CSULB's Admissions Standards:
CSULB is one of the more selective universities in the California State University System. In 2010, only one-third of applicants were accepted. In the scattergram above, the green and blue dots represent accepted students. The majority of students who got into the California State University Long Beach had GPAs of 3.0 or higher, SAT scores (CR+M+W) of 1400 or higher, and ACT scores of 19 or higher. Chances of acceptance are best for students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher and a combined SAT score of 1700 or higher. In the middle of the graph, note that there is some red (rejected students) hidden behind the blue and green. Some students with grades and test scores on target for CSULB still get rejected.
Unlike the University of California System, the California State University admission process is not holistic. Except for EOP students, applicants do not need to submit letters of recommendation or an application essay, and extracurricular involvement is not part of the standard application.
Thus, the reason why an applicant with adequate scores and grades would be rejected tends to come down to a couple factors such as insufficient college preparatory classes or an incomplete application.
