My son is filling out the Cal State Apply and Cal Poly is his first choice. He wants to do Computer Science. He was trying to decide between CS and Software Engineering and decided CS was the better fit. We assumed he could choose SE as his second choice. But that doesn’t show up on the list when he clicks on “Alternate Programs”. Is that intentional by the college to have kids choose the program they prefer and not allow the other program as an alternate? As a result, he has opted to skip identifying an alternate for Cal Poly (and a couple other schools that seem to be doing the same thing).
Cal Poly SLO rarely considers alternate majors and in the past it was usually a major within another college. Ie. Not Engineering.
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Okay, thank you. That makes sense based on what I’m seeing. It’s what I figured, but I didn’t want him to submit without asking the question.
CS and SE are probably too similar and subject to the same departmental capacity limit, so it does not really make sense for them to be alternate majors of each other.
Note the change major policy at Changing Majors Within the College of Engineering - Engineering Student Services - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo – changing into CPE, CSC from CPE, CSC, or SE appears basically unrestricted (but changing coming from other majors requires higher grades and GPA). However, SE does not allow changing into (suggesting that student look into CPE or CSC), suggesting that it may actually be the most full of the three.
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Given this policy, and the likely slighter easier admit to SE, I’d probably encourage him to apply to SE. They admit far fewer SEs every year, about 30 vs 180 for CS, but a higher percentage of the applicant pool gets in. It’s all a bit of a crap shoot though as no one knows how strong each pool is though. Good luck to your student.
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Where can I find the annual acceptance rates by major?
There is no specific published annual acceptance rate by major only by College. SLO publishes target projections showing the estimated # of applicants vs. the spots available for each major. What is not known is the actual yield rate (# admitted) and stats for admitted students by major.
Freshman profile by College: First-Year Student Profile | Cal Poly
SLO target projections: https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/2021-2022%20Cal%20Poly%20Enrollment%20Projections%20and%20Targets_1.pdf
As a rule of thumb, assume 3x the spots available for the # of applicants admitted to get a ball park acceptance rate figure from the projections. So for example Computer Science, the projections show 5838 applicants for 205 spots. Take 205x3 divide by 5838 and get around a 10.5% acceptance rate.
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They do publish yield by college, but the stats trail by 5 years. For the CENG the hover between 32 and 38 percent. I just use 33% because it makes the math easy.
At one time I was told the last year numbers to the far right of the projections page were actuals. I never verified that through. Going through them now, they match the previous year’s projections. That means they either update both to reflect actuals, or they are still just last year’s projections. The only way to know for sure would be to screenshot this year and look at the numbers next year to see if they’re different.
It is incomplete though as @Gumbymom said. You never know the strength of the pool or the yield within the major. All that said, I think it’s probably fair to assume SE is a little safer bet than CS.
Yield probably varies considerably within each major’s admit pool. Stronger students tend to have lower yields, due to being more likely to have other attractive admission or scholarship offers. Students at the margin who were probably reaching for admission are less likely to have other offers that they see as competitive.
I agree. That’s why at very best it’s a guessing game and I use 3x for simplicity. 
Thank you all. I talked to him about CS vs SE again today since he was finalizing his CSU applications. He expressed a strong preference for CS over SE after looking at descriptions and watching the videos posted by students of the different majors. So he went forward with CS.
He understands that due to the highly competitive nature of Cal Poly’s computer science program he just has a decent chance, nothing more. So he’s prepared for either answer. His second choice is CPP which is highly likely.
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Hi all
These threads are incredibly useful! I have 2 kids applying as for next year. One is now expressing an interest in Architecture and wants to apply under that. His alternate major might actually be in the College of Ag - is it at all likely that if he was rejected by Arch, he would be considered for Ag or not even bother?
Thanks!
You never know, so I would always put a second choice.