“The applicant sees that 4.0 GPA + 1600 was above the EI stat index for 2019, so he”
For 2019, the EI for CS was 4825, so the 4.0/1600 applicant knows they are not getting in because they’re at 4800 unless they took honors/APs or live in Santa Clara County. If they took even 1 honors course, they’re above the 2019 EI but yes may be not a safety. However if they’ve taken at least four honors or AP courses with a 1600 and live in Santa Clara, they have highest EI possible and are in for any major.
Anyway, that’s not typically how it works for CSUs, you list three majors, Applicant 1 would list say CS, Software engineering, Math and gets into SJSU with second major.
“However, one still needs to look at the chance of a particular student being accepted,”
Agree, which is why general acceptance rates are not that useful. If you’re a 1600/4.33, CSUs are your safeties. If you’re a 1200/3.0, they’re not.
“And often students don’t breakdown overall acceptance rates.”
They definitely do, unless they’re not getting good GC support, they know that different majors or colleges within a university have different acceptance rates.