College Series - "Cal State Long Beach" (Feat. Arely)

Hi everyone! My name is Arely Soriano. I am a recent graduate from California State University, Long Beach. I majored in Communication Studies and now work as a Marketing/Social media assistant on campus. I chose CSULB because it was far enough from home to where I would get to live in a new city and it is one of the best Cal States with a high diversity ranking I am very excited to talk to you about my school whether you are an alumni yourself or if you are thinking about applying to this institution!

The average class size is around 20-30 I would say. Most of my GE’s were in lecture halls and those were about 80-100 students. The most people that a lecture hall would have is about 150. I lived in the dorms my first year there and it was honestly the best. My roommate and I clicked right away and we became super close and did everything together including get an apartment for the rest of the 3 years of college. The parties were fun too but what college parties aren’t? I never paid for parking because parking sucks at CSULB. The campus never seems overcrowded until you try looking for parking. I think CSULB prepared me as much as a Cal State could for the future. Obviously, schools like USC and UCLA have amazing networking-alumni programs but the learning experience at a state school is more in-depth and rewarding because your professors get to know you very well on a personal level. You get what you put in, if you go out and network and surround yourself with like-minded people then you will definitely accomplish your goals. If not, you’ll graduate and not have a job lined up.

My favorite memory is going to Smorgasport and Big Event. Smorgasport is a fair in our huge parking lot and USU where there are carnival rides, music, dancing, laser tag, prizes, and food trucks. It’s a mini OC Fair. ASI Big Event is the concert we have at our school. I got the chance to meet Daniel Caesar. My favorite thing about our school is the blue Walter Pyramid. We have our concerts, basketball, and volleyball games there which are super fun. We have one out of I believe 2 pyramids in the US. Long Beach is a beautiful city about 5 minutes away from the beach with many trendy coffee shops and bars. The beaches are so pretty.

Final Thoughts

As I look back, the environment is calm and cool. No one is ever in a rush because we live by the beach so what can go wrong? I love studying at this coffee shop called the Library about 10 minutes away from campus because it was a vintage-looking shop with great coffee! On campus, I usually studied in the USU because it has all the food and go-to empty study rooms. Overall, my experience at CSULB was a positive one because I became involved on campus. I met tons of people who connected me with my job now and gave me the friends I have now. So definitely GET INVOLVED especially with ASI because that’s where the real networking is at.

Email me at ofriceandcities@gmail.com if you enjoyed the article, if you went to CSULB and the advice from Arely helped you, if your are an alumni or current student let us know if we should mention something we missed!

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Meet the Guest Author - Arely Soriano!

Arely was born and raised in South Los Angeles and attended CSULB for 4 years (Class'19). She decided to major in Communication Studies because she wanted to learn about the various forms of communication in our world and how it affects us. Today, her career goal is to starts a non-profit organization that helps low-income students in Los Angeles get involved in the arts such as music, dance, photography, graphic design, painting, and more.