California State University Monterey Bay

Date: Jun 02 2015
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
Let me start by saying that CSUMB is a fairly nice school.

I am a Junior here at CSUMB majoring in Human Communications (English Literature).

The best things about CSUMB, honestly, are the price (VERY cheap in comparison to other CSUs) and the quality of education. Throughout my General Ed courses and some of my major courses, I have only had one bad professor out of sixteen. Oh, and the dorm rooms are massive, the internet is crazy fast, and everyone gets cable. All dorms are equipped with their own bathrooms too, which is really convenient and offers privacy.

The worst things are the campus life and the campus aesthetics. There is a student center, but there isn't really much going on anywhere. The campus is built on an old military base, so there are still tons of old decrepit buildings around the perimeter of campus. Because of that, the campus is sort of offputting once you leave the central quad area. Also, the campus really needs an update on lighting. Believe me, the famous Monterey fog and the rain are awesome, but not at night where you can't see more than 15 feet around you… It's literally like a scene from Silent Hill.

Lots of expansion has happened recently. The library was built 5 years before I came to campus, the Science building was finished a bit before the library, and the Business and Information Technology building will be opening this Fall (2015). On top of that, the new Student Union building is set to be done in 2017 (right after I leave, which stinks). As negative as I was being about the campus earlier, it is apparent that they are trying to improve the quality/aesthetics of the campus.

The food selection is actually fairly good for a campus this size. There are 5 places to get food around campus (2 are coffee shops) with late hours (the Otter Express is open till midnight). That being said, the food selection isn't all that great and gets old after a while.

The surrounding area is extremely gorgeous if you know where to go. Carmel, the city of Monterey, and Pacific Grove are all really nice and there is tons of stuff to do in the area. Maybe that's why the school itself still looks and feels so bland.

Some notes:

Make friends early. Seriously. I have a great network of friends since my roommates forced me to get out often. The dorms are superb for freshman because they allow communities to form.(75% of my friends were on the same floor as me during my Freshman year). After your freshman year, though, it is a lot harder to make friends since everyone is already off in their own groups.

Bring a car. If you are lucky enough to have one, just bring it. CSUMB is one of the few schools that allows Freshman to have a car. Parking is a pain sometimes, but it is worth it.

You can change majors. It is easy as long as you do it before Junior year. I was a Computer Science major and changed to Human Communications without a hitch.