California State University, Long Beach Admission
California State University, Long Beach Undergraduate Program
California State University, Long Beach Application

The Facts

California State University, Long Beach is one of the largest members of the 22 university CSU state-supported system. The school is located in the town of Long Beach, California just southeast of Los Angeles, and is home to over 22,000 undergraduate students and approximately 15,000 graduate and part-time professional students. CSU Long Beach is actually divided up into several smaller undergraduate and graduate schools which include programs in the areas of health and human services, liberal arts, natural sciences and math, business administration, engineering, the arts, as well as education. CSU Long Beach is perhaps the most varied of all the California State schools, and offers broad majors in the areas of agriculture, biological science, business, communications and the arts (which includes a wonderful journalism program), computer and physical science, engineering and environmental design, health professions, and social science (which includes a renowned African American studies program.) Some of the most popular major choices are in the areas of business administration, liberal studies, and computer science.

Admission to CSU Long Beach is perhaps the most competitive out of all the California State Universities, and the number of both in-state and out-of-state students applying increases with each passing admissions cycle. Last year, more than 27,000 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 11,800 of those students were accepted; of those, about 3,500 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1100 to 1208, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 22 to 30. Additionally, more than 80% of the admitted students were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.8.

CSU Long Beach has a rather manageable student to faculty ratio of 20:1, which is rather low considering the large size of the university. Most of the general education classes are held in large lecture halls with hundreds of students, however, as the classes become more advanced, they also become considerably smaller. In fact, it is rare to find an upper level class with more than 20 to 25 students.

The Social Scene

The town of Long Beach is, of course, located on the ocean, so outdoor activities such as surfing and beach volleyball are extremely popular. The town is only about 25 minutes away from Los Angeles, and many students head up to the city on the weekends for a bit of urban excitement. Long Beach is primarily a commuter school, so on-campus social life is limited; however, the university is home to a whopping 31 fraternities and sororities, and many students join a Greek organization at some point. The Greeks throw some crazy weekend bashes that are the highlight of the week for many CSU Long Beach students.

The dating scene is hot hot hot; expect a lot of buff surfer boys with some brains and California sunshine gals in short shorts...

What’s Good

“The school is massive, but at times, you feel like you’re going to a small private school. You have all the resources at your fingertips.”

“You couldn’t ask for a better location; sea, sand, surf, and sun. The weekends rock.”

“You have a really wide selection of majors, and they don’t put pressure on you to choose right away.”

What’s Bad

“There are a lot of people here just to party and not to study. It gets annoying for those of us who actually care about our grades.”

“There are just way too many fraternities and sororities; they basically dominate the campus.”

“Because a lot of students commute, things tend to be cliquey between those who live on campus and those who don’t. We don’t often talk to one another.”

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