My daughter just applied. We don’t know much about the college and hope to tour soon. We live in Southern California and she wanted to stay here. Her GPA probably won’t get her into some of the bigger name schools. I’m curious what others think of CSUN. What is the environment like there? Social life? Safety? How easy to get classes? Dorms? Really just looking for ANY feedback at this point. Thanks!
I would read niche reviews - not that they’re great - but it’s something.
You might also ask admissions if you can speak with a student ambassador.
Best of luck.
I had a niece that went there. She got her bachelors and masters in public health and she was part of a sorority. She made the most of her opportunities. It was a commuter school, but with a sense of school/campus activities.
I also had a really good friend that went there for her masters in speech pathology. They are known as a big school with re-search in special educational techniques.
They also specialize in assistive technology/ alternate means of communication for people like Steven Hawking.
Students know that they can get a good education there.
I live near CSUN and quite a few of my friends went there. As @aunt_bea mentioned, it’s considered a commuter school with solid education opportunities. It’s got one of the best Deaf Studies programs in the nation, for instance. My son had planned on going there until he switched to city planning. Even with planned tuition increases, the Cal State system offers a great return on investment.
If your daughter wants to live in the dorms or near campus, the area is safe. Northridge is technically part of the City of Los Angeles, but has it’s own identity too. (Lots of LA neighborhoods are like that.) Not sure if this is priority, but Metrolink has a station there and it’s served by a decent bus network. (My city-planning son cared a lot about it. 
) Of course everything is easier with a car in the valley.
I posted another thread on here about the English major/teaching credential program CSUN offers. My daughter has a high GPA and we expect her to get accepted to most of the schools she applied to. CSUN was still her first choice, though it took her a while for it to become so. Her initial tour was underwhelming to her. Her tour guide did fine, but wasn’t as “fun” as a couple other schools. But we went to their open house a couple months ago and met some students in her major along with the dean of the college of humanities. That’s when she fell in love with the school. The students were so enthusiastic about their programs, the school, and the admins were great. We went back a month later because the dean arranged for her to sit in on an English class. She came out even more enthusiastic and said she could really see herself there and felt ready for college.
The Wall Street Journal recently released their college rankings and CSUN did extremely well (#2 in the state and #53 in the nation). (Best U.S. Colleges 2024 - WSJ / College Pulse Rankings - WSJ.com) It’s a very supportive school with great education and programs. They have a lot of first gen students and they’ve built supports into the school so that everyone can benefit from them. Their outcomes are much higher than other similar schools (a large part of the amazing WSJ ranking). The high ranking is based on student outcomes (jobs and salary after graduation), quality of education, student experience, support programs, diversity, and more. It’s a very comprehensive ranking system. #2 in the state behind Berkeley does not mean the education is better than UCLA or CP SLO, but it does mean the quality of the education is much higher than other similar schools and the supports are top notch (I recommend reading the ranking criteria to understand it).
My daughter already has her acceptance and has already pushed the button to accept her slot. I asked her if she was sure because she’s still waiting to hear from schools like Cal Poly SLO and SDSU (she didn’t apply to any of the UCs because her top 3 schools at the time were SLO, SDSU, and Northridge) and she said absolutely.
Housing: they do have freshman dorms but allow freshmen to go straight into apartments with kitchens instead, though they recommend freshmen go into the dorms for that bonding experience. They don’t have a guarantee for the freshmen dorms like a lot of schools. All housing is very competitive so you need to sign up early. You also don’t have to have been accepted yet to apply for housing. There is family housing near campus for students with dependents. The housing is good and much of it is new. It’s on the north side of campus.
The school’s amenities are very good. Great gym, a student spa with nap pods and massage chairs(!!!), and easy access to off-campus restaurants and stores.
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