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San Diego State University Data & Information Overview

1,422 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
37% Acceptance Rate
If you want to know more about San Diego State University, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource. Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

How Well Is San Diego State University Ranked?

#193 Best Colleges in Nation
#24 Best Colleges in CA
Community College Education Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2023 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

San Diego State University was awarded 1,422 badges in the 2023 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is community college education.

Overall Quality

College Factual ranked SDSU as #193 out of 2,241 colleges and universities in the country on its 2023 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when SDSU held the #390 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

SDSU also holds the #24 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.

See all of the rankings for San Diego State University.

Is It Hard to Get Into SDSU?

37% Acceptance Rate
60% Of Accepted Are Women
85% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at San Diego State University is a competitive 37%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.

Average Test Scores

About 85% of students accepted to SDSU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 550 and 640. Math scores were between 540 and 660.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for San Diego State University  ( 550 to 640 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for San Diego State University  ( 540 to 660 )
200
800
SDSU received ACT scores from 36% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 22 and 29.

ACT Composite Scores for San Diego State University  ( 22 to 29 )
1
36

Learn more about San Diego State University admissions.

San Diego State University Faculty

27 to 1 Student to Faculty
52% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At San Diego State University, the student to faculty ratio is 27 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at San Diego State University is 52%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  52 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at San Diego State University

89% Freshmen Retention
36% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

San Diego State University has a freshmen retention rate of 89%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  89 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

When it comes to finishing their studies on time, those seeking a bachelor's degree from SDSU have a four-year graduation rate of 36%. This is comparable to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  36 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at San Diego State University.

San Diego State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

28,084 Full-Time Undergraduates
58.3% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
57.0% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 31,491 undergraduates at SDSU with 28,084 being full-time and 3,407 being part-time.

How Much Does San Diego State University Cost?

$13,845 Net Price
29% Take Out Loans
$28,068 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of SDSU is $13,845. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for SDSU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$7,169 $9,274 $14,698 $18,957 $22,318

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of SDSU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At SDSU, approximately 29% of students took out student loans averaging $7,017 a year. That adds up to $28,068 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SDSU is 2.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for San Diego State University.

How Much Money Do SDSU Graduates Make?

$59,027 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from SDSU make about $59,027 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future SDSU graduates since it is 39% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at San Diego State University make the most money.

Location of San Diego State University

California State
28,084 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Located in San Diego, California, San Diego State University is a public institution. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

Get more details about the location of San Diego State University.

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Contact details for SDSU are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA 92182-0001
Phone: 619-594-5200
Website: www.sdsu.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoState
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sdsu

San Diego State University Majors

94 Majors With Completions
8,717 Undergraduate Degrees
1,684 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 94 majors graduated from San Diego State University. Of these students, 8,717 received undergraduate degrees and 1,684 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Business Administration & Management 1,770 $38,950
General Psychology 601 $25,695
Health & Physical Education 416 $24,520
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 399 $28,861
Criminal Justice & Corrections 391 $31,547
Computer Science 295 $62,997
General Biology 282 $33,006
Economics 240 $42,818
Nursing 237 $89,225
Liberal Arts General Studies 237 $25,662

Learn more about the majors offered at San Diego State University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at SDSU

99% Take At Least One Class Online
85% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2019-2020, 35,821 students took at least one online class at San Diego State University. This is an increase from the 17,691 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2019-2020 35,821 30,790
2018-2019 17,691 813
2017-2018 16,434 646
2016-2017 14,170 535
2015-2016 12,061 239

Learn more about online learning at San Diego State University.

If you’re considering San Diego State University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against SDSU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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