/Criminal Justice
History
Sociology
Cal Poly Pomona publishes acceptance rates by major. Since it doesn’t include any GPA or test score data, this chart doesn’t account for differences in the applicant pool to one major vs. another. But, it does appear that sociology is a tougher admit than history or communications: https://www.cpp.edu/arar/campus-data/Admissions/Application-Counts-by-College-and-Major/Application-Counts-by-Major_Fall-2014-to-Fall-2017.pdf
I’m not sure whether Long Beach and Fullerton publish similar statistics, but hope this helps as a starting point.
Is she local for any of these schools? Local priority will give her a boost.
CSULB and CSUF are impacted campuses so all majors have more qualified students applying vs. available spots.
CSULB publishes their acceptance rate by major and GPA here along with local vs non-local: Workbook: Undergraduate Students
The average admitted CSU GPA for all these majors are around 3.8 so none of the listed majors will be an easier admit.
CSUF does not breakout admission stats by major just # applied and admitted with an overall CSU GPA of 3.68.
http://www.fullerton.edu/data/institutionalresearch/student/newstudents/appsadmitenrolls.php
http://www.fullerton.edu/data/institutionalresearch/student/newstudents/newstudentsnapshot.php
Hopefully she applied to more than these 3 schools. Best of luck to her.
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Thank you for the info. It looks the admit rate for History, Political Science and Hospitality are much better.
Thank you! Gumbymom. Yes, she also wants to apply SJSU. Do you know which major improve her chances? Justice Study, History, Political Science and Sociology? She checked the numbers of faculties. It looks Justice Studies Dept and Sociology Dept have more Faculties. Does the larger Dept improve her chance?
@Connie10: History would be slightly easier then Criminal Justice or Sociology followed by Political Science as the most difficult based on last years information for SJSU.
Thanks! Gumbymom. The info is very helpful. My D is no local for all these CSUs. Her EI is 3862, which is above the Minimum EI for those majors. But CSU will not look at SAT this year. Do you think she still get good chances in Justice Studies?
Out of all the CSU’s you have listed, I think she has the best chance at SJSU and Justice studies looks like a possible match.
Thank you! Since CSU will not look at SAT score this year, I assume they will only look at the GPA and how many AP courses you took. Correct? She only took two APs in 10th and 11th. Will this affect her chances Although her EI is above the minimum EI for the major?
High school course rigor is always a consideration for the Cal states. She will be evaluated based on what is available at her HS so it can impact her chances. Usually if the applicant meets the EI cutoff, then it is not an issue.
Admissions will be very different this year so it is very hard to predict.
The EI’s I linked for SJSU were from last year which included test scores, so interpret the numbers with caution.
ok, Thank you very much for your help!
Gumbymom: the link from you for CSULB is very helpful. Can you send the similar link for SJSU? Thank you!
Note that if a major is harder to get into at frosh admission, changing into it after enrolling in a different major may have higher grade or GPA requirements or competitive admission.
So if she really wants a specific major, she needs to look into how difficult it is to change into it if she applies for frosh admission to a different major.
@Connie10: CSULB is the only CSU that offers that specifc link for admitted and enrolled students GPA by major and local vs. non-local (that I have been able to find).
SJSU only lists their EI thresholds for the previous application cycle by major.
Although the CSU’s are all part of the same college system, each CSU campus determines what data they will provide on their websites.
Thanks! Gumbymom. After My D double checked her A-G match in CSU Apply system, her GPA changed to 3.43 (she forgot to match a summer course). She thought about applying SDSU. Can you send the EI thresholds or similar data for SDSU? She wants to find a major that improves her chance for SDSU. Thank you for your help!
I will be honest, your daughter needs more Match schools not another Reach school which SDSU would be for her if non-local.
SDSU’s average admit CSU GPA was a 3.96 with over 64,000 applicants last year with just about a third admitted.
SDSU does not publish their EI thresholds nor admit GPA by major, only # of applicants vs. admitted and enrolled.
She needs to find a few more Match schools since SJSU and Possibly CSUF are the only ones you have listed so far.
Here is some CSU data for all campuses and have her target the campuses where her 3.43 GPA is at or above the average for the best chances. Although the data is from 2019, it gives a good overview and shows how competitive some of these schools are for Freshman admits.
If she has her heart set on applying to SDSU, she should but make sure she has a balanced list of Safeties and Matches also.
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It looks like you have a little time, I’d add a few less selective CSUs - this is going to be really unpredictable. I’d add Sac, Sonoma and Chico.
good luck
Thank you very much for the information. I agree she needs more match schools.
Thank you very much for the information and suggestions!