@ElenaParent For Math, 6 semesters gives you 125 points while 10 semesters gives 500 points. With 12 semesters, she would get the maximum 500 points.
You can use the http://mca.netlify.com/. Calculator. You input the # of semesters of courses along with the EC hours which would automatically calculate the rigor bonus points for you. So 38 hrs/ week??? Over 52 weeks??? That is a fulltime job !!
@Gumbymom Quick question- I read the minimum for math as 6 semesters- meaning no bonus points for that.
(In this section you get zero points for meeting the minimum admission requirements and adders for more than the minimum.)
So wouldn’t 8 semesters be 250 points, and 10 semesters 500? Just clarifying. Thank you so much for your help in this process!
@Itravis: Based on the posted MCA information that the SLO frequent poster eyemgh listed on the thread How to calculate the MCA points, if you meet the minimum for any of the categories you still get a minimum of bonus points which for Math is 125 according to the formula. How valid is this information now, since SLO has not confirmed their MCA point calculation is still being used based on the original listed data, I cannot say.
Also on the MCA calculator, if you enter your Math semesters, the stated minimum is 8 and maximum 10?? I have done the MCA calculation manually and using the MCA netify calculator and the numbers matched but then again I did not put in the minimum for Math.
@Gumbymom: My understanding is that you do not recieve points for the minimum # of semesters. Bonus points are only awarded for classes taken beyond the miniumum. Thus, for math, each additional semester over 6 is worth 125 points each up to a maximum allowed of 500 (125X4 possible extra semesters). I think the MCA calculator is designed so that the user only inputs the # of classes that exceed the minimum.
@Joyfullife: Thank you for the clarification. I only recently starting using the MCA calculator and in the instances I was inputting the data, none of the categories had the minimum semesters required.
@Gumbymom: point of clarification…my mca calculator point depends on which calculator you use. I have seen a couple. I think the one that is most prominently in circulation might include all semesters taken but appropriately awards points for those taken over the minimum.
One calculator most often posted is this one and the one I have been recently using: https://mca.netlify.com/.
Each course section lists the minimum and maximum semesters.
Math: Min 8 and Max 10 (CSU minimum 6 semesters)
Lab Science: Min 4 and Max 10 (CSU minimum 4 semesters)
English: Min 8 and Max 10 (CSU minimum 8 semesters)
Foreign Language: Min 4 and Max 8 (CSU minimum 4 semesters)
VPA: Min 2 and Max 4 (CSU minimum 2 semesters)
Wondering why the minimum for Math is different from the CSU requirements vs the other categories??
I was relying on the manual calculation for the last several years anyways so no issues with the MCA score especially if you are above the minimum requirements anyways.
Got it, thank you! The calculator gave me 4665…
As far as the full time job, yeah, we know… She is a member of USA National Team in Acrobatic Gymnastics… And yes, it goes all year. They do not have breaks.
Still so confusing. Plugging in the numbers into that calculator leads to 4665 (which feels low).
Now doing it by hand, and looking at the first message in the Understanding the MCA plus Calculator" thread:
GPA 4.25 means 2250 points
SAT 1460 means 1506 points
Using calculator to get bonuses for rigor : 700
Extra curricular: 350+60
Total 4866.
Which is very much different from 4665.
Different by 201 points.
Sigh. Whatever. It is what it is. But I will never know what it actually is.
@ElenaParent: Another kink in the calculation is that the College of Engineering shows the Freshman profile for the middle 50% GPA as 4.07 – 4.28. 4.28 is above the 4.20 cap on the GPA.
SLO may still be using the MCA scores for ranking applicants but I am sure there are changes to their original scoring information since it was posted several years ago.
Can you please provide a link to that profile?
@ElenaParent: The main page shows the campus overall Middle 50% ranges and then they are broken out by College.
https://www.calpoly.edu/admissions/first-year-student/selection-criteria/student-profile
Off topic, but this spreadsheet shares information on number of applicants and projected number of commits broken down by individual major (2019/2018). You can extrapolate a lot of info from these numbers considering a 30% average yield (not sure if this stat is true for every major). But Looks to me (no surprise) like Computer Science is the most competitive major, and Psychology is also up there (which was surprising to me). By glancing through the rest of it, it appears that the less competitive majors would be Dairy Science, Bio Resources/Ag Engineering, and Manufacturing Engineering. This is all public information, but interesting to look at and realize. Good luck everyone!!
Thank you for that information! My daughter applied for psychology in 2018 as a transfer student. She had a 4.0 from community college and worked 30 hour weeks and we couldn’t believe she didn’t get in! Now I see how few transfers were admitted to psych so I feel a little better about it. My son is currently waiting to hear back for Music which seems less impacted. Fingers crossed!
According to Mustang News, total applications are down at slo for second straight year. Hope that’s good news for all of us.
Just checking—has anyone in the “general application” pool (i.e. freshman, first-timer college students, non-honors, etc.) heard anything from SLO yet? Our portal still says no decision has been made…
@kukui77 No news here either. First time freshman, in-state, not local, non-honors.
Given some of the stats I am seeing here, it is a case of CalPoly becoming a victim of their own success. It is a very good college, but also a CSU campus, so the high stat students I see here would get high merit consideration at private colleges. This pattern will likely then lead to lower yields and a trend towards fewer applications if the acceptance rate increases.
I am going through this process with my second of three children, and I continue to be frustrated by the painfully slow process with the UCs and CSUs. They take in millions of dollars from applications, an for campuses such as CalPoly and SDSU, it is a simple numbers game. They could likely make a rough estimate of enrollments by December 2 or 3 if they wanted.
I recall the last couple years decisions started to roll out March 1st.