The California State University (CSU) is a public university system made up of 23 college campuses across the state of California.
Whether your student is applying to one or four of the CSU colleges, they will still apply via the Cal State Apply Application .
Here’s what you need to know for the 2023-24 admissions cycle.
The application opens Oct. 1 and has "phased deadlines," meaning some campuses will have earlier deadlines than other campuses. Eight campuses will close on November 30th, including Cal Poly San Louis Obispo and San Diego State University. You can verify deadline dates on each campus's website or look it up here.
Since 2022, the use of ACT/SAT scores in the admissions process has been suspended for all of the CSU campuses.
As a result, the 23 CSU campuses have implemented a multi-factor review to determine admission eligibility, which includes a combination of:
Some CSU campuses are impacted or have impacted programs – meaning the number of applications received from qualified applicants exceeds the number of available spaces. These campuses may use a higher GPA minimum in their admissions process.
For example, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo gives extra consideration when students take beyond the minimum number of semesters required in some of the “A-G” subject areas, such as math, lab science, English, or language other than English. San Diego State University, in addition to considering all of the college-prep coursework students have taken during high school, also considers the performance and the number of units taken in courses most relevant to their intended major (see "Preparation Towards Indicated Area of Study").
The main section of the CSU application asks students to report the average number of hours they participated in extracurricular and/or leadership activities over the most recent 12 months, and the average number of hours they worked per week over the most recent 12 months. Note, students are not asked to list out the activities or work endeavors themselves, simply the amount of time spent engaged in them.
