I’m not sure anyone knows exactly how CP handles this. If anyone knows it will be @eyemgh . In my time on this board I have not seen anyone post MCAs above 5000, until the last couple of weeks (I have now seen 2). However, as @eyemgh has posted elsewhere, the non-academic bonuses do not apply to ED, only RD. So you may be in the strange position of having a better chance under RD than ED. What is your MCA without the non-academic points?
Poly does two “reads” (in quotes because they don’t actually have human readers), one that is academic only and one that includes non-academic adders. They fill 65% of their class after the first read. That includes all of ED. Then they add non-academic adders, re-rank, and fill the last 35% of the class. So, as @ocgolfdad said, your chances will likely be better in RD since your MCA will be higher. In that pool there still won’t be many 5000s. My guess is that they will all be seen as equal, but they may rank them in some way. Good luck.
@eyemgh Do you know whether CP has any quotas or threshold levels that they are trying to fill (or not exceed) during ED? For instance, if they plan on offering 100 spots in Software Engineering, do 25 of those get offered in ED? Theoretically they have a 100% yield during ED, so I would imagine that the percentage of offers available for ED are pretty low.
@ocgolfdad Thanks for your reply! My MCA is much, much lower without the bonus points. It’s 4,323. I’m aware that is probably low for a prospective biology major. I attend a Cal Poly partner school (700) and one of my parents did not finish high school (300).
Can anyone direct me to how to convert ACT scores to SAT for use in calculating the MCA score. Also do you use the composite score or the Math/Reading? I calculated my son’s MCA using his SAT scores but wanted to double check using his ACT
Thanks for your help as well! @eyemgh
@BoyMomCP This one looks pretty accurate. Use the second table.
Thank you @ocgolfdad, looks like it’s about the same.
@ocgolfdad last year a total of 1000 freshman enrolled ED out of 4900 total. This is only data I have seen regarding percentage ED so would guess they offer between 20 to 35% of slots in ED for each major assuming they have enough qualified ED applicants. Last year they were trying to fill 44 Freshman Software Engineering seats so perhaps 8 to 15 in ED. Maybe someone else has more specific data on ED.
could someone please chance me?
Cal Poly GPA: 4.16
ACT: 28 English 29 Math
8 semesters English
6 semesters foreign language
8 semesters math
6 semesters science
2 semesters visual performing arts
***One parent did not graduate high school
Major: Business Administration
APPLIED EARLY DECISION
@BoyMomCP, when we attended an Admissions Info Session on campus they said they only use the ACT Math and ACT English score - not the composite.
For the fall 2014 entering class:
Number of early decision applications received by your institution: 4,324
Number of applicants admitted under early decision plan: 1,406
= 32.5% overall acceptance rate
For the fall 2013 entering class:
Number of early decision applications received by your institution: 3,984
Number of applicants admitted under early decision plan: 1,343
= 33.7% overall acceptance rate
source: Cal Poly SLO Common Data Set
As I understand it, CPSLO uses this table to convert ACT scores (English and Math only) to equivalent SAT scores.
Concordant SAT Scores based on ACT Scores
ACT English or Math - SAT Reading - SAT Math
36 800 800
35 770 790
34 760 780
33 750 760
32 720 730
31 700 700
30 680 680
29 650 660
28 630 640
27 610 620
26 590 600
25 570 580
24 550 560
23 540 540
22 520 520
21 500 500
20 490 480
19 470 460
18 450 440
17 440 410
16 420 390
15 400 360
14 380 330
13 360 300
12 330 280
11 300 260
By way of example, a 32 on the ACT English and a 29 on the ACT math converts to an equivalent SAT score of 720 (reading) + 660 (math) = 1380.
@eyemgh So would the possible 350 mca points from the activities supplemental (Work/EC hours) count in the first reading?
@wrxbiker I believe so
Wait…non academic bonus points don’t count for ED??? Where did this info come from
Is it true that for business majors, english ACT score is more important than math scores? Or rather, the math score isn’t heavily weighted in business decisions?
I think I read that in the professors analysis of MCA scores and different majors (I believe it was mentioned somewhere in this thread, but I could be wrong…)
@swimkarenna ^this is fabulous news if that’s the case! My daughter applied as a Liberal Arts major and her SAT CR score is much better than her SAT M score. From everything I’ve read on CC, it seems that it comes down to the overall MCA score (?)
@melia1 I’m in the same boat, but for business! As for what you said about the MCA score, that’s what my assumption is too, but I thought I did read on this website - http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=statsp that the English score is weighted more heavily?
Who knows though! The admissions process is so crazy. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed; good luck to your daughter!
Hopefully someone can give us more insight to this question?
@swimkarenna best of luck to you as well! 