California State University Monterey Bay (StudentsReview)

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	F	Faculty Accessibility	B+
Useful Schoolwork	F	Excess Competition	F
Academic Success	D-	Creativity/ Innovation	F
Individual Value	F	University Resource Use	F
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	C+	Friendliness	A-
Campus Maintenance	F	Social Life	F
Surrounding City	F	Extra Curriculars	D-
Safety	A-

Describes the student body as: Arrogant, Broken Spirit, Closeminded Describes the faculty as: Friendly

Female

Bright

Lowest Rating Educational Quality	F

Highest Rating Friendliness	A-

She cares more about Campus Maintenance than the average student.

Date: Jan 12 2010
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
I am currently a freshman at CSUMB. DO NOT GO HERE! I came here planning to attend for only a few years to get my GE's out of the way easily (I knew the classes would be easy) and then transfer to a UC. Little did I know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get out of this school, especially with the current state of the CSU system. CSU schools are not accepting lower-division transfers. Basically the only way to get out as a lower-division student would be to transfer to a community college. But what college likes to see that you dropped out of a CSU to go to a community college? When I asked my advisor for help on transferring to another school she simply showed a me a website (asisst.org) where I could see if my CSUMB classes could transfer to other schools (none of them did). She then proceeded to write down classes for me to take that were CSUMB specific and could not transfer! I checked out the website and barely any (four or five) of the classes at CSUMB actually transferred to other colleges. DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON TRANSFERRING TO ANOTHER UNIVERSITY, EVEN IF IT IS WITHIN THE CSU SYSTEM.

The social life here is a joke. No one is friendly and no one wants to be friends. There are never any parties worth going if you can even get to them! The campus is really isolated and you need a car to get everywhere. The closest store (Target) is about a forty-five minute walk from campus. And the bus system is horrible, there is a bus about every four hours, not convenient! The surrounding cities are ridiculous, if you enjoy being stared down my creepy men then go to Marina (the closest town), and if you like being surrounded by old people go to Monterey. There is literally nothing to do. The beach is too cold. There are never parties. Since it is an old military base there are good off-roading trails, but try and find a broke college student that is willing to risk their car for twenty minutes of fun. The only thing to do and the only thing that anybody ever does is smoke weed. The dorm halls smell like weed and Febreeze 24/7.

The classes here are ridiculously easy, I literally felt like I was a freshman in HIGHSCHOOL instead of college. I?m not entirely sure that any of the teachers are actually professors than just regular teachers with teaching credentials. The classes are boring, easy, and filled with people that are seriously dumb. I have no clue how many of the students actually got into college. Most of the people in my math class couldn?t even solve simple algebraic equations. And some people in my English class could barely write a high school level essay. When people ask you where you go do you really want to have to say you go to CSUMB with all these dumbasses?

The dorms are constantly having problems. The hot water in my building has been out five times in the last semester, once for three days straight! Once our shower drain was clogged and it would overflow if we had the shower on for more than two minutes, we put in a work order to have it fixed and the maintenance people said it would take five to ten days before they could come out and fix it. Five to ten days without a shower? Yeah right! I had to call them and bitch them out for half an hour before they sent someone out that day. A student shouldn?t have to do that. The heater in my room has been broken all year. They sent someone to get it fixed and it still doesn?t work! To get inside the dorm halls you need to scan your student ID card. Does our scanner work? NO! Anyone can get into our dorm, that?s a little scary. The only good thing about the dorms is that each room has their own shower, sink, and toilet.

I?m begging you, please please please take my advice and do not go here, you will regret it! I'm not just saying this because I had a bad experience, I know lots of people who feel the same way as I do about CSUMB. If you?re a stoner and you don?t care where you get your degree and you want hella easy classes, then go to Monterey, it?s the place for you. But if you are serious about your education and you might want to go to grad school, do not go to Monterey, you will be screwed.

Responses

If you want to get GEs done you should be going to a Community College. CSUs are not designed to be UC prep they create their own four year programs, classes are not meant to transfer they are meant to be part of a curriculum, you should of stuck with a JC to begin with, its too bad people let their ego tell them where to go to school when you would of been better off going to a local JC and taking part in a program designed to transfer to a UC after two years, also most CSUs have not accept lower division transfers for some years. being young is tough but everyone learns to be self sufficient and figure out life on their own, you should not rely on counselors to tell you what you need to transfer, their job is to help you make it through a CSUMB degree program.

Get out while you still can! The advisors repeatedly told me (even when I applied) that starting there to get my General Ed done was a great idea. A couple years later I found out that wasn't even possible and they don't offer anything like that. I dropped out and am finally finishing up at MPC. If you want to just do General Ed. maybe try starting at MPC. It's a MUCH better school with faculty who actually care and know what they are talking about. It's MUCH cheaper, too.

Good luck!

Ask a Question or add a response!