Hey everyone, so to shed some light on CSUNs deal -- I was able to get a little more insight into how things work because of a time crunch I had regarding another program. Essentially, they had 36 spots to fill from over 550 applicants (or some ridiculous number like that) and in the past they have gone through over 150 students on the "alternate list" to fill the 40 spots they typically have (as mentioned it's only 36 this time around). I was informed that they assign each applicant a number and as they receive denials from their accepted applicants, they notify the next number on the list. Apparently last year they went through something like numbers 170-180. So if you received an email saying you are an alternate, there is a good chance you will get in, but you may not find out until the summertime.
Hope that clears things up for people some.