CSUN is the home Cal State school for most students in the San Fernando Valley and northern Los Angeles area (and part of Ventura County – click here to see if you are in CSUN’s local area). It’s also an excellent choice for students interested in studying business, kinesiology and the performing arts, with strong programs in all of those areas.
Despite the fact that CSUN is home to about 30,000 undergraduate students (22,000 full-time, ~8,000 part-time), only three majors are impacted: accounting, finance and business administration. The average class size is 35 and large classes generally have no more than 100 students. CSUN offers 64 different majors in nine academic colleges. CSUN is on the semester calendar.
Because the majority of CSUN students are from the immediate area, most of them live at home and commute to school. About 30% of freshmen live on campus in dorms and apartments; there are two dormitory buildings reserved for freshmen. Many students also live in Greek housing adjacent to campus; there are 40 fraternities and sororities at CSUN and Greek life is very active.
The Valley Performing Arts Center opened a few years ago on the CSUN campus, drawing major entertainment acts and bringing focus to the arts at CSUN. Students interested in majoring in music must audition, but theatre students are not required to audition. Film production students are required to submit a portfolio of their creative work.
Engineering is strong at CSUN; the Tseng College of Engineering hosts “Tech Fest” twice each year, an event where students can showcase their engineering work, and local companies can recruit students for jobs.
Students say that the faculty are very supportive at CSUN, and that it’s a friendly campus. Students are assigned a faculty advisor as soon as they register for classes, but students must use their own initiative to seek appointments and follow through to get hands-on advising. The grounds are very nice, with a historic orange grove at the southeast corner of the campus (the ducks in the pond will eat oranges if you feed them!).