<p>@dietz Oh, that is interesting that your high school counselors are so involved in every kid’s college application process. At our high school, the counselors weren’t even aware of what colleges my kids applied to. They only find out where you are going if you bother to notify the counseling office of your college plans once you make your decision. I guess every high school can make their own policies. It’s nice that your school had enough counselors to be able to be that involved and put that much effort into providing an accurate Naviance database. The only other reason I can think of as to why your son and his friends experience didn’t line up with their school’s Naviance data is because it is not major specific. Obviously, the stats required to get into the most competitive majors are far and away different from the average stats to get in to Cal Poly in general. Also, each year the competition gets tougher! I’m sure your highly intelligent and motivated son and his friends will end up in a fantastic school that is just right for them.</p>
<p>Our Naviance data is tightly and accurately controlled by counselors (students have to get their sign off on input) as well. For last 5+ years each student has had to enter GPA/test scores and schools accepted at and declined. A scattergraph gives very good idea of chances because data is very reliable. We can go online at anytime and see how many from our HS applied to each school and have been accepted or denied, it’s pretty cool to follow the trends (which are frequently driven by the counselors btw).</p>
<p>^^ It’s a private college prep HS. The counselors get to know each of their assigned students very well and the process of college selection, application and essay writing begins second semester Junior year. It is not ‘hand holding’ but rather a system that puts the onus on each student to do the leg work early on. They keep them to a published schedule which both the students and parents sign sign. So when these counselors indicate a school is a reach, target or safety they really know what they are talking about in direct relationship to each individual student. As I’d mentioned in a previous post, the counseling staff pretty much removed the ‘safety’ status of CP across the board. </p>
<p>Something has changed. D is a Junior at CP and we all remember her process very well. The outcomes were rather predictable. </p>
<p>S was accepted early on this year at his OOS safety. He’s in their honors college and this particular university has a one of a kind study abroad program which will let him spend a year in Europe and graduate with a BSME and BSMS. It does extend the UG to 5 years but he’s received a nice amount of merit $$. So, even with a CP denial…all is still well. </p>
<p>Really, my only point is that while many colleges freely admit and are proud of the ‘poker playing/poker face’ approach to admissions, CP was always proudly clear in their upfront numbers approach. If it’s changed, just say so.</p>
<p>Any kiddle who has a parent on CC is going to by default be more than ‘just fine’. :)</p>
<p>At my sons’ high school, seniors weren’t cleared to graduate until they finished updating their Naviance data (so they said…)</p>
<p>According to the research paper posted on CC last week, Cal Poly’s admission criteria are fairly transparent. No public school in California is allowed to consider race, so the points made about URMs upthread are incorrect.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=statsp[/url]”>http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=statsp</a></p>
<p>From CP’s website</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is those other factors ‘deem important to the campus’ that allow for consideration of URM even without stating it clearly. CP has had lawsuits against it in the past for it’s perceived lack of diversity. It has been actively trying to change that ‘problem’.</p>
<p>S had 800 of the 950 points in the MCA section. what exactly makes up the other available 4010?</p>
<p>From the research paper vballmom posted, I think this is an often overlooked aspect of the Cal Poly admissions formula. 950 bonus points on an MCA max score of 5000 can make a huge difference. Extra math and science classes (especially Math!) have a big payoff.</p>
<p>"An applying student is encouraged to take more than the minimum required semesters and is awarded bonus points for doing so. A student who takes the highest possible number of semesters and gets the maximum amount of bonus points is presented below.</p>
<p> English (10 Semesters; 100 Bonus Points)
Algebra (4 ; 0 Bonus Points)
Geometry (2 ; 0 Bonus Points)
Foreign Language (8 ; 100 Bonus Points)
Lab Science (8 ; 200 Bonus Points)
History (4 ; 0 Bonus Points)
Performing Arts (4 ; 50 Bonus Points)
Advanced Math (4 ; 500 Bonus Points)</p>
<p>As seen above, this student has received a maximum of 950 admission bonus points for their high school curriculum. Notice that extra semesters of Lab Sciences and Advanced Mathematics have a higher weight than the rest of the subjects with respect to the allotment of Bonus points."</p>
<p>Additionally, CP has a higher male to female ration - especially in the Engineering/Math departments. Do females get an admissions point boost? If so…that would make them URM’s.</p>
<p>I don’t think gender is considered.
According to the same research paper, these are non-academic things that are awarded bonus points.</p>
<p>"-California recently released veteran
-Service Area
-Partner Schools
-Father’s highest education level: No/Some High School
-Mother’s highest education level: No/Some High School
-Faculty or Staff Dependent"</p>
<p>Partner schools are usually schools that have a high number of enrolled students that would be considered URMs at Cal Poly. This is California’s legal way to accomplish “affirmative action.”</p>
<p>rejected today, along with many classmates.
SAT: 1920 (1330 w/o writing)
11 AP classes completed/enrolled in
weighted gpa: 4.22
applied for mechanical engineering</p>
<p>rejected biomed, shocked but I still have other schools to wait on. good luck to everyone else!</p>
<p>No where in the fact book <a href=“http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cg...context=statsp[/url]”>http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cg...context=statsp</a> pages 5-16, does CP disclose 1) MCA scores for OOS v. CA resident, 2) MCA scores for enrolled students, 3) Acceptances rates and yield rates across MCA bands. And that’s just some of the holes in the quantifiable data. </p>
<p>The “waves” notification procedure is only one method of building emotional demand and increasing yield. Leveraging rejections to increase yield is kinda sleazy, especially from a state funded institution. </p>
<p>This is knock against admissions and not the high quality of CPs outstanding programs, committed faculty and well prepared graduates. I hope that CP will find a better marketing methods that effectively serve the needs of CA high school seniors.</p>
<p>“1) MCA scores for OOS v. CA resident, 2) MCA scores for enrolled students, 3) Acceptances rates and yield rates across MCA bands.”</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of any college publishing this kind of admissions data. Do you know of some that do?</p>
<p>I’ve been watching Cal Poly admissions on CC since 2007 (I’ve had 4 kids apply since then), and they have always started their notifications with a wave of acceptances, followed by waitlists, and finally rejections. The whole process usually takes about 3 weeks. It has been the same every year since 2007, so it shouldn’t take anyone by surprise.</p>
<p>Rolling admissions is common place among many schools. Some do get them all out at once at but more likely at the end of the month ( a couple bigger UCs). I would rather know earlier than later. UCI has been rolling out theirs for a couple weeks. USC let 1000 kids know in January others still waiting, LMU rolls them out for several weeks, Stanford sent likely letters out beginning of Feb to some. I think rolling is more common than not.</p>
<p>@dietz "S had 800 of the 950 points in the MCA section. what exactly makes up the other available 4010? "</p>
<p>“GPA accounts for a weight between 45% and 55%”
“number of semesters of required courses for 10% - 19%”
“SAT score accounts for 25% to 35%” (only CR and Math used)
“work experience and extra-curricular activities account 1% - 10%”</p>
<p>I think each department gets to tweak these numbers to there liking as long as they stay within the published range.</p>
<p>Rolling admissions is normally based upon the date which the app is received. FiFo model. U’s of oregon and AZ follow this model. D submitted her OR and AZ apps same weekend as her Cal poly. Heard back from both before the holiday break (with merit $$) Cal Poly on the other hand “releases in waves”<br>
Uber extra qualified applicants under EA,
OOS next, wait for yield predictors,
High yield pool, wait 10 mail days for yield predictors,
Wait listers (these folks wont bring down admissions stats)
Lastly…drum roll please…Rejections.
Why not just update the rejections with low MCA scores right off the bat?<br>
Like I said, Cal Poly is fabulous school!! Because Cal Poly is State School, they just need to see the light and implement more transparent admissions policies.</p>
<p>Can we find out the MCA score by calling CP? Do they also tell the cutoff MCA score by major?</p>
<p>Rejected today. Biological Sciences. 2020 SAT, 4.3 GPA. I am pretty damn upset, since I really liked Cal Poly, and I know people who have lower stats, and have gotten into my major. I’m in state, by the way.
This sucks, but congrats to everyone who was accepted :/</p>
<p>@ NorthCAmom “Can we find out the MCA score by calling CP? Do they also tell the cutoff MCA score by major?”</p>
<p>I don’t know if CP will divulge that information, but there’s no harm in calling them to ask.
It is obvious by those posting here (and last year) that the cutoff MCA for Biomedical Engineering must be stratospheric.</p>
<p>Rejected
UW: 3.93
W: 4.4
SAT: 2210 (1430 M/CR)
Major: Computer Science</p>
<p>I was a bit surprised, to be honest. Got application for Regents for UCSC, Regents for UCSB, and got into UCI for the honors program which is my top choice regardless.</p>
<p>Tonight, while having dinner, my daughter (who was rejected and has only one “B” in her high school career) said: “Schools should at least tell you WHY you were rejected” … don’tchya think? I do!</p>