San Diego State University Admission
San Diego State University Undergraduate Program
San Diego State University Application

The Facts

San Diego State University is a rather large, public, state school located in the city of San Diego, California, and is home to over 21,700 undergraduate students and approximately 6,330 graduate and part-time professional students. The university is actually divided up into several smaller undergraduate colleges including schools of arts and letters, business administration, education, engineering, health and human services, professional studies and fine arts, as well as general sciences. The school’s main draw is probably its business school that offers its students some great internship opportunities throughout southern California. SDSU also provides students with more than 180 study abroad programs in countries as varied as Mexico and Russia. The university has a massive group of undergraduate degrees for students to choose from in a wide range of primarily preprofessional areas, however, some of the most popular with students include majors in the areas of business administration, psychology, liberal studies, biology, as well as nursing.

Admission to San Diego State University is extremely competitive numerically, and a huge amount of Californian students apply with each passing admissions cycle. Last year, a whopping 30,000 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 14,450 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 4,000 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 970 to 1180, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 20 to 25. Additionally, over 56% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.52.

SDSU has a rather large student to faculty ratio of 19:1, although it is not nearly as bad as other large state schools. Like any large school, there are both dedicated, accessible professors, and those who seem to be more wrapped up in their own careers rather than the progress of their students. However, students rave about the various research opportunities available in which students usually work very closely with their professors.

The Social Scene

The city of San Diego is a vibrant coastal city located near the border of Mexico, so one can easily imagine that one of the most popular activities with students involves sea, surf, sun, and sand. There are also some awesome nightclubs and bars, but they tend to be really strict when it comes to carding. (hey, just go to Mexico for a tried and true margarita!) Most students own cars, and we hear that weekend road trips to nearby Los Angeles are also a popular option.

There are quite a few fraternities and sororities at the school, and in fact, SDSU has the reputation for being somewhat of a party school. Most students fill their weekend with surfing during the day, and partying hard at night. Sound good? Well, it is!

The student body is incredibly diverse, and we guarantee that there’s a little bit of something here for everyone.

What’s Good

“You couldn’t ask for a better location! I mean, you’re basically going to school in a tropical paradise.”

“The party scene here is incredible, and you can be sure you’ll never be bored on the weekends.”

“There is a terrific student center here, and it’s a nice place to go for quiet studying.”

What’s Bad

“The party scene can get waaaay too out of hand on the weekends, and people just don’t know how to moderate.”

“If you don’t have a car, getting around can be pretty tough. There isn’t really a very efficient public transit system.”

“There a lot of stereotypical valley girls (and guys) here, and trust me, it gets really really really obnoxious!”

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