That’s what I thought, but wanted to just make sure we were on the same page 
We’re in the other boat. D21 has leadership in her EC’s (and many hours), which is directly related to her area of major/interest. So, we’re hoping for more EC weighting!
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MCA’s, bonus points, check boxes…this is all gibberish to me! Guess I’m not getting into SLO!
Seriously though, seems like it may be an especially crazy year at SLO.
Good luck to everyone!
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Oh- I’m sorry- genuinely. I didn’t realize that URM as a factor in admissions is not something that can be discussed on College Confidential. As the parent of a young Black student, that’s too bad:( I didn’t mean to ask an inappropriate question. I had just understood that some colleges consider URM status and some don’t-- and that Cal Poly SLO does not.
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Well as far as I know–and I am not commenting on whether this is good or bad public policy–Proposition 209 from 1996 amended the California State Constitution so that it is now illegal for a California public educational institution (and other public institutions and employers) to consider race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in making admissions or hiring decisions. So SLO and all the CSU’s and UC’s are prohibited from considering these factors in admissions.
Our kid has the ECs and major-related work + grades, just not the first gen college, veterans, etc. stuff. I’d be good with more EC weighting 
And GPA weighting!
Got it- thanks, that really helps to clarify.
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@ChiSea No worries at all. It’s totally my fault. There use to be ONE thread on this website where race could be discussed and it was shutdown a very long time ago. Or at least I haven’t seen it in a very long time. It’s a like a “3rd rail.”
@MrRobot2018 One of the other idiosyncrasies of the SLO/CSU app is the high school courses taken in middle school, typically algebra, geometry and a foreign language (assuming you progress in that same language in HS). Often, applicants miss adding these courses and lose critical MCA points, which is what SLO uses for admission purposes.
@Seabass927 GPA and course rigor will always be the largest factor and probably even more heavily weighted than normal.
Course rigor is the one I really hope that they put a lot of importance on. With a cap placed on weighted GPA and differences in high schools, nothing about the CSU gpa is apples to apples. That AP GPA boost is so limited.
It looks like you think it will be heavily weighted?
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@loveorangecats: Prior to going test blind, other than test scores, SLO GPA and HS course rigor were weighted heavily especially Math and Science courses and those very important Middle school Math and Foreign language courses contributed to the MCA points.
Here is the description of the MCA points and calculation. SLO will not acknowledge that they still continue to use the posted information as stated, but they still refer to the MCA when evaluating applicants.
Academic MCA:
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, 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 are also other Non-Academic Bonus Points:
CA vet/701, Hayden Partner School/700, faculty/staff dependent/700, service area of CP/500, either parent with some or no HS, but who DIDN’T GRADUATE FROM HS/300 (per parent).
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Thank you. This is reassuring. With a kid applying CS, I know the odds are beyond minimal even with great stats, but it does feel good to know that taking all of those STEM AP classes will help him out.
I think the mystery lies in where the 1650 points historically assigned for test scores will be allocated. If the points are allocated proportionally across all data points the GPA will basically be the acceptance factor. I guess I’m hopeful that they allocate most if not all of those points towards course rigor or even ECs. Otherwise the already narrow evaluation criteria at Cal Poly becomes even more narrow.
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Hi Gumbymom - Is there a corresponding report that talks about average MCA for admissions by major? Example: MCA = 4111 and CSU GPA = 4.11 and major is Poli Sci. Also, since they are test blind this year, I’m guessing the MCA would exclude the test conversion score, any news on this?
YES to everything you said!!!
Re the idiosynchrasies of SLO: my son didn’t understand to add his junior high foreign language and math classes to his application, so sadly, we are among the casualties of that unusual requirement. Ugh.
You know, you may not matter at all.
I warned my D about it prior to filling out the app and she missed it on the her first pass through it. I also had already went through it once with D18, so it was top of mind.
@Gunn11: There was a final status thread posted for the last few years where applicants listed their MCA points based on the original MCA calculation information. The MCA score/points would not be valid for this year, since no one knows how the MCA will be calculated minus test scores.
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Thank you for that detailed explanation of MCA! I can now see just how important it is to add in middle school grades for math and foreign language in addition to maintaining course rigor.
So I’m pretty sure all applicants received this email today? “ A Mustang Newsletter to Keep You Informed” 
Yes- was hoping for positive news, but got mass marketing instead:)
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