Sonoma State University
School info
3.5
Overall Quality
Reputation
3.3
Food
3.1
Clubs
3.3
Facilities
4.2
Internet
3.4
Location
3.5
Opportunities
3.3
Safety
3.6
Social
3.1
Happiness
3.7
Basic Information
Location
- Rohnert Park, CA
Institution Overview
- Public/Private: Public university
- Established: 1960; 64 years ago (1960)
- Founder: California State Legislature, Ambrose R. Nichols, Jr., Barbara Biebush, Charles "Chuck" Rhinehart, Dorothy Overly, Cheryl Peterson, Wright Putney, Mario DiGesu, Dee Hinman, Hobart "Red" Thomas, George McCabe, El Doris Wood
Academic information
Degree Courses
- - 92 bachelor's degree programs
- 19-31 master's degree programs
- and 11 teaching credentials
Key Area
- Climate science phenomena
- geographic information and spatial analysis
- paleoenvironmental reconstructions
- electromagnetics and radio frequency communications
- robotics and automation
Student and Staff Numbers
- Students: 7,807 (fall 2020)
- Undergraduates: 7,154 (fall 2020)
- Postgraduates: 653 (fall 2020)
- Academic Staff: 542
- Administrative Staff: Over 300
Notable Alumni
- Larry Allen
- Laurie MacDonald
- Mike McGuire
- Len A. Pennacchio
- D. A. Powell
10 FAQs about this University from
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Students talk about this school
Good reviews
Overall 5
This university is small but, there are so many opportunities to connect after graduation.
I transferred to SSU from a community college and it was the best decision I ever made. Every professor strived to make sure that all students passed their classes and to learn the material.
We have a new president and he has been doing amazing work here.
Overall 5
Love this place! So many cool people and they're all so interesting and intreuging. Love it all, college is great kids, I highly recommend.
Overall 5
Really great campus life, dorms, cafeteria, people.
Overall 4.7
Small but mighty. Definitely a small town and suburban vibe, but it really is what you make of it out here. It is a beautiful place. Easy though slow sometimes. Really important to make a friend group of be part of clubs.
Overall 4.6
Overall highly recommend SSU. My business degree excelled me into a highly lucrative career.
Overall 4.6
Everyone here is so friendly!
Facilities are great!
The weather is great!
It is a quiet town, if you are looking for a party school this is probably not the one.
There are a lot of outdoor activities to do, not to mention wine and beer country!
Overall 4.5
One of the prettier campuses , school is on the rise with excellent faculty and student centers. Food isn't 100% amazing but it's much better than most campuses. I've seen housing at many campuses and SSU has the roomiest dorms, even outshining UCLA. People complain of a clique heavy campus but you're responsible to make friends not the campus.
Overall 4.4
Sonoma State has been a great experience for me so far, I'm an upper division transfer student coming from SRJC/SNHU. The campus is beautiful and is constantly modernizing/improving buildings and common spaces. Great dorms! Only downsides are lack of class selection times (it's a small school) and campus safety, they need more cameras and police.
Overall 4.4
This school is really fun! If you go out of your comfort zone, you'll meet a lot of people and will have a good time. I recommend to get a double for dorms your first year as it can get lonely if you do a single.
Overall 4.3
Overall I had a great time here. I have made lots of friends and enjoyed my time. I think they should bring back mandatory freshman living again as it forced many to make friends, and really engulf the college life style. The kinesiology professors feel like family and they are super involved in your future.
Bad reviews
Overall 1
Staff don't care about you in the slightest, class selection is a joke, and most of the people you encounter are complete burnouts with room temperature IQs. There is nothing to do in the area other than drink or do drugs. This school will hire just about anybody, and administration is essentially just a racket to drain every single dime you have.
Overall 1
This school has an extremely high percentage of students not graduating on time for a good reason. It legitimately feels like this school is actively trying to prevent people from graduating on time. Administration is worse than the DMV, and makes little to no effort to hide the fact that they seek to take every last dime they can get from you.
Overall 1
Sonoma State is no better than an average high school. Come here only if you intend to spend the rest of your life being a grape picker in Sonoma or Napa county winery. Go anywhere else, nobody is going to take you seriously because nobody knows where or what Sonoma State University is. I am not kidding!!
Overall 1.5
This school needs better professors and a more unified course system. Seems like the Wild West when it comes to professors and how they grade and perform. I wish I went to a different uni. Also, people are just generally rude and everyone complains they can't make friends.
Overall 1.6
If you have a choice to go to just about any other CSU, I would do it. Decent music department if you are solely looking to teach and not for a competitive environment. Every other department is infested with professors who have lost all motivation and push their political opinions on you. Most aren't qualified to teach 101 level courses.
Overall 1.6
Disenchanting. So much time pulling teeth with classmates to participate & do assignments than I did learning- felt like a parent to my classmates. Some condescending professors, burnt out like they couldn't be bothered, entitled. More concessions given to disruptive students than hard workers. Great for "green" students, not high achievers.
Overall 1.6
If I could give this school a zero-star rating I would. I absolutely hated attending here,the professors are not helpful and are actually very rude when you ask them questions. The classes and course descriptions are not accurate to what the school is truly about. Clubs even after I gave them my phone number etc don't contact me. Do not go here.
Overall 1.7
Basically, a commuting college and it is very hard to make friends unless you are constantly putting yourself out there and living in the dorms. Many people don't talk after class or make much effort to know people outside their existing social circle already. They are currently rebuilding Stevenson hall but I will be graduating before it opens.
Overall 1.8
Do not come here if you want the college experience. People are very judgemental and cliquey. Even if you participate in Greek life, you will still feel antisocial because of the location of campus. Academics are unoriginal and not innovative or eye opening like college is supposed to be.
Overall 1.9
Transferred after my freshman year.This school was so hard to fit in if you don't meet friends after the first month. Nobody is welcoming and were rude.Unless u r playing a sport, that is where you will make friends and go to parties.greek life was odd, i got into a top sorority house at another uni bc i got dropped here. overall depressing school