San Jose State University

The administrative system is horribly disjointed, making them extremely disorganized and incapable of helping students.

When I was first accepted to the university, I wasn't notified until 3 weeks before the first day of school. No acceptance letter, no letter to attend orientation, no letter to let me know when I could register for classes. I had to scurry for leftover classes and find a place to live. I ended up with useless 9 units and staying at a friend's living room for a week before moving to a studio I hated.

All of my friends have had some sort of horror story from the Admin office. The general, administrative office is completely separate from the offices within the department - they do not communicate, so the information you get from them vary and they do not cross-reference their records. Good luck trying to get any help from the mean/useless people there, who will send you in circles for weeks because they don't know and don't care.

A close friend of mine dropped a class (which he already transferred units from a community college) late due to a family emergency and later provided a doctor's note and other paperwork. He handed it in and 3 years later - after he graduated - SJSU contacted him and said he had an RT in his transcript, and therefore could not officially graduate. He had a month to get another doctor's note, and 2 other signatures. It took a week of wandering through their bureaucratic maze just to find out what he needed to do. Finding the right people took a week itself, then it turns out the people he needed to find were impossible to get a hold of because the education system is completely understaffed. The transcript issue was not cleared on time, and he had to push his graduation date back by a YEAR. Why would anyone want to go to a school where the offices lose student paperwork, say it's OK to graduate, and then make it the student?s responsibility to cleaning up after them? And then they don't even offer any guidance as to how to clean up after them!

The education itself is mediocre at best. I would never go back, and always wish I went elsewhere. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY! STUDENTS DESERVE BETTER THAN SJSU!!!