Research · CSU admissions · October 2026

Transfer admit rates by major at every CSU campus in Fall 2025

As of October 2026: The hardest CSU transfer path in Fall 2025 was nursing pre-licensure at CSU San Marcos, which admitted 10 of 815 transfer applicants, a 1.2% rate. The largest transfer pipelines are far easier: CSU Fullerton admitted 4,324 of 5,236 transfer applicants to Business Administration, an 82.6% rate.

The first table ranks the lowest Fall 2025 transfer admit rates; the second shows the majors that drew the most applicants, all for one major at one campus.

Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.

The lowest CSU transfer admit rates, Fall 2025

Transfer admit rates, lowest first.

Fall 2025 transfer applicants and admits at CSU majors with 50 or more transfer applicants. Admits are offers of admission, not enrolled students. The CSU suppresses cells under 10, so the columns do not sum to a campus total, and systemwide rows are left out because the CSU removes duplicate applicants from them.

The CSU transfer majors with the most applicants

The same Fall 2025 transfer data, ranked by applicant count.

Ranked by number of transfer applicants instead of by rate. Fall 2025 transfer applicants and admits at CSU majors with 50 or more transfer applicants. Admits are offers of admission, not enrolled students. The CSU suppresses cells under 10, so the columns do not sum to a campus total, and systemwide rows are left out because the CSU removes duplicate applicants from them.

A CSU transfer application goes to one major at one campus

Transfer admission at the CSU has the same shape as first-year admission. The applicant names a campus and a major, and the campus screens for that major. A strong record in the wrong major at the wrong campus does not move to a different line.

That is why no single row reads as a campus rate. CSU Long Beach admitted 884 of 3,378 transfer applicants to Psychology, a 26.2% rate, and 619 of 1,197 in Accountancy, a 51.7% rate, in the same cycle.

Where the transfer squeeze is

Two places. Nursing pre-licensure, at every campus that appears in the first table, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo across its majors. Those are the rows a community college student should plan around years ahead, because the course sequence behind them takes several terms.

A finished record does not create a seat. These programs turn down students who met every stated requirement, which is the plain meaning of a rate like 1.2%, so the plan has to include more than one campus.

What a family should do with this

Pick the major first, then look up the rate at each campus that offers it. The spread is wide. Computer Science admitted 189 of 1,042 transfer applicants at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, an 18.1% rate, and 1,014 of 1,185 at CSU Fullerton, an 85.6% rate.

Then apply in the same major at several campuses. A transfer applicant can file to more than one CSU campus, and the rates above show why a single application is a thin plan.

And treat a nursing plan as a multi-year plan. A student who leaves the prerequisite work late loses a cycle rather than a term.

Related: Nursing programs in California · Business administration programs in California · Psychology programs in California · The hardest majors to get into at the CSU