Am I Competitive For Cal Poly? (SLO & Pomona)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey Everyone,

In the last few months, I’ve fallen in love with two schools in California - Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona. They seem to have great Computer Science programs and are located in regions that fascinate me. I would like to know if my stats will provide a decent chance of being admitted at these institutions.

Statistics:

Current State: New York

GPA Unweighted: 3.4 (Weak Freshman Year…)
GPA Weighted: 3.8

SAT: 1830 (Retaking on Saturday. Shooting for 1900+.)
-CR: 630
-Math: 630
-Writing: 570

Course Load (This Year)(Unweighted/Weighted):
-Physics Honors (93%/93%)
-AP English (92%/102%)
-AP US History (90%/99%)
-IB German (93%/104%)
-Networking Academy (96%/96%)
-Algebra II / Trig (90%/90%)

Course Load (Next Year):
-Pre Calc Honors
-IB German II
-AP Physics
-AP Gov
-AP Econ
-AP Lit
-Computer Science (Teacher Assistant)
-Orchestra (Took off this year due to scheduling issues)

ECs…
-Varsity Athlete for 4yrs. (Team Captain for one… Rookie of the year as a Freshman)
-President of the Computer Club
-Teacher Assistant in Computer Science class.
-German Club
-Orchestra and String Ensemble for 6 years.
-Guitar Lessons for 7 years.
-Website developer and volunteer for a local politician running for legislature. (200+ hrs.)
-Work 20-28 hours per week selling computers at a retail store.

Self taught programmer. Created multiple websites and online games. One site in particular had over 680,000 page views per month. Programming is my passion, and I have several real-world examples of my professional work. Made over $7,500 in the last year from these projects…

Awards:
-Beacon Award (Physics)
-IB German Award
-National German Honor Society

Thanks!
(If there are any other West Coast universities that you feel that I should apply to, then let me know!)

2

EC’s and awards are worth a dismal 10% of your CSU application, so they will not help your application much.

For Cal Poly Pomona, you need to calculate your CSU GPA based on 10-11th grades only (a-g courses which should include 1 year of a visual arts class). See link for a-g courses: https://secure.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/subjects.asp

As an OOS applicant, only IB/AP courses in 10-11th grade count for extra honors points on the CSU GPA calculator:
https://secure.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp

Once you have your CSU GPA, then you can calculate your Eligibility index:
(CSU GPA x800) + (SAT Math+CR). Your SAT score and unweighted GPA look like a solid Match for Cal Poly Pomona.

For Cal Poly SLO, use the same GPA calculator but add in your 9th grades for the a-g courses. This is your SLO GPA.
SLO uses an MCA point system to determine their admissions. Here is an explanation below. Just an FYI: The acceptance rate for CS at SLO is competitive at about 10% and based on your GPA and SAT score, they are both below the average of 4.13 GPA and SAT (Math+CR) of 1419, your chances are low.

The maximum GPA they will use is 4.2, even though you can have a higher calculated CP GPA. A 4.2 is worth 2250 MCA points. Thus, multiply your CP GPA by 535.7 and you’ll get your MCA points for GPA.

The next biggest thing is test scores. The odd thing, likely because they wanted it to total a nice round number, is that the max score is 1650, even though the max SAT score is 1600. Multiply the total of your best SAT CR and your best SAT math by 1.03125 to get your MCA test points. If you took the ACT, they convert and vice versa.

The third largest section is the class rigor score, worth 750 points. In this section you get zero points for meeting the minimum admission requirements and adders for more than the minimum. The bonuses in order of power are (min semesters/max total semesters/bonus per extra semester/total possible bonus): math 6/10/125/500 (note: stats and finite do not count), lab science 4/8/50/200, English 8/10/50/100, foreign language 4/8/25/100, visual performance 2/4/25/50, no bonus points for social sciences or electives. As with GPA, you can actually score higher than the maximum, but 750 is the most they will count.

Finally, work and ECs, worth 350 points. Work (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/20, 6-10/40, 11-15/60, 16-20/80, 21+/100, add 50 points if work is major related. ECs (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/30, 6-10/60, 11-15/90, 16-20/120, 21+/150, add 60 points for leadership role.

There you go. Good luck.

GPA = 2250
Test = 1650
Class rigor = 750
EC / Work Hrs = 350
Subtotal for accademic points = 5000

Parents education = 600
Veteran’s benefit = 700
Zip code= 500
High school = 700
Parent employed by CPSLO = 700
Subtotal for Demographic points = 3200

Max attainable points = 8200

Scores are capped at 5,000

That being said, are you able to pay $30K/year as an OOS student? Cal states offer little to no financial aid to OOS students, so this may be a consideration. If you are still interested in California schools, San Jose State has an excellent CS program and less competitive than SLO. I would also look at Cal State Long Beach, UC Riverside and Santa Cruz, University of San Diego (USD), Chapman and Santa Clara University.

Good Luck

3

@Gumbymom I appreciate the thorough response and will work on calculating these numbers. I will respond shortly with my results. The fact that I at least have a shot at Pomona is a huge relief.

I’m not worrying about finances as of yet. I talked to my school counselor and he said that I should be financially able to afford Cal Poly SLO. :slight_smile:

4

A quick runthrough shows my total points at 3,455 for Cal Poly SLO.

What does this mean?

5

For any of the Engineering/CS majors, you want your MCA points to be around 4500 for a good chance. Cal Poly SLO is a very popular university in California and both my son’s had many of their HS friends apply for their Engineering school. My younger son whom applied last year for CS was denied with a SLO GPA of 3.73 and ACT of 31 but we knew it was a Reach. He had 5 of his close friends apply for ME at SLO. Only 1 was accepted but declined the offer and accepted UCLA. The other 4 ended up at UCB, UCLA, UCSD and UCSB. SLO for engineering is as competitive as many of the California UC’s.

6

@Gumbymom Cal Poly SLO will be a HIGH reach for me then. I appreciate your help! Hopefully I can boost my GPA and SAT a bit to further improve my chances.

Is San Jose State or CPP considered commuter schools? I’m looking for the whole ‘college experience’.

7

Majority of the Cal States are considered commuter schools. SLO/Sonoma State/Chico State are less commuter since they are not near a large city. Cal Poly Pomona and San Jose State are considered commuter schools since many of the students live in the immediate area. Any Freshman student outside the immediate service area is now required to live on-campus, so as a Freshman you will get the college experience. After the first year, many students will move off campus to the nearby suburbs.

I understand the appeal of SLO, but again usually only the Freshman and Sophmores will live on-campus since only 2 years is guaranteed. Many will already move off-campus after Freshman year and the rest Sophomore year and will commute to campus within the SLO area. For the whole college experience, you might want to consider a private university where you are guaranteed on-campus housing for your 4 years of undergrad.

If you really are set on SLO, I would apply ED but only if you are sure you can pay the OOS costs. There is no harm in applying and hoping for the best.