My daughter got accepted on the first day and also received a scholarship for $1000. She got a call from a student last week on her phone that they emailed her about. But just now I received a call from the main Cal Poly number 805-756-1111. Anyone know why they would be calling me? Nothing on her portal has changed.
@raisinsmith they called me yesterday to talk to me about the events they were having like Open House and PolyCultural Weekend.
@upsidedownturtle Thanks! I figured they would’ve left a voicemail if it was important.
@xc&track-run
Congrats on both acceptances! UCSD may be the single worst place to be pre-med in California. They have a very large number of premeds crowded into large intro classes that are intensely competitive. The result is an abysmal medical school acceptance rate despite an incoming freshman class that is obviously very intelligent. Last year UCSDs acceptance rate for med school was 35%- this is below the national average.
Your best bet for medical school acceptance is an elite small liberal arts college such as Pomona College. It typically has a 90% acceptance rates and some years it is 100%. Grading is more generous at LACs and you have excellent teaching by dedicated faculty who you get to know really well (letters of rec. are very important for med school admissions). Now I recognize a small LAC may not be an option for you and if it was just between SLO and UCSD I would pick SLO hands down: smaller classes taught by profs and a much less “gunner” mentality amongst the bio students.
But, as others have suggested: visit both schools. Try to sit in on an intro bio or chem class. I am pretty convinced after your visits you will SIR for SLO. And you need those hills to keep those XC legs in shape!
@choroidal Pomona College has a 9.1% acceptance rate.
@BadgeBunny, he was referring to the rate at which Pomona students get into medical school.
Oops! ;))
@choroidal - Do you know SLO’s med school acceptance rate? My D also got accepted to both as a math major but pre-med. I was under the impression UCSD would be the best choice out of the two but now you have me wondering. She visited UCSD but not SLO. She is still waiting on UCLA, UCB & Harvey Mudd (which I hear isn’t great for pre-med because unlike the other LACs the grades at HMC are deflated; but she loves it and is willing to take her chances.)
Also, how hard is it to change majors at SLO? I could see my D changing her mind from math to something else once she is exposed to other courses. I don’t like the idea of being locked into a major from the start, and would want her to have the flexibility to change if she wants.
My financial aid package just updated to show that I received the Constant J. and Dorothy F. Chrones Scholarship! I guess they are still adding more aid 
@gratefulmama my daughter changed from Bio/PreMed Major at SLO. After her first quarter she knew she would change and started the process in the 2nd Quarter. She entered into a Change of Major contract, took the required classes for the new major and got over 3.0 during 3rd quarter and by the time she began the Fall quarter she was officially in the new major. She had pretty high stats going in so she qualified for the other Major she chose. She was still ahead of where she should be and has Junior standing as a Sophomore, so the change didn’t impact her much. The only thing that didn’t count were her extra Bio and Chem Labs. She loves her life now!
@CaliMck15 - Thank you. When she changed majors, did she change out of College of Science & Math or did she choose a different major within the same college of science & math?
@grarefulmama the SLO acceptance rate is 50%. I hear all the time that UCSD is a great place to do premed, but the stats tell a different story. UCSD does have a premier medical school and an stellar reputation for biomedical research- unfortunately these attributes have next to nothing to getting you in to medical school.
HMC is a great place- I know it well. But, again if she has her heart on medical school it will be tough to get a good GPA there. And medical schools unfortunately do their initial screen with GPA and MCAT scores. Some med schools screen with a minimum GPA of 3.7. If you are an URM the screen is not as tight- depending on the school.
I hate to say this, but I would advise her to go somewhere with grade inflation (hello Stanford!). But, again if the choice is UCSD vs Cal Poly I would go with SLO.
Just noticed how the registration for SLO days is open. Obviously everyone does it, but I’m just curious as to what exactly we do. Also do parents normally attend?
@choroidal - I really appreciate your feedback. Thank you!
@gratefulmama She transferred out of COSM. She is a Broadcast Journalism Major now (Minor in Entrepreneurship) …said perhaps someday she’ll report on Medicine…However, next quarter she has a class in which she gets to broadcast from the floor of a Lakers game. It’s great that these kids get exposure to so much early on in their college career. She wants to double major in Accounting as well. Quite a turnaround from what she thought she wanted as a Senior in HS…
Is anyone still waiting for a decision? Haven’t been accepted anywhere yet, starting to get a little scared…
@CaliMck15 - Good to know your D was also able to change colleges within the school. So many kids don’t know what they want to do in HS (even some that think they know, don’t really.) Trying to find the best fit for their dreams today but leaving room for changes/flexibility is a important.
@toastiecheez where else did you apply?
Stanford EA (rejected) UCSD (rejected) Cal Tech (only did ACT and didn’t realize they also require SAT 
) and waiting on CalPoly USC and Berkeley. I wish I had applied to more. Here in UK you can only apply to 5 max so I used the same principle (but added USC after rej from Stanford)
@toastiecheez I know there are some public schools that are still accepting applications so maybe do some research. I will see what I can find also. I get emails from schools all the time.