Nestled between downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mountains, California State University, Los Angeles attracts students who want to excel in the areas of business, nursing, engineering and aerospace. (The school is a regular recipient of NASA grants aimed at boosting student involvement in research and interest in STEM-related careers, including a recent $1.4 million award to develop an AI-powered wildfire prediction and management system.)
As befitting a university in one of the U.S.’s most cosmopolitan cities, Cal State LA has a long history of celebrating its diverse student population. The university is home to the oldest Chicano studies program in the U.S. and has been designated an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Institution. And for go-getters, the Early Entrance Program in the CSULA Honors College allows promising students age 11 to 15 to enroll in a full-time college course load.
The school has plenty to offer outside the classroom, too, including robust cultural offerings — the Luckman Fine Arts Complex provides a venue for theater, dance, music and other performances, and it features one of the biggest stages in the Los Angeles area.
The university’s six-year graduate rate stands at 66%, significantly higher than expected based on the student population. However, where Cal State LA really stands out is helping students from low-income families climb up the socioeconomic ladder; the university sits atop the think tank Third Way's Economic Mobility Index.
