Cal Poly SLO philosophy ED

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1

Hi! i’m a high school junior, (now senior) looking to apply to cal poly ED in the fall. My cal poly gpa (9-11th with only 8 semesters weighted) isn’t very good, it’s around 3.1-3.2. I took a lot of honors classes but also got a lot of C’s in regular classes. For example? i got an A in APUSH and AP PSYCH for both semesters but a C in spanish. you get what I mean.

Anyway, I’ll be applying early as a philosophy major, and i’ll be taking my first act soon. I’m being prepped for it, and my tutors expect a 29-30. If i get a 30 on the act, could it give me a chance to get in my intended major with such a low gpa? any advice? Also, I’d have 12 subjects of Ap/honors at the end of senior year. I’m also the first generation to go to college here. Is that important? Thank you!

2

The expected acceptance rate for Philisophy is about 58%, which gives you a high chance for an acceptance. My niece was accepted in a major with an acceptance rate of 66%, CP GPA 3.3 and ACT of 30, so it is possible especially if you apply ED. First generation will help. Will you be able to afford SLO, since applying ED will not allow you to compare FA packages from other schools? Will you happy with your Philosophy major since switching majors from a fairly easy acceptance rate major to any competitive major such as Business/Architecture etc… is extremely difficult? Here is how the MCA points are calculated to see where you stand courtesy of @eyemgh::

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 (note: stats and finite do not count), 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.

GPA = 2250
Test = 1650
Class rigor = 750
EC / Work Hrs = 350
Subtotal for accademic points = 5000

Parents education = 600
Veteran’s benefit = 700
Zip code= 500
High school = 700
Parent employed by CPSLO = 700
Subtotal for Demographic points = 3200

Max attainable points = 8200

Scores are capped at 5,000

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@Gumbymom hi! thank you so much for your answers. and yes, i live in state so slo is actually better than attending a UC. Also, i’m planning to attend law school after undergrad so philosophy just seemed like the best major to improve my critical thinking skills i’ll need for the lsat!

Is that the philosophy projections for this year? I knew they opened up some more spots for philosophy, but some people called it a dying major at slo, which had me a bit worried… it’s what i really want to do so i’d be sad if this was true!

For EC’s/WORK, i have 20+ hours a week for work, 150 hours in total for volunteering (5 hours a week) and i do have a leadership position in link crew.

I forgot to mention all of that because i heard ec/work doesn’t really matter.

Thank you so much again for your thoughtful response!

4

The projections were for this years in-coming class. Their target class for Philosphy majors this year was around 22 students, so very few applicants are interested in the major.

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@Gumbymom - The expected acceptance rate for Philisophy is about 58%.

How did you get it?

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Here is the link that another CC contributor posted on the SLO thread. These were projections for this Fall 2015.

http://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/publications_reports/targets/1415tarproj.pdf