Cal Poly with a Chance of Admission

Northern California
White, Male

Major: Mechanical Engineering

GPA: 4.18 (9 - 11)
SAT (March): 1380 / 1600 (720 M , 660 E)
ACT: 32 Comp. (34 M, 33 E, 30 R, 29 S, 30 W)

Class Rigor:
Sophomore: AP Euro (3) , Honors Chemistry
Junior: Honors Physics
Senior: AP Physics, AP Statistics, AP Economics, AP Computer Science Principles
Community College: 2 Programming Classes, Calculus 1, Intro to Business

Work: 20 hours / week at a local Hardware Store through Sophomore Year
Considering Jobs over summer that would bleed into Senior year with 20 hours / week

E/Cs: Rocketry Club VP (Junior Year)
Engineering Club CFO (Senior Year)
Volunteering at a local shelter during Holidays

Schools:
Dream: Cal Poly SLO

Target: Georgia Tech
UC Davis
UC San Diego

Safety: Oregon State
San Jose State

Cal Poly SLO is my dream school, however, competition seems to be rather competitive. Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!

Calculate your MCA score for Cal Poly SLO. Around 4700+ is considered competitive but no guarantee…

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.

There you go. Good luck.

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

Oh Yeah, I’ve already calculated that. It is 4797.

ME is super selective at SLO and you are above the 4700 MCA but this is no way a guarantee. All you can do is apply and hope for the best. I just noticed a CC posting that SLO is discontinuing ED starting for Fall 2017, so any advantage ED may have had, is now gone. You have good chances at UCSD/UCD and you might want add either UCI/UCSB or UCR to your list. SJSU and Oregon State look like good safeties.

Good Luck.

Thanks. Much appreciated.