There is a post on A2C from a student who got into MIT and waitlisted to SLO! Congrats on Boston College!
Congrats to everyone who received an offer–what an achievement!
I would be interested to know how many of you have 5 years of HS English and/or 4 years of a foreign language. That seems to be a big deal if you ask the admissions department, but I’m wondering how that pans out in reality? (I have a HS Junior interested in applying next year.) Thank you!!
Cal Poly requires you to declare a major when submitting your application. Their selection process considers many factors for admission in an objective format in which applicants compete against other applicants within the same major. CP SLO review application based on:
- Your Intended Program of Study
- Coursework
- GPA
-
Extracurricular Activities and Work Experience
Cal Poly takes activities such as work experience, internships, volunteer programs and extracurricular activities into consideration. We are also interested in any leadership roles you may have held in these activities. - Other Variables
So, it’s highly recommended when apply to the program applicant feel best fits their academic and professional goals when considering CP SLO.
I think so, sadly. My daughter hasn’t heard yet either, so she’s moved on. We are pretty shocked but it is what it is.
Sadly, if you haven’t heard, you got rejected. My daughter is in the same boat. We’re shocked but it is what it is.
Note:
1. At Cal Poly SLO, there is no concept of intended Major.
2. CP SLO students start their major on 1st day (in comparison to others universities where most students declare their major in Sophomore year) so it’s very important for applicants to apply to the program they feel best fits their academic and professional goals.
3. At Cal Poly SLO, some qualified enrolled students eligible to take advance courses (for instance CS courses like Data Structures, Object Oriented and more) in freshman year only based on their academics, extracurricular activities, work experience after consultation with professors.
4. Cal Poly SLO does not offer double major, however minor is offered in addition to your major. So, it’s very important that an applicant’s high school academics, extracurricular activities and work experience should be in line with their declared major. (Again, no concept of intended major).
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We are OOS. Contacted the regional Cal Poly admissions rep when it was time to forecast for senior year. We contacted her to find out if my daughter needed 5 years of English. She said not a big deal. My daughter was already planning to take a 4th year of foreign language. The rep also took a look at all of my daughter’s classes so that she understood the various buckets to put classes in - since we’re OOS, some weren’t obvious.
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My admitted D has all those. Mostly AP/honors for English/Spanish since she’s a language immersion student.
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My son had 4 years of english and only 1 year of fine arts, and he was accepted for engineering. I think that at some point you max out on points and can’t get bonus points for every category. He did have max science, math, and foreign language years.
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My son has 4 but 2 of his friends got in with only 4 as well. They are at a private school that only offers 4.
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Congrats! That makes sense. There are different ways to get rigor, for sure!
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My son had 8 English (doubled up every year since Freshman year), 6 years of Math (8th grade Alg 1, Statistics at CC summer btwn jr and sr year), 4 yrs FL, 4 yrs science, 4.5 yrs social studies/history.
My daughter had 4 yrs English, 6 yrs math (ALG 1 8th grade & statistics at CC), 4 yrs FL, 4 yrs science, 5 yrs social studies/history.
Both were accepted.
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Yes my DD had 5 years of HS math taken 9th grade and later (Algebra 1, Geometry squeezed in the summer, Algebra 2, Pre Calc/Trig, and AP Calc), 5 years of HS English taken 9th grade and later (English 9, Creative Writing squeezed in the summer, English 10, AP Lang, AP Lit), and 3 years of Spanish (Spanish 2, Spanish 3, and AP Spanish).
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My daughter was admitted with four years of English, three years of foreign language, two years of VAPA (one full year course in H.S., one semester dual enrollment in a CC that counts as a full year), five years of science (four years in h.s. and one semester dual enrollment that counts as a full year), and five years of math. She was admitted for public health. She considered taking the 5th year of English dual enrollment the summer before senior year b/c of everything we read here, but opted instead for an extra science class since that is her area of interest and she was much more excited about those CC course offerings. Good luck!
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My son was accepted to engineering with 4 years english, 5 math (including 8th grade), 4 FL, 4 lab science, 3.5 social science, 1.5 elective, 7 years VAPA (in his case, music). He has done well in UC admissions this year also.
If you look at the old MCA numbers, the bonus for the 5th year of English was relatively small, compared to the bonus for the 5th year of math. The bonus for the 4th year of FL was even smaller than for English. However, personally I would prioritize 4 years FL over 5 years English (if you have to choose between the two of them), since 4 years FL seems to be desirable at many other schools.
This is an explanation of the old MCA system (but remember that the system has changed since then, because of no standardized tests, so we do not know the weightings now): Understanding the MCA plus Calculator
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Cal Poly SLO Freshman Class of 2027 Waitlist Discussion
Impressive! That’s one focused student!
This is good advice, thank you! My son is heavy on maths and VAPA, and might opt to beef up his science rigor instead of squeezing in a 4th year of FL. But we’ll see. He wants to do the FL class because he loves it, but it’s just hard to fit everything.
Thanks–the funny thing is she opted to do this herself and for non-Cal Poly reasons (in the case of English, she never would have done it had it not been for the pandemic) and not because either she or I knew that Cal Poly SLO recommends this. . .but it’s on their website for a reason I guess. I’m now trying to get the word out to other CA parents. Five years of English is absurd I think when other interesting HS electives (music, philosophy, debate, yearbook, whatever) are therefore neglected as a result. . .
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Son admitted for Construction Mgmt OOS with 5 years math, 4 English, 3 foreign language, 2+ fine arts, 4 years science, 4 years SS. I think making sure you have at least maxed years in math and/or English is very helpful for admission.
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