My son was notified on 3/10 of admission to civil engineering. The email was flagged as “important” and somehow went to an “important” folder so he didn’t discover until 3/13.
1 Like
I would tend to agree with you on GPA, except during the first six months of covid the Seattle Public School system mandated all students receive a grade of either A or Incomplete. No other options. While I understand remote learning was certainly a challenge in those initial months, this practice pretty much invalidated the idea of “grades as a predictor of success” - particularly for the kids applying during this admissions cycle.
My husband did not get into Cal Poly for Aerospace Engineering in 1981. He got into UCLA instead!
2 Likes
Thank you. I have seen some admits for civil engineering, but I haven’t seen any for general engineering. General Engineering is another “major” within the College of Engineering.
1 Like
My son was accepted for General Engineer on 3/10.
1 Like
To a certain extent, I support the SAT or similar test as an admission measure as various standards f schools in different states. GPA solely reflects the literacies among students in a school
3 Likes
Is there a thread that specifically discusses standardized testing?
Really hoping we can keep this thread focused on CAL POLY SLO decisions class of 2026.
17 Likes
@RAM206 @kittylazy @Jan_Macgregor @waitinginnh22 Yes, there are several discussions about being test blind. You can join these discussions or start your own. Now back to SLO’s Class of 2026 discussion.
3 Likes
A complaint about SLO: I think it’s ridiculous that they apparently admit by major for non STEM, non business majors. How many 17/18 year olds know what area of liberal arts they want to study? Isn’t that what the first couple of years (at least) of college are for? To explore and hope to find something you are passionate about? My D put “psychology” as her intended major at SLO only because she had to pick something and couldn’t go in “undecided”, and apparently that is literally the most competitive major to get admitted to (as discussed previously on this board). I understand with STEM majors since there are so many pre-reqs and with CS, its in such high demand, all public universities need to limit enrollment, but doesn’t make sense within context of liberal arts. OK, vent is over.
9 Likes
You could view that as Cal Poly maybe not being the right fit if you don’t know what area of concentration you want at 17. I’m not saying 17/18 year olds should know, but there are definitely plenty that do know so maybe schools that force
you to lock in at application time is a better fit than if you have no clue yet. Find a school that will allow you to change your mind after trying some classes freshman year, instead of making Cal Poly fit you.
10 Likes
When my daughter was looking at colleges in 2017, we visited Cal Poly. The admissions representative asked what she wanted to major in. She said she just wanted to take a year and take different courses to see what she wanted to study. The Cal Poly guy said “you shouldn’t come to Cal Poly. CP is a great place if you know (as a 17 year old) what you want to study, but if you plan on trying to figure that out later, you should go somewhere else.” She went elsewhere and ended up triple majoring in majors that she hadn’t even thought about. My son knows that he wants to major in Business so Cal Poly is a great option for him.
4 Likes
Yes!!!
All the Cal States admit by major not just Cal Poly SLO. Many of the UC’s do not admit by major into their College of Letters and Sciences and many private universities also.
This is an excerpt from a quote from the other UC Forum Champion which fits this situation:
Before a student applies to a school, they should look at the criteria that the school is going to use to evaluate and admit them. If they feel that the evaluation process will not work in their favor, the student can choose not to apply.
3 Likes
Late post. I just found out about these forums from daughter few days ago. 
D22 accepted to Psychology on 3/10.
Not sure about Cal Poly GPA.
UC GPA: 3.8, weighted capped 4.07, uncapped 4.36
5 AP/honors + 6 DE
Good ECs and essays
5 Likes
Interesting … yeah, SLO is probably not a fit for my D academically if she is locked into a major. I just don’t understand why the school needs to impose that on a liberal arts major. Maybe they have smaller class sizes than the UCs and they need to lock in majors to maintain that? It’s just very unusual to hear a school be so rigid about majors (again, other than like engineering which has pre-reqs from day one).
It is because of the way their whole curriculum is set up—the whole polytechnic, learn by doing thing. Freshman start out right away working hands on in their major classes, even in liberal arts.
6 Likes
Makes sense but how hands on could philosophy or history be? I suppose psychology could be very hands on.
1 Like
My son was admitted on 3/10
Food Science
CalState gpa 4.1. uW 3.8/ fully weighted 4.4
Lots of non/trad ECs
So far planning to attend
5 Likes
I just don’t understand why the school needs to impose that on an engineer major as well. For example, CS (computer engineering/science) is one of the more difficult majors to get into, but about half the students applying for EE get in. Since these majors are closely related, it seems that if they don’t make the cut for CS, they should be considered for EE. However, I heard that the school doesn’t really consider your alternative major, and just rejects you from the whole school.
If a student wants flexibility, they should research schools that offer these programs. Many schools admit all Engineering majors into a General Engineering major where they all take the same curriculum and then can advance into more specific concentrations. No one is making these students apply to Cal Poly or any other school that does match their goals.
13 Likes