<p>dietz199 - I know you are trying to understand and it is not sour grapes. As a parent of a S that got into EE the one trend I noticed from the highest qualified rejections I have seen, is there is always one aspect that is lower than my son’s stats. I felt funny about posting his stats earlier, but it may help show a different light on things, as I feel people think kids with lower stats are getting in all over the place. The ones I can think of are:
4.0
4.5w or close to that don’t remember exact…
2220 SAT, no ACT
760 math II Subject test
740 Chem Subject test
7 APs (3 this year), something like 8 honors classes on top of that
5s on AP for BC Calc and Chemistry
Two years ahead in math, currently in multi-varible calc honors (no AP offered), and 2 of the APs he is taking this year are science classes, the other Spanish 4 AP</p>
<p>With 48K applicants, what I am thinking is throughout the applicant pool there are certainly 180 other kids (size of EE incoming class) with those kind of stats who applied and got in, knocking out the person with similar stats but maybe a 1900 SAT, or maybe not as advanced in math, etc. That one single stat keeps them from getting in. It’s splitting hairs really, but it is the CA system. And 48k applicants reflects a couple trends…people that may have gone private are considering CP more. In our case, he got buckets of $ from the private schools he has heard from, but their engineering doesn’t compare to CP. And there is a trend in thinking that UCs are crazier to deal with than CP, so more people are applying. So while you may hear about a couple lower stats that get in, my guess is there are a ton with exceptional stats in all categories that we aren’t hearing about that are getting in.</p>
<p>^^^^ I agree. CP is the go-to school for many engineering firms looking for new graduates. One of the unfortunate side effects of having such a well-recognized engineering programs is that there are many more applicants for admission than spaces. I also think that those accepted are separated by very minute stats and that many of those not accepted have very similar stats except for maybe in just one area. I also don’t believe you can compare the application process for a business major to that for an engineering major, as there is much less competition for spots in the business program. The more well recognized that CP’s engineering becomes, the more difficult the admissions process will become.</p>
<p>^^^^ I agree that you can’t compare the application process for a business major to that of engineering majors, as the competition for engineers is stiffer. Below is the breakdown of preferred majors of the nation’s top scorers on the PSAT/NMSAQT. 18 percent of National Merit Finalists want Engineering and Computer Sciences, while only 5 percent of these top scorers want Business majors.</p>
<p>Engineering 15%
Biology/biomedical science 12%
Health and clinical science professions 8%
Social sciences/psychology 8%
Physical sciences 6%
Business/finance 5%
Mathematics/statistics 4%
English/journalism/creative writing 3%
History/humanities/pre-law studies 3%
Fine arts/music 3%
Computer and information sciences 3%</p>
<p>And in California there are over around 2,000 National Merit Finalist every year (score > 220) and over 6,300 Commended high scorers (score > 200) which is by far the most of all the states. I would guess that MANY of these are applying to Cal Poly for Engineering.</p>
<p>While I suspect those stats are correct, the PSAT is completed by high school 9th-10th 11th graders with an average age of 16. I wonder how many grow up to achieve the career dreams of their youth…</p>
<p>Several pages ago Vballmom posted a link to a research paper analyzing the statical significance of the quatifialbe characteristic of admitted cal poly students. Interestingly, the best predictors of for success (success = not dropping out and maintaining at least a 2.0) at cal poly was NOT SAT score. Gender and race were the top two significant predictors. If the university was truly invested in admitting top students based purely upon stats, then white females would be weighted heavier than SAT. Imagine, CAL POLY–the new West Coast trade school for techie white girls with low SATs. </p>
<p>Diezt brings up some vary valid points about the obtuse nature of Cal Poly’s admission practices. Assuming the school uses purely a quantifiable score to award admission, one would also assume that a “score threshold” exists. If a students score exceed the threshold than he/she would be offered admission. A system which, in essence, creates two pools and offers admission to highest scored applicant pool. </p>
<p>This is not the case. Cal Poly “bands” applicants based on many factors: the aforementioned score, OOS, In-state, DI Athletic recruit, zip code, etc. The school uses a (top secret) algorithm to decide which applicants are selected for admissions. Only a percentage of the tip-tip-top students are selected. “Banding” admissions falls in line with California Master Plan. The top 12% of california high school seniors are guaranteed a UC seat. Top 30% a CSU seat. The rest CC. CSU are not “designed to accommodate the top 12%” who should , in some outdated post-war theory, be attending a UC. In contrast, no such bands exist for OOS students. Cal Poly offers Out Reach scholarships to attract the top 12% from out of state. </p>
<p>Since C.P. is a state funded CSU, the admissions policies, including the banding and algorithms should be made available to the public. I also feel that the admission notification process could be much more straight forward. Unfairly using the anticipation and stress of high school seniors to create an “emotional demand” is simply bad form. Stressing over and over and over the competitive nature of admission and how only uber-super-duper qualified accepted applicants are accepted only tells part of the story. Many high quality applicants (and white females with lower SATS) were denied admission, but they will probally graduate a year or two in advance with higher GPA. Good Luck!!!</p>
<p>Cadreamin: Wow those are amazing stats. My son does not have as many AP’s. It would makes sense that this gives a boost since it would make graduating in 4 years more feasible in Engineering (already coming in with many unit credits). Thanks for sharing the info. And again, it is a fantastic school!</p>
<p>FWIW…CP does not count SAT II scores, I don’t think you can even submit them and prefers the ACT.</p>
<p>@momneeds2no, PSAT/NMSQT only counts the junior year, so the document referenced only included HS juniors. Since PSAT is a pretty reliable predictor of SAT scores, and most kids applying to college take the SAT (or ACT) during their junior year, these stats regarding preferred majors of National Merit scholars should be pretty accurate for top scoring students applying to college as freshmen. Whether people like it or not, SAT (and ACT) scores are about the only objective measure to compare applicants against each other. GPA, while a good predictor of college success, has too much variation in the rigor of classes offered by different teachers/different schools to be used as the only measure for comparison when there are too many qualified applicants applying to the same school/department.</p>
<p>@momneeds2no, In case you are interested, on the Cal Poly Parents Community page of Facebook <a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...;
someone posted a link to a document (powerpoint) that shows the components of Cal Poly’s Multi Criteria Admissions formula. It may not give everything you would like to know, but it is as much detail as I have ever seen published about the admissions policy of CP. I’ve never seen admissions data published for any college that gives all the statistics about bands that you are looking for. </p>
<p>To find the document you need to scroll down to the posts from Saturday, March 9th. I hope this helps answer some of your questions!</p>
<p>Some of the stats that some may be overlooking are: hours of community service, hours of working, hours of extra curricular; number of English classes taken.</p>
<p>With so many students with high scores and GPA’s, these have to be making a difference.</p>
<p>Someone posted the admission algorithm which seemed to support this. And I remember the admissions presentation from when we visited last Spring. They mentioned the hours deal I mentioned would account for about 10% (going off memory here) and would help decide close admissions decisions.</p>
<p>^^^^ I agree. Also, since Cal Poly SLO was first on my sons list, he noticed in the “freshman selection criteria” area on the website that they “desired” 4 sems of visual/performance arts so he added drama to his senior schedule (didn’t want to take it but is actually really enjoying it). Something most overlook if it isn’t required (my son is at a college prep HS and only 1 year was required).</p>
<p>ralph4: agree on you summary of PSAT/SAT and how their results are more standard and not as subjective to the variables within different high schools that can determine and influence GPAs. Well said.
dietz199: thanks for comment, glad CP has been good overall for you and thinking maybe you should try to appeal? Although I don’t know much about it, their admissions department seems really friendly, and you probably already know someone there - just a thought…can’t hurt to try? You may already know about that process?
So many apps, didn’t remember that CP didn’t take the subject test scores, he did those for the likes of the privates I believe, maybe UCs too, gosh I am already forgetting the details which is healthy. He was also a NM Commended, missed NMSF by 2 points (ouch those 2 points could have meant a lot of money cause his stats would have pushed him into NMF.) Oh well, he’s in CP, certainly can’t complain. Now other results may just confuse this peaceful home over next couple weeks…we’ll see. I still feel like your S has a shot at CP if you want to try, or maybe he has moved on?</p>
<p>If it helps anyone, here were my kid’s stats from 2011. He was accepted as a General Engineering student:</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA 4.0
CSU Weighted GPA 4.43
ACT: 34 Eng/34 Math
SAT2 Math 780 (not submitted to Cal Poly)
SAT2 Chem 710 (not submitted to Cal Poly)
Valedictory Scholar
4 years Marching Band and Concert Band
Summer internship at an international IT consulting firm
Bilingual Japanese/English, dual Japanese/US citizen</p>
<p>Cal Poly does not really care too much about EC’s and specific work experience except they ask basically yes/no questions about it. Band on the other hand is on the transcripts and I believe that it is considered.</p>
<p>Something to consider, while still accepting ED applications the school may not have known the record level of applicants that would be coming. This may have worked in favor of some of those who applied for ED.</p>
<p>One more thing, some of these kids have taken 2 years of calculus in high school, the points bump for the extra math is the largest single factor in selections, worth up to 500 points. I have not seen that reported in the stats by the accepted students.</p>
<p>hey dietz199, I just enabled pm. Didn’t realize there were so many options on this site, geez. Hopefully it works now, I’m a bit of a newb to all the features on this forum.</p>
<p>ACCEPTED TODAY! (3/13/13)
Weighted GPA: 4.49
Unweighted GPA: 3.911
CSU GPA: 4.24 (if I remember correctly)
ACT: 29
Major: Psychology (College of Liberal Arts)
Residency: International student
Notes: Any international students waiting, admissions told me it is this week that they started reviewing the batches of undergraduate international applicants. Good luck! (:</p>
<p>My son was not accepted at Cal Poly SLO (Biology) but he was accepted to UCSD (Biology). So don’t give up hope for great schools even after getting rejected from Cal Poly SLO.</p>