<p>I've had UCs on my radar throughout the process, but I've recently been interested in Cal Poly. Do they take recommendations? How do they calculate GPA? Same as UC GPA? is there a minimum GPA for out of state? Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>For starters no one here calls it Cal State SLO, it’s Cal Poly SLO. 
And it’s probably the most respected college in the CSU system.</p>
<p>It’s an EXCELLENT college for a lot of majors, but not as great for others. I’m sure you could still get a quality education no matter what, but be sure to examine their strengths closely. As a bio major I wasn’t impressed with their offerings, but when my brother was a computer science major Cal Poly was his first choice.</p>
<p>This page looks like it might have some answers for you. Keep in mind this is a competitive school and I suspect like most other CSUs there are a lot of impacted majors. [Admission</a> Information for Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://www.collegeview.com/schools/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/admissions]Admission”>http://www.collegeview.com/schools/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/admissions)</p>
<p>Cal Poly takes freshman grades into consideration in your GPA calculation while the UCs only look at soph & junior grades. It’s very competitive for admissions. Recommendations are not needed.</p>
<p>You apply through the CSU Mentor website: [url=<a href=“http://csumentor.com/]CSUMentor[/url”>http://csumentor.com/]CSUMentor[/url</a>]</p>
<p>It’s cheaper than a UC for out of state. SLO isn’t easy to get to, so your transportation costs might be higher than if you were flying into Berkeley, LA or SD, for example.</p>
<p>I agree with the previous poster; Cal Poly is a top school for engineering majors, especially if you want to remain in California for internships in the summer, but probably won’t be worth the out-of-state tuition for other majors such as biology or liberal arts.</p>
<p>CSUs like Cal Poly SLO, unlike the UCs, do not use a holistic approach to admissions and do not look at letters of recommendation, ECs (except in the case of recruitable athletes for major intercollegiate sports), essays or anything else besides your high school GPA and SAT scores. CSUs do not look at the Writing section of the SAT so your SAT score will be the total of your Critical Reading and Math scores. For Cal Poly SLO I believe the average CR+M SAT score for admitted students in 2010 was a little over 1300 for all matriculants and about 1370 for Engineering majors. Average high school GPA was about 3.8. Like all other public colleges and universities in California, Cal Poly SLO is prohibited by law from using affirmative action in admissions.</p>
<p>I think those sat scores are incorrect. If a person can get 670 CR and 700 in math, I think they would get into UCSD or UCD instead of Cal poly. This is just personal opinion.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO’s freshman admission information is here:
[How</a> to Apply - Admissions - Cal Poly](<a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>Cal Poly Admissions)</p>
<p>Its admissions profile for fall 2011 is here:
<a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>Cal Poly Admissions;
<p>Here is the Calculator for CSU. It looks to be the same as the UC calculator.</p>
<p>[CaliforniaColleges.edu</a> - Calculating Your GPA](<a href=“http://californiacolleges.edu/admissions/california-state-university-csu/gpa_calculator.asp]CaliforniaColleges.edu”>http://californiacolleges.edu/admissions/california-state-university-csu/gpa_calculator.asp)</p>
<p>CSU and UC admissions GPA calculation is the same, except that CSU will include senior year grades if available while UC does not.</p>
<p>However, those schools which have some sort of comprehensive review (holistic or semi-holistic) will see the uncounted freshman year grades (whether or not the comprehensive review uses them is another matter that may be school specific).</p>