Photo: Stepheng3 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
Sonoma State is a public university in Rohnert Park, in the heart of Northern California wine country about an hour north of San Francisco. Within the California State University system it carries an unusually liberal-arts-oriented character, and it is known for a distinctive wine business program and for the Green Music Center, a nationally notable concert hall that draws touring performers well beyond the size of the surrounding town.
Academics
The wine business strategy program draws directly on the surrounding Sonoma and Napa wine industry for internships and guest instruction, a genuine regional specialty few other CSU campuses can match. Psychology, business, and the liberal-arts core are also well enrolled, and the university's smaller size relative to other CSU campuses tends to mean more personal contact with faculty.
Campus & student life
The campus has a quiet, residential feel, surrounded by vineyard country, hiking trails, and coastal access within driving distance. The Green Music Center anchors a good deal of campus and community cultural life, hosting a professional concert season alongside student and academic events.
Getting in
As part of the CSU system, Sonoma State's process is largely formula-driven around coursework and grades rather than a heavily individualized holistic read, consistent with CSU admissions generally.
Worth knowing
The wine business program and the Green Music Center are the two things that most distinguish Sonoma State from other CSU campuses, and both draw on the surrounding wine country in ways a campus elsewhere in the system could not replicate.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
sonoma.edu ↗High school coursework
Required4 years of English · 3 years of mathematics (Algebra 1, geometry, Algebra 2) · 2 years of U.S. history/social science · 2 years of laboratory science (1 physical, 1 biological) · 2 years of the same language other than English · 1 year of visual and performing arts · 1 year of college-preparatory elective
Recommended4 years of mathematics
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