Sac State Reviews | GradReports (2023)

"I was extremely excited to graduate from community college and transfer to Sac State. I was proud of my accomplishments, but after a few months of on campus classes I've realized that I actually hate this school and would drop out if I didn't have student loans. The only thing I've found on this campus that beats out the CC I graduated from is the financial aid department, which hasn't given me any heart attacks yet whereas my CC was nightmarish when it came to dealing with them. Other than that I've had nothing but negative experiences here. All of my professors are either actively mean to the students, or obviously couldn't possibly care any less. I've had eight professors here so far and haven't found a single one of them even remotely helpful. I've had a professor lie to the entire class about what to expect on a major exam, then basically say "Deal with it" when called on it. I've had another professor give me a panic attack after openly mocking me in class after asking us for our input, both these things happened in the same week. All I've learned from this school so far is to keep your head down, NEVER participate, and hide in the back. Last semester I had a professor that seemed actively happy about most of his students failing his class. I'm just completely exhausted and every day seems to bring fresh agony. I never felt this way about my CC and actually loved going to school there when I attended. I am an extremely pro-education person who loves learning new things. I also suffer from severe depression and anxiety disorders. I feel like I've been in a deep depression since I started attending and that my mental health is taking a huge nosedive. I get anxiety attacks every time I have to go to campus because I know it's going to be excruciating. Really my issue is just with the professors, but your college experience basically IS your professors. If you have bad teachers, you have a bad experience at school. Period. I will NEVER suggest Sac State to anyone and if asked I'd press them to try just a little harder and try to get into Davis, or any school that treats it's students like actual people."

"I was satisfied with things like the campus, services, clubs. The whole "college experience" is definitely there and it's really up to you to be wise with your time and choices. I am not happy with the quality of education. I was part of the Business Administration program with a concentration in Marketing & delivery as well as the material presented is very outdated. You learn what Marketing is in theory & the only type of real-world application we received was the Harvard Cases. Where you would analyze specific problems that a company was having & write a paper exploring the options, recommendations, risks, etc. In the real world, Marketing professionals need to have a good grip on statistics & know how to use a variety of Marketing tools & software. Every job or desirable internship asks for those things. Obviously, not all marketing professionals require that you know how to model data aka stats but even if you want to become a social media marketer you need to know how to use certain tools. It would have been nice to have the option to learn those things in class & while doing group projects. Bottom line: If you are pursuing Business Administration - Marketing make sure that you find ways you learn how to use different marketing tools & software because Sac State will not teach you..."

"TLDR: Instruction: 5/10, dorm life: 3.5/10, campus: 8/10, dining hall: 2/10, social scene: 3.5/10, parking: 2/10, city: 5/10, career fairs and internships: 4/10 Keep in mind that this review is based off my experience and I could have done more in multiple aspects to make this a better experience for myself. With that being said, I highlighted some of the worst aspects of the experience to inform you some of the downsides you could run into. Take it with a grain of salt if you wish. Social Life Keep in mind that I transferred to Sac State. I don't have much to go off for the social scene as I was only on campus for 6-9 months prior to covid, but I did live in the dorms and recall the vast majority of people being very reserved. Depending on your personality, this may be what you are looking for, but it was not what I was expecting or looking for. The Campus I liked the campus. It's very green and has some cool animals roaming around it like squirrels, turkeys, and I even was a coyote once. It's a nice size, not too big but not too small. For the most part, all of the main lecture halls are within a 5 minute walk of each other. The gym is really nice, but if you're into lifting (specifically benching, squatting, or deadlifting) and you hit the gym at rush hour, don't expect to get a bench or power rack when you get there. In fact it could take you 15-30 minutes to get that piece of equipment. The Dorms and Dining Hall Incredibly overpriced for what you are getting. You are forced to buy a meal plan, which consists of points that you have to budget with throughout the entirety of the semester. If you don't use all of your points, you won't get a refund for those points that you have left and, if I remember correctly, you won't be able to transfer those points over to the next semester. In addition to this, you can only use these points at two places on campus. The Dining Hall is full of garbage foods filled with carbs. The quality of the meat that is being served is sub par. In fact, the quality of the burgers served were on par with what I was served in middle school. I will say that there is a pretty broad variety of options, but this establishment was definitely a quantity over quality type of establishment. I know this might sound too critical, but bear in mind, if you get the Gold eating plan you are paying roughly $2500 per semester for food. This means that every month you spend roughly $625 on food and I can attest that the quality of food is not worth $625 a month. I will say that the Dining Commons is great if you are currently bulking or are trying to put on that freshman 15 in record time. Parking When instruction was in person, parking was a nightmare. I lived in the dorms, so mine wasn't too bad, but it wasn't unheard of to hear that someone was late to class because they spent 30 minutes looking for a parking spot. Bear in mind that parking passes are $178 per semester at the time of writing this. Talk about money well spent! Courses for Computer Science As for the Computer Science courses, the upper div courses are going to teach you the fundamentals of computer science. With this being said, don't expect to be learning any new and upcoming technologies. One of the main problems with Sac State is actually getting into the courses. This is very prominent in what are arguably the most important classes to get out of the way, the lower division courses. Now luckily I didn't have to take many lower division courses here, but I do know some pre-CS majors that have had their expected graduation pushed back a semester, or even two, due to the fact that they could not get into lower div classes that are prerequisites to many other classes. It is extremely hard to get into the 3 elective classes that are needed for the degree. Regarding electives, the school only allows students to take 3 CS electives, so if you are looking to get one of the CS certificates along with your degree, good luck. Another critique I have is that there isn't much programming done in the curriculum. When we do have programming projects, we're using SDKs like Codename One, which a whole 77 companies in the world use and has a market share of .08%. This lack of projects underprepares you when searching for internships, so it is extremely important to do your own personal projects. I didn't find the courses to be incredibly difficult or time consuming, just put in the sufficient time and effort and you will pass. Instructors Being that courses are hard to get into, I have found that picking a professor of your choice is simply a luxury you won't get. There are a few professors in the department that are really good, but most are mediocre. Most of them are foreign, but luckily their accents are easy to comprehend. Some do have a terribly thick accent and will leave you questioning if your money was well spent when you can only comprehend half of what they are saying. At the end of the day, most of the instructors are good though. Jobs & Internships For a Computer Science student, the career fairs are complete trash. Don't be surprised if you go to one and find that there are only companies there looking for Construction Management, Civil Engineering, and Electrical Engineering students. As for internships, create your own projects, join ACM, and/or go to Hackathons. If you solely rely on what the school assigns for projects, you will be extremely hard pressed to find an internship. Also, look outside of the Sacramento area for internships as there are very few companies in Sacramento that are looking to hire interns, at least from my experience. It is possible to get internship going here but don't expect the school to align you with one and don't expect your course work to get you the internship (just my experience). The City Itself The campus is located in a better part of the city. However, if you are going to live off campus make sure you start your drive early as traffic can be ridiculous. It is not unheard of to have a 2 mile drive take 15 minutes. As if the traffic wasn't fun enough, you also get to be surrounded by some of the worst drivers in America while on the road. I didn't really do much exploring while school was in person, however, the one time that I went downtown I was greeted by a plethora of homeless people talking to themselves outside of the local restaurants. As for the city in general, the biggest appeal is that it is in a good central location and it won't take you too long to travel to Lake Tahoe or the Bay. It also has the Kings basketball team, which is cool if you are into watching good teams smash the Kings for a relatively cheap ticket price."

"I would not recommend CSUS to anyone, especially not the Computer Science program. Here's why: - CSUS isn't a particularly renowned school (like not at all actually) nor are the networking opportunities good. If you can get into a better school, do it. The school name matters a lot more than you think it does. - The CS+Engineering career fairs are very low-effort and very crowded. It's impossible to stand out. The school does not care if you get a job or not. - CSUS does not have enough staff to meet the demand of Calc I & II (among many other courses) so you're going to have to wait until you're a second-semester soph or junior to take these fundamental classes which might delay your graduation. - The school does nothing to help you land a job in CS. If you go to the CS career center you can speak to Neysa, the head of the whole thing. I went there in an attempt to get help landing a Software Engineering job. She literally didn't even know what Software Engineering was. The head of the CS+Engineering Career Center didn't know what the main CS job was. She then asked me if I knew what LinkedIn was. She should not have a job. I believe she is representative of the quality of the program over all."

"Overall the program was applicable and stringent enough to groom and prepare future clinical social workers. The teachers were open with office hours to discuss any issues you might be having, they also made the time to talk with you about your own personal issues and to help challenge you to work through them. Through those challenges the social workers are able to find other tools to help work with their clients in the future. Classes were difficult to enroll into because the program was highly impacted yet the department was not allowed to become impacted So we had other students from other disciplines who have priority over the social workers when it came to solidifying classes which made it very stressful and did not allow proper time for you to graduate. The social work program at sac State for undergrad is technically a five-year program if you do not get the classes you need. although the professors do need a summer break it would be nice if they offered some summer classes so that students can get ahead when they don't have the chance to get into their fall and spring classes. Amount of work that is given to students is decent. The classes allow you to have opportunities to create scenarios and act them out which will help improve skill sets and add additional resources and tools. Professors continue to be active in the community and will help students with resources and provide an area in which they can talk about their issues during their field placement. Lastly, the interconnectedness between the teachers and students is well groomed and appropriate. There is a strong sense of belonging on campus."

"I attended 2 community colleges before transferring to Sac State. My first semester at the university... not great. Im pretty sure the staff has no idea whats going on. The person who runs the advising center for NSM (Gabrielle i think is her name) put on my advising report I still needed to take Statistics 1... I had already taken and passed that course so that made me uneasy, but maybe it was just a mistake and she had overlooked a couple things on my transcript. Then when I tried to add biology to my schedule I was not able to, because it was only open to first year students. This made no sense to me. You would think someone further along in their college units would be priority when choosing courses. Every semester you are required to attend an advising appointment. During my first appointment I asked the advisor if i could take courses like biology at another school so I didn't fall further behind. The advisor told me no, because I had reached my transfer credit limit. The following semester, I asked a 3rd advisor if I there was anything I could do to still graduate in two years. She was very helpful and gave me a list of courses I could take at other schools to help make up for the semester I was not able to take bio... AND told me it would satisfy requirements to graduate. I was happy but extremely irritated that I was not given correct info from the beginning. It's obvious that the people advising students are not on the same page and who knows what kind of wrong info they've been giving students. The professors I have taken so far have been great, with the exception of two. (One woman teaches a drug and alcohol class that is both extremely boring and incorrect. Some of the information she gave was very wrong and very outdated). No one at this school will care if you got the wrong info or if you are behind a semester because of their wrong info. So anticipate spending an extra $4500-9000 on tuition. OH! and if you're submitting any kind of documentation, applications, etc. make sure you mail, email, and make/save copies of everything because they will lose whatever you're submitting. It's a pretty decent biology program, but not worth the headache or money if you plan on majoring in something besides science or technology. If you're unsure about what to major in, don't waste your time on an advising appointment. They'll only direct you to an online quiz."

"I thoroughly enjoyed my experience as an undergraduate for the Family and Consumer Science program. There were many hands on classes which included cooking, sewing, and going to school for field work. I appreciate this experience because it gave me an insight on how this profession can be used outside of the classroom. I learned so much and had a wonderful time at Sac State that I am now pursuing my Master's here now as well for Counseling!"

"The instructors have relevant experience in their respective areas of instruction and this ensures that the assignments and examinations are purposeful and representative of real world issues. The coursework is challenging, but fair. There are numerous resources available to assist in learning, including the student union, reserve book room and clubs, among other usual university services/social contacts. You will find, with appropriate counseling and direction from academic staff, that the learning experience isn't as daunting as it might seem. I highly recommend attending orientation because you will learn a great deal about the university as a whole, including all the bureaucracies common in everyday experience (such as registering for classes based on seniority or finding convenient parking spots). What you'll gain most in the orientation is that students should first concentrate on general education before declaring a major. This ensures that the student samples enough classes to reach an informed decision about major course of study - saving time and money. Don't forget to ask about catalog rights and ability receive transfer credits (as there are rigid rules about this. It is a lengthy topic, but hopefully this is a good reminder to ask."

"The instructors have relevant experience in their respective areas of instruction and this ensures that the assignments and examinations are purposeful and representative of real world issues. The coursework is challenging, but fair. There are numerous resources available to assist in learning, including the student union, reserve book room and clubs, among other usual university services/social contacts. You will find, with appropriate counseling and direction from academic staff, that the learning experience isn't as daunting as it might seem. I highly recommend attending orientation because you will learn a great deal about the university as a whole, including all the bureaucracies common in everyday experience (such as registering for classes based on seniority or finding convenient parking spots). What you'll gain most in the orientation is that students should first concentrate on general education before declaring a major. This ensures that the student samples enough classes to reach an informed decision about major course of study - saving time and money. Don't forget to ask about catalog rights and ability receive transfer credits (as there are rigid rules about this. It is a lengthy topic, but hopefully this is a good reminder to ask."

"I am an Asian-American and a teacher said "f*cking ch*nk" when a female Asian custodian worker walked into the class for trash. Also had a few run-ins with hostile sorority girls and a frat guy saying "if you have hate in your heart let it out". There is also little to do in the area."

"I loved my undergrad experience. I wouldnt have been able to get through without fasfa, but I am so grateful for the education Ive received. The campus was amazing and all of my professors were always so helpful. I loved that I could learn so much about my major, especially the different schools of psychology."

"Sacramento State is an institution that has focus on making sure students succeed and obtain a degree in four years The speech pathology program is one of the best in the state of California taught by professors who are known nation wide for their contributions to the speech world. Classes are impacted and you have to apply for some majors."

"Sacramento State isn't well-known for its' communication program. However, I appreciated my undergraduate experience for the passionate professors, rigorous curriculum and career preparation. Sacramento State boasts a beautiful campus with bright flowers and vibrant greenery. Plenty of food options and great study spaces. Professors care deeply about the success of their students and there are many scholarship, professional development and leadership opportunities available on campus. Find your passion and get involved!"

"I attended Sacramento State University to receive my bachelor's degree. I found that the teachers were very good here and that there are a lot of resources available to the students if more help is needed. The professors were very interested in helping their students do well."

"The Dietetics program at CSUS is for students who are serious about becoming a registered dietitians and who are independent. The program is poorly set up. It is fairly easy to get into, but the staff does a poor job at guiding you or supporting your goals. Students lack clear direction in which classes to take, so they take classes randomly that are required to obtain a degree. I wish it was set up better to prepare students for the real world, getting jobs and into internships. I gained a lot of knowledge about nutrition, but everything else I had to do on my own."

"The school is a good size school, not too big. The faculty in Kinesiology Dept. are excellent. I enjoyed my time there. I received my under-graduate degree at Sac State, also. I enjoyed my time there."

"CSUS offered me an unforgettable higher education experience. As a first generation college student, Sac State greatly helped me transition through their EOP (Educational Opportunity Program) . I felt connected to the campus and faculty immediately. The professors I had over 5 years were always available for support and easily able to contact and reach out to. My psychology professors especially were amazing, specifically my Cross Cultural Psychology professor. The campus itself is nestled in versatile and diverse city that only makes the university that much more attractive. CSUS prepared me to begin my Masters Program at New York University in the Fall of this year."

"I find CSU- Sacramento a good 4 year school to transfer to as a junior. Parking is ample, though consider parking on J street or near Guy west bridge to if you cannot afford parking permits. You can purchase parking permits for a semester, week or 3 week period. Semester parking permits are returnable for a partial refund depending on the date in relation to the completion of the semester. Utilize the services available that are part of the registration fees, which include: The Well gymnasium, The terminal lounge in the Union, Library Grad lockers, and department resources."

"The best education for the best value. And regarding my department, I could not have asked for better mentors."

"I went to Sacramento State straight out of high school planning to be a nurse, however I took many of the prerequisite courses and when I took one in Child Development it completely changed my mind about the career I wanted because there is no guarantee into the nursing program. I decided to switch because this major intrigued me and the professors were really passionate about the field. I finished in 5 years but it could have been 4 years if I knew what I wanted to do sooner and went full time each semester. Professors offer real life scenarios throughout the course so you have real examples from someone who has been in the field and not just information straight out of a book. I also took a minor in Counseling and I love that department too because it provides an insight into yourself and really opens your eyes. I might just go back for a Masters in Counseling still. Parking can be a nightmare especially if there is traffic. There are many great places on campus to get food and drink including Starbucks! The book store always has great deals on supplies and apparel, I always check out clearance prices first."