I am a first time freshman staying in “The Bricks” (a cheaper on-campus dorm).  I was an honors student at my high school and was greatly involved in clubs, volunteer work, and the likes.  I'll save you the skimming and get straight to the facts:

*Although there are some “good cookies,” a lot of the kids here (especially freshman) are extremely immature.  Do NOT expect to hold deep or meaningful conversations.  I have NEVER met so many superficial, spoiled brats until I came here.  I also never would have expected that every other person I met would be sooo incredibly arrogant that it'd be spilling out their asses.  Half the student population are wanna-be ghettos...which really hurts figuring I'm from the ghetto and it's NOT as easy as blasting music in your “mommy and daddy's” Mercedes, dressing like a pimp or ho, speaking poor English, and acting like an asshole. 

*There are some great teachers, but there are many more who are so awful that they will twist you up like spaghetti.  It is still my second semester at SJSU and I have had a teacher run out of the class with a nervous break down, had teachers scream at the class for asking honest and serious questions, and even had one foreign language teacher NOT follow the curriculum and lead my class into the next semester TWO MONTHS behind! 

*Since SJSU is as organized as a dumpster, it only makes sense to head over to the Bursar's Office and ask questions.  There are a few (or maybe two or three out of the hundred people presenting themselves to you) who are absolutely incredible.  Then, like the case with students and faculty, there are the bad cookies.  Many of these people are below-average intelligence and haven't lost their jobs yet because they would file lawsuits.  I have gone in to ask simple questions because I was worried about my school work and I would be calmly speaking for less than two minutes with someone at the counter when a lady with the same job would stand up and start hollering at me for no apparent reason!  I have gone into the Financial Aid unit and gone to the counter and asked, “May I see someone for Financial Aid Counseling please?” and the lady would ask for my student ID, pull up my FAFSA and tell me, “You already completed your FAFSA.” “I am not here about my FAFSA.  I would like to see a Financial Aid Counselor for a drop-in appointment please.” Giving me a strange glance the lady would pull another thing up on her computer and state, “You filed last years FAFSA as well.” and give me a look as if I am some kind of moron.  It took numerous times to get the lady to clearly understand, “I am NOT hear for my FAFSA.” This is what you have to deal with CONSTANTLY AND you MUST keep on top of everyone who works here.  I've had them put 'holds' on my Official Transcripts and (luckily)went in to see if they were sent out and...they weren't because I had a 'hold.' I would tell them, “I do not have any holds.” and they would look me up on their computer and say, “oooops~~~we forgot to remove the hold hee hee hee.”

*The campus looks good first walk through.  When high school kids and transfer students are coming to look at the campus they trim and sparkle up the entire school.  When school starts, however, do NOT expect to escape the HUNDREDS of worms slithering around the sidewalks when it rains, piles of vomit after Thursday-Sunday nights, and best of all it is not uncommon to find garbage cans and buckets sitting ontop desks as water leaks out the ceiling during lectures. 

*The area surrounding campus is alright.  There a few cute places nearby, but far too many crazy people to make up for the very few nice places.  Make sure you don't walk around at night alone and if you get stalkers, don't expect the campus police to do shit about it.  Many of the campus police are rude, lazy, unhelpful and frankly are CAMPUS police just for those reasons! 

*SJSU HATES WHITE PEOPLE: Nearly all clubs are designated for minorities; for working the cafeteria, stores, etc.  SJSU hires kids who slack off and are completely rude — but of course wouldn't fire them because that would be “racist.” Even the signs around the dining commons (the cafeteria) will show a white kid drunk out of his mind or trashing campus, but will make minorities out to be angels.  If you're white, you'll see what I'm talking about when you get here. 

Anyways, my suggestion is if you are able to get into a better school which offers your major and the above doesn't seem acceptable to you, check out a University of California (UC), or heck, even check out a different State University.