California State University, Long Beach is an urban, public, co-ed university founded in 1949 in Long Beach, California. It is the third-largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU). California State University, Long Beach also goes by the name CSULB, Cal State Long Beach, LBSU. California State University is ranked 20th in the 2020 edition of Best Colleges in Regional Universities West.

Campus

California State University is present at a beautiful location overlooking the Pacific Ocean and has at least 3000 peach trees on the campus and offers the students of this university a great standard of studies and living. With this great campus university, there are students coming from various other countries in an approximate of 55 countries. Hence the Bachelor’s, Post-bachelor’s certificate, Master’s, Doctorate – professional practice, Doctorate – research/scholarship proves to be a diverse university.

Colleges

California State University is a highly competitive university with 8 different colleges with subjects such as arts, business, engineering, liberal arts, education, professional and international education, natural sciences and mathematics, health and human services and education. 

Admissions

Students who wish to apply to this university needs to apply it as early as possible as it is rolling admissions, meaning the applications are reviewed as they are received to the university and once they get the required number of students, they shall close the applications for a certain course. The application fee costs vary by the course and degree and it starts from $15. There is no admission interview here. The minimum requirement of GPA is 2. The additional exams are required based on the courses. The requirements depend on the courses. SOP, LOR, Essays, CV are required by a few courses along with the additional requirements specified. TOEFL/IELTS is a required exam for international students.

Academics

In the California State University the student-faculty ratio on an average of 26:1. The major and very high number of students are satisfied. The most popular major in this university is Business, Management, Marketing and Related support services. The next popular being, visual and performing arts and the top third being health professions and related programs. The degrees that are being offered in California State University are Bachelor’s, Post-bachelor’s certificate, Master’s, Doctorate – professional practice, Doctorate – research/scholarship. 

Cost and Aid

According to the Indian rupees, the university tuition fee start as low as 15 lakhs and goes up to 27 lakhs depending on the course required, for the first year. For a year, the room and board fees will cost around 10 lakhs. There is financial aid provided by the university in the form of scholarships and grants. A student needs to apply for this on the requirement basis. There is also a fund called ‘Travel fund’ available to the students in addition to campus-wide funding and funding by each college alone. Even with these diverse grants, there is also an option of external funding.

Student life

Students have the option of living on-campus or off-campus. Out of the total enrolment, 4% of the students live on campus. There are various housing options on-campus such as co-ed dorms, special housing for disabled students, special housing for international students and theme housing. There are various dining services on campus as well.  The California State University is an active member of sports and has various associations and clubs for the sports separately. 

Summarizing the above major points, I would consider the California State University, Long Beach a top-notch University and though it is highly competitive it is worth it. If any of you are having an idea to go to this University, you can go be a part of the California State University without even a doubt.