By major · Marketing
Where can your student actually get into marketing?
Marketing in California is mostly a CSU major. 28 colleges in California report a bachelor's marketing program in federal outcome data or a marketing admit rate in the UC/CSU data, and every campus that publishes a first-year admit rate for marketing is a CSU. How hard the door is depends almost entirely on which campus: Cal State Long Beach admitted 887 of 3,426 marketing applicants for Fall 2025, and Cal State Stanislaus admitted 113 of 119. Every number below is the college system's own reporting, assembled in one place.
At a glance · California
- 28 colleges in California report a bachelor's marketing program in federal outcome data or a marketing admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: California State University-Long Beach — Marketing, Fall 2025: 3,426 applied, 887 admitted (25.9%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State University-Stanislaus — 95.0% (119 applied, 113 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: Santa Clara University, $104,723.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State University-Los Angeles, $3,967 per year.
A college on this list with no first-year admit row simply does not report marketing separately in this data, which says nothing about whether the door there is open or closed. Where marketing is reported on its own, the admit rate runs from 25.9% at Cal State Long Beach to 95.0% at Cal State Stanislaus. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 514 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Marketing, Fall 2025: 3,426 applied, 887 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Marketing, Fall 2025: 119 applied, 113 admitted
Highest earnings, 4 yrs out
median, graduates of this program
Lowest net price with aid
average for aid recipients, per year
Every college, one row each
Colleges with a reported gate into the program come first, hardest first; the rest are sorted by earnings. Program admit rate is the college system's own number for this major (UC Information Center, CSU Chancellor's Office). Net price is the average paid by aid recipients; full price is the cost of attendance. Earnings are federal College Scorecard medians four years after the degree.
| College | Gate into the program | Program admit rate |
Campus admit rate |
Net price with aid |
Full price |
Earnings 4 yrs out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
California State University-Long Beach
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 3,426 applied, 887 admitted
impacted
|
25.9% | 47% | $10,440 | $22,679 | $67,396 |
|
San Diego State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 3,762 applied, 1,233 admitted
impacted
|
32.8% | 34% | $15,364 | $27,780 | $81,368 |
|
California State University-Bakersfield
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 439 applied, 338 admitted
|
77.0% | 88% | $5,652 | $19,522 | — |
|
San Jose State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 1,168 applied, 976 admitted
impacted
|
83.6% | 80% | $13,760 | $26,593 | — |
|
California State University-East Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 345 applied, 291 admitted
|
84.3% | 97% | $9,320 | $22,850 | — |
|
San Francisco State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 948 applied, 838 admitted
|
88.4% | 96% | $12,278 | $26,488 | $71,691 |
|
California State University-Northridge
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 1,318 applied, 1,193 admitted
|
90.5% | 93% | $7,021 | $20,485 | $64,373 |
|
California State University-Chico
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 808 applied, 735 admitted
|
91.0% | 94% | $14,480 | $26,283 | — |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 388 applied, 358 admitted
|
92.3% | 99% | $13,171 | $25,170 | — |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 1,616 applied, 1,492 admitted
|
92.3% | 74% | $11,531 | $23,955 | — |
|
California State University-Dominguez Hills
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 646 applied, 596 admitted
|
92.3% | 91% | $8,615 | $23,191 | — |
|
California State University-San Bernardino
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 417 applied, 389 admitted
|
93.3% | 98% | $4,564 | $17,427 | $57,157 |
|
Sonoma State University
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 439 applied, 410 admitted
|
93.4% | 95% | $12,885 | $24,648 | — |
|
California State University-Stanislaus
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Marketing
Fall 2025: 119 applied, 113 admitted
|
95.0% | 98% | $6,067 | $19,739 | — |
|
Santa Clara University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 44% | $50,062 | $82,026 | $104,723 |
|
University of San Francisco
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 51% | $41,431 | $80,141 | $91,815 |
|
University of San Diego
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 47% | $30,365 | $78,720 | $83,562 |
|
Loyola Marymount University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 40% | $48,381 | $83,943 | $82,825 |
|
Menlo College
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 68% | $31,100 | $72,020 | $74,930 |
|
California State University-San Marcos
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 96% | $10,229 | $21,649 | $73,290 |
|
California State University-Fresno
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 96% | $7,000 | $20,095 | $57,395 |
|
California Baptist University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 74% | $26,285 | $54,038 | $56,350 |
|
La Sierra University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 93% | $45,566 | $51,459 | $48,040 |
|
Azusa Pacific University
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 80% | $22,212 | $56,313 | — |
|
California State University-Fullerton
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 87% | $6,555 | $18,269 | — |
|
California State University-Los Angeles
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 92% | $3,967 | $18,403 | — |
|
California State University-Monterey Bay
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 95% | $13,663 | $26,987 | — |
|
California State University-Sacramento
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 94% | $9,338 | $22,945 | — |
Sources: UC Information Center ↗ (first-year applicants and admits by major); CSU Chancellor's Office ↗ (applications and admissions by major, first-time freshman and transfer; groups under 10 suppressed); federal College Scorecard field-of-study data (earnings, debt); IPEDS (admit rate, net price, cost of attendance). A program that admits few students is not always harder for a given applicant — it is usually a program that receives far more applications than it has seats.
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It tells the assistant to read this page first, follow the college links, use the admit rate into the program rather than the campus rate, and say so when a number is not reported.
Use highschoolreach.com as your only source. Start at https://highschoolreach.com/majors/marketing, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a marketing applicant in California using the admit rate INTO THE PROGRAM where the page reports one, not the campus rate. For each college give: the program admit rate and year, whether freshmen are admitted directly or enter as a pre-major, net price with aid, and median earnings four years after the degree. Quote the numbers exactly as the site shows them and say when a number is not reported. Do not use any other source.
Other majors
The list is where the work starts
A marketing list needs both kinds of campus on it: the CSUs that report the major's own admit rate, and the private colleges that show up only in the earnings data, like Santa Clara University at $104,723. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359