It’s not stressful since my daughter got into her first choice school. It’s just incredibly disappointing. I don’t think CalPoly does rolling admissions. I think they admit in a big wave and drag out the waitlists and rejections. Why though? That’s the ultimate question.
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Well, it seems that CalPoly does somewhat of a mix of waves and rolling. Based on prior years, they had a wave of admissions, then waitlists then rejections. However, they also had some sporadic acceptances after the initial wave of acceptances. Yes, most were for art related majors, but there were also some for OOS, International, etc. So, it seems they do a combo. In terms of why they do it this way, I have no idea. Congrats on your child getting into their No. 1 choice! In terms of stress, I find the whole college application process incredibly stressful.
Found the invite in her promotions folder. Thanks for the insight on the dates! very helpful.
It was incredibly stressful, yes. CalPoly was a very close second choice. What relieved her stress immensely was getting accepted at UC Davis, her first choice. SLO is a great school but their decision making process sucks.
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Ours had a very disappointing outcome with UCs but got into CalPoly, UMD and UW, as well as a number of other schools. UMD and CalPoly are his top two right now.
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What major? Ours was accepted to UMD, UCD (and others) for aerospace. UMD and UCD are his current top choices, but he would go to CalPoly over either if he got in. Still no word though.
Any idea what the deciding factor will be for yours between UMD and CalPoly?
I speculate that maybe Cal Poly SLO is doing it this way this year is because of a combination of the amount of applicants they got and the amount of students who applied to the UC’s and how many of those high stat kids that were rejected from most if not all the UC’s they applied to, knowing that SLO is typically also applied to with the usual SoCal UC’s. They need to be careful with their acceptances and their yield is bound to be off from previous years because of the UC’s this year. SDSU over enrolled last year by 1500 causing a housing crisis there and they want to avoid that.
If you read through this forum and the other forums, constantly Cal Poly is one of 2 colleges that students and parents are deciding between with another UC or SDSU and more often then not, Cal Poly is the one chosen because of the learn by doing.
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Ours is journalism but will likely also be doing either international affairs or history. With these liberal arts interests, being near DC may just tip things over for him, but we’ll see. He was incredibly interested in being in CA.
How would cal poly know how many kids were rejected by uc schools though? Some of what you said makes sense but that doesn’t explain why slo is not releasing decisions in a timely manner.
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You probably aren’t talking to me but … major at UCD is Global Disease Biology.
They don’t know but can go by historical data and they do know what has happened at SDSU this year and last since they are in the same system as well as they can know what the the numbers look like at the UC’s (# of applicants and denials and waitlisted).
I think they are being cautious and looking for some declines as well. They do know the number of applications they received and I am sure that is significantly higher then years past too.
Except that this year doesn’t seem any different with respect to UC admissions (and its unpredictability + increased competitiveness) in comparison to 2022 and 2021. Those years were also insane in terms of UC admissions. If anything, the application numbers dipped a tiny bit this year.
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lots of students apply to a handful of UCs and also Cal Poly SLO. my theory (which is only a theory) is that SLO is waiting to see how many of their accepted students end up declining SLO because they were accepted to a UC they plan to attend. in that scenario, it’s plausable that SLO may send out some more acceptances between now and 4/1 if more of their accepted students decline in favor of attending a UC. otherwise i really don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t just roll out all acceptances/waitlists/denials in one fell swoop. bizarre…
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They dropped slightly at UCLA and UCB (just a couple 1000) but not at the other UC’s.
I do think this year is worse then last, just like 2022 was worse then 2021. Every year it is worse.
Honestly, they just don’t want to over enroll as they don’t really have any other options for housing since they are a much smaller community then San Diego.
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That’s exactly what my daughter was concerned about. It was a narrow major with no guarantee that she could study the minor so that was a deal breaker for her.
We were lucky enough to know a recent graduate from the same program and got some insight that confirmed her suspicions.
She was looking at the Graphic Design major and minoring in Computing for Interactive Arts. Not having a guarantee that she could participate in the minor was the deal breaker.
The Honors Program is a very competitive admit. Maybe 90-100 are accepted, with maybe 500-600 that apply. I’m sure it’ll vary by year.
Peruse the Honors updates:
For the extra classes (units) required, an Honors student will receive their own Honors advisor(s), access to Honors-only seminars, a special area in the Library, which now is closed for remodeling unfortunately, etc.
I believe the big benefits are: 1) the Yakitutu dorms, which are the newest dorms (D21 loved Yosemite), and priority registration for 1st and 2nd years only, though all freshman are blocked into some, not all, classes.
D21 hasn’t really had a problem with class registration, because she came in with lots of AP credits, but then she’s been getting 8 AM and 6 PM classes. Having said that, I think the best benefit, at least for the first two years is being able to get early access to the best or better teachers. My D21 has found that not all professors are created the same.
My $0.02? Apply, if accepted, then stay in for the 1st two years, then drop it, if the student doesn’t enjoy it or want the extra work any longer.
YMMV
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Like every school, SLO over admits to account for yield. For the theory that they are watching declines to be true, there would have to be a large amount of declines since March 10th but before April 1st, which really isn’t a lot of time for kids to decide. The number of students who do quickly decline is probably not significant at this time, because kids are still weighing their options, looking at financial aid packages, and attending admitted student weekends to help make their decisions.
I can’t say why SLO does it the way they do, but I just know it doesn’t really make sense to me that they’re watching these numbers so closely that they’re adding in acceptances one by one, when that’s the purpose of a waitlist.
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That is super helpful. Thank you for the detailed reply! She’ll probably go ahead and reply this weekend and just see what happens. I’ll let her know it’s quite competitive.
My only suggestion, and forgive me for sounding like “Captain Obvious,” but sincere effort is required for the essays.
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Oh yes – that much seems clear from the info I’ve read over the past hour.