Catalog 2023-2024

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California State University (CSU)

California State University (CSU)

Bakersfield, Chico, Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, Fresno, Fullerton, East Bay, Humboldt, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Maritime Academy, Monterey Bay, Northridge, Cal Poly Pomona, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Marcos, Sonoma, Stanislaus Students who plan to earn a bachelor’s degree from a California State University campus, benefit from completing their freshman and sophomore, or lower division work at a California Community College. Although a student may apply to transfer once eligibility criteria has been met, students may earn up to 70 semester units toward a CSU degree at an accredited California Community College.

CSU Transfer Student Admission Eligibility - West Valley College students interested in transferring to the CSU system can transfer one of three ways:

Associate Degree for Transfer - An Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) is a guaranteed pathway for transfer into the California State University (CSU) system. After earning an Associate of Arts for Transfer (AA-T) or Associate of Science for Transfer (AS-T) degree, students will be guaranteed admission to a CSU campus with junior standing. While admission to a student’s campus of choice is not guaranteed, students will be given priority consideration for admission to any CSU campus that offers a program that has been designated as “similar” by CSU. For more information, refer to the Associate Degree for Transfer section in this catalog. If you have been awarded or are pursuing an AA-T or AS-T degree from your California Community College and wish to transfer to the California State University, you must:

    • have earned or be completing an approved Associate Degree for Transfer (AA-T or AS-T) at the time you apply;
    • have completed a minimum of 18 semester or 27 quarter units in a major or area of emphasis and an approved set of generaleducation requirements (CSU GE-Breadth or IGETC);
    • submit your application for admission to CSU campuses for an open term by the published deadline;
    • submit all requested transcripts and documents by published deadlines;
    • meet CSU admission eligibility requirements for the programs to which you are applying; and
    • comply with any other prescribed admission requirements.

Upper Division Transfer - If you will have at least 60 semester or 90 quarter transferable units completed by the time you enter a CSU, you are considered an upper-division transfer applicant. To be admitted to the California State University as an upper-division transfer (UDT) student, you must:

    • have completed a minimum of 60 semester or 90 quarter units of transferable coursework;
    • have an overall college GPA of at least 2.00; your GPA is calculated using all your transfer units attempted. In high-demand majors and campuses, a GPA of 2.00 may not be sufficient to be admitted;
    • be in good standing at the last college or university attended. In simple terms, “good standing” means you are eligible to re-enroll at your last college or university;
    • have completed a minimum of 10 general education courses (30 semester units or 45 quarter units) of basic skills courses, with a grade of C or better, and, specifically, the “golden four” (Oral Communication, Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning; refer to CSU GE Breadth/IGETC for course options).


Lower Division Transfer - Due to enrollment demands, most CSU campuses restrict or prohibit the admission of lower-division transfer (LDT) students who have earned fewer than 60 transferable semester units (90 quarter units). Requirement for LDT are as follows:

    • have completed “a-g” course requirements in high school;
    • have graduated from high school (received a high school diploma or General Educational Development, or GED, certificate);
    • meet the Eligibility Index required of a first-time freshman;
    • have achieved an overall college GPA of at least 2.00 (This GPA is calculated using all your transfer units attempted. In case of high-demand majors and campuses, a GPA of 2.00 may not be sufficient to be admitted);
    • be in good standing at the last college or university you attended. (In simple terms, “good standing” means you are eligible to re-enroll at your last college or university); and
    • have completed, with a grade of C or better, a course in GE Section A2 in written communication and a course in GE section B4 in mathematics or quantitative reasoning.
Last Updated 7/19/23