Cal State Monterey Bay acceptance rate and your odds of getting in
With an acceptance rate near 97%, Cal State Monterey Bay is an accessible public university in California. Because it admits most qualified applicants, admission turns on the strength of your whole profile rather than any one number.
Use this page to see what Cal State Monterey Bay weighs, where it ranks among California schools, and how a profile like yours is likely to land. Admitted students post a 75th-percentile SAT around 1130, a useful checkpoint for where your scores sit, though it is a reference range and not a cutoff.
What do students study at Cal State Monterey Bay?
Bachelor's degrees awarded by field in 2023 (IPEDS completions). Each field has its own page with the school's numbers, the model's major adjustment, and peers offering it.
Will I get into Cal State Monterey Bay?
Direct answers to what applicants ask about getting into Cal State Monterey Bay, plus a free way to calculate your own odds.
What are my chances of getting into Cal State Monterey Bay?
Cal State Monterey Bay admits most qualified applicants (around 97%), but that overall rate is not your personal chance. Your real odds depend on how your GPA, course rigor, test scores, and activities compare to its admitted students. Run your profile through the free CollegeCalcAI calculator to get a personalized acceptance percentage for Cal State Monterey Bay in about three minutes, with no account needed to start.
Is Cal State Monterey Bay hard to get into?
Cal State Monterey Bay is accessible: it admits most qualified applicants, with about a 97% acceptance rate. Meeting the academic basics gives most qualified applicants a realistic shot.
What GPA do you need to get into Cal State Monterey Bay?
There is no hard GPA cutoff at Cal State Monterey Bay, but admitted students span a wide GPA range, with many in the 2.8 to 3.5 band. Cal State Monterey Bay reads your GPA alongside the rigor of your courses, so a challenging schedule matters as much as the number itself.
What SAT score do you need for Cal State Monterey Bay?
Cal State Monterey Bay does not publish a required score, but the admitted-student 75th-percentile SAT is around 1130. A score at or above that range strengthens your application, while a lower score puts more weight on your rigor, activities, and essays. CollegeCalcAI shows how your exact score shifts your odds at Cal State Monterey Bay.
Your chances at Cal State Monterey Bay by GPA and SAT
Estimated chance of admission at Cal State Monterey Bay for plain profiles, from the same model as the calculator. Unweighted GPA, 3 AP courses, Regular Decision, no legacy, athletic or first-generation hook. The last column is test-optional (no score sent).
What are my chances at Cal State Monterey Bay with a 3.1 GPA and a 1070 SAT?
About 98% (Safety), by CollegeCalcAI's deterministic model, for an applicant with a 3.1 unweighted GPA and a 1070 SAT, the middle of Cal State Monterey Bay's admitted range, applying Regular Decision without a hook. A 3.4 GPA with a 1130 SAT comes out near 98%. Courses, activities, essays and the application round move the number; the free calculator includes them.
Estimates, not guarantees. Get yours with your real courses and activities. Assistants and developers can fetch this table from the free API: /api/v1/colleges/cal-state-monterey-bay.
How to get into Cal State Monterey Bay
Built from Cal State Monterey Bay's admitted class and what it reports weighing. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled figures, not published cutoffs.
Here is how to get into Cal State Monterey Bay, built from what its admitted class actually looks like and what the school says it weighs.
CollegeCalcAI's modeled typical admit at Cal State Monterey Bay carries about a 2.93 core GPA and a 1080 SAT, in the most rigorous schedule available. Meeting it puts you in the admitted range for most applicants.
Cal State Monterey Bay rates rigor of secondary school record and academic GPA highest in its own Common Data Set. Put your depth there: and a transcript whose rigor rises through junior year.
Most public universities read early applicants first without a binding commitment. Apply by Cal State Monterey Bay's early or priority deadline (confirm dates at csumb.edu), and if you are out of state, know that residency changes both the bar and the price.
How many students apply to Cal State Monterey Bay, and how many get in?
For the fall 2023 entering class, Cal State Monterey Bay received 11,769 applications and admitted 11,160, an acceptance rate of 94.8%. 943 enrolled. Only about 8% of admitted students enrolled, so the school admits several students for every seat it expects to fill, which is why its acceptance rate reads higher than its selectivity feels. Cal State Monterey Bay enrolls about 6,819 undergraduates in total, 59% of them women, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 24 to 1.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS 2023 admissions and enrollment.
What SAT and ACT scores do you need for Cal State Monterey Bay?
Cal State Monterey Bay reports that it neither requires nor recommends test scores, so admission turns on your transcript, rigor, and the rest of the file.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10.
What Cal State Monterey Bay looks for
What Cal State Monterey Bay weighs most heavily in its admissions review, informed by its reported Common Data Set.
In its review, Cal State Monterey Bay leans most on rigor of secondary school record and academic GPA. Solid grades in a challenging schedule do most of the work here, with the rest of the application providing context. These ratings come from Cal State Monterey Bay's reported Common Data Set, so the full chart below reflects what the school itself says it values, not a generic guess.
SAT score positioning at Cal State Monterey Bay
How common SAT scores sit relative to the admitted middle. This is context, not a probability. Your full profile determines the real estimate.
How much does Cal State Monterey Bay cost after financial aid?
Cal State Monterey Bay's published cost of attendance, before any aid, is roughly $26,987 per year. Tuition and fees are $7,779 for CA residents and $20,379 for out-of-state students, a $12,600 gap that makes residency the single biggest lever on cost. What families actually pay is different: the average net price after grants and scholarships is $13,663 a year, and it ranges from $9,970 for families earning under $30,000 to $22,818 for families earning over $110,000. 43% of undergraduates receive a federal Pell Grant.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Net price is what students receiving aid paid after grants, by family income.
What do Cal State Monterey Bay graduates earn, and how many graduate?
Ten years after enrolling, the median Cal State Monterey Bay student who received federal aid earns $59,247 a year, up from $48,648 at six years. 59% of first-time, full-time students graduate within six years, and 80% return for a second year. Among graduates who borrowed, median federal debt at graduation is $12,750; 28% of undergraduates take federal loans.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Earnings cover students who received federal aid.
How Cal State Monterey Bay compares in California
Cal State Monterey Bay ranks #59 most selective of 61 schools in California in our database.
Among the 61 California schools we track, Cal State Monterey Bay ranks #59 most selective by acceptance rate. Schools like California Institute of Technology (3%) and Stanford University (4%) sit nearby, which makes California a useful frame for calibrating a balanced list. As a public university, residency matters: in-state applicants generally see meaningfully better odds than the headline rate suggests.
Similar to Cal State Monterey Bay
Schools with a similar selectivity profile, worth comparing as you build a balanced list.
Build around Cal State Monterey Bay with peers at a comparable selectivity, such as Idaho State University, Texas Southern University, and University of Maine. Running the same profile against each one in the free calculator is the fastest way to see where you are a reach, a match, or a likely.
More data for California: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo architecture admissions
Frequently asked questions
What is Cal State Monterey Bay's acceptance rate?
Cal State Monterey Bay admitted 11,160 of 11,769 applicants for the fall 2023 entering class, an acceptance rate of 94.8% (U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS). 8% of admitted students enrolled.
Is Cal State Monterey Bay test-optional?
Cal State Monterey Bay reports that it neither requires nor recommends test scores.
How much does Cal State Monterey Bay cost after financial aid?
The average net price at Cal State Monterey Bay, what students receiving aid paid after grants and scholarships, is $13,663 a year against a sticker price of about $26,987. Families earning under $30,000 paid about $9,970 on average.
What do Cal State Monterey Bay graduates earn?
Median earnings ten years after entering Cal State Monterey Bay are $59,247 a year among students who received federal aid, and 59% of students graduate within six years (College Scorecard).
What does Cal State Monterey Bay value most in applicants?
Based on its admissions profile, Cal State Monterey Bay weighs rigor of secondary school record and academic GPA most heavily. The full factor breakdown is on this page.
Does Cal State Monterey Bay favor in-state applicants?
As a public university, Cal State Monterey Bay generally admits in-state applicants at a higher rate than out-of-state applicants, so your home state affects your odds. CollegeCalcAI applies an in-state residency boost when you select your state.
How can I improve my chances at Cal State Monterey Bay?
Focus on the highest-leverage parts of your application: course rigor and GPA trajectory first, then test scores, then a focused leadership or activity spike. CollegeCalcAI's Power-Ups quantify how much each change would move your odds at Cal State Monterey Bay specifically.
How does residency affect admission to Cal State Monterey Bay?
As a public university, Cal State Monterey Bay typically admits in-state students at a higher rate, and tuition differs sharply by residency. Select your home state in the calculator to fold the in-state effect into your estimate.
What are the admission requirements for Cal State Monterey Bay?
Cal State Monterey Bay reviews GPA, course rigor, test scores (where submitted), activities, and essays. With a more accessible acceptance rate, meeting the academic basics gives most qualified applicants a realistic shot.
Acceptance rate, application counts, admitted test ranges, cost, and outcomes reflect publicly reported federal data (U.S. Department of Education: IPEDS 2023 and the College Scorecard) and each school's Common Data Set; figures are rounded and lag the current cycle by one to two years, so confirm deadlines and policies on the school's own site. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled estimates. Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are a planning tool computed by a fixed, transparent model, not a guarantee of any admission decision.