I want to major in mechanical engineering and the school I plan to apply to are…
Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, SDSU, Cal State Long Beach, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Riverside. I was thinking of applying to Cal State Fullerton and Dominguez Hills as back ups. Will I be able to get into these schools or is my GPA too low?
Is your GPA of 2.9, your CSU/UC GPA? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
If it is, then you do not qualify to apply to any UC. You need a minimum UC/CSU GPA of 3.0 and even at that level, your only chance may be UC Merced.
CSU’s admit by Eligibility index and major except for Cal Poly SLO which uses an MCA score.
EI= (CSU GPA x800) + (SAT Math + CR).
Your EI calculates out to a 3620 which is low for all the CSU’s on your list except Dominguez Hills which does not ME.
For SDSU, 4100+ is competitive
For CSLB, 3900+ is competitive
For CSU Fullerton/Cal Poly Pomona, 3800+ is competitive.
I do not have to calculate your MCA score to determine that SLO is a super Reach. Average GPA for Engineering was 4.17 last year and average SAT score was 1450.
I would revise my list and only apply to CSU Fullerton which is still a Reach I would also add Sac State, San Francisco State, Cal State LA and maybe Northridge or Chico for a chance to be accepted at 1-2 of these schools.
http://degrees.calstate.edu/search-results/26/all/69/all?areaofstudy=Mechanical%20engineering
You GPA is what is holding you back since your SAT is competitive. If you are not happy with your choices, there is always the community college route with transfer. If you do well at a CC, then you transfer to a better CSU or TAG to a UC.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/
Good Luck.
Remember that these schools are cost effective for many residents, so the schools are competitive. When you talk about any of the STEM fields, for your major, then your grades have to be up to snuff. @Gumbymom gives good advice.
You should apply to your local CSU, but your chances don’t look good, given that GPA. If you tested well, what happened with the grades?
If you are in-state, you need a 3.0 UC GPA to apply to the UC system. If you don’t meet the threshold, don’t waster the time and money to apply, they won’t even read the ap before putting you in the No pile.
As for the Cal States on your list, DH is the only one likely to accept you. Be sure to apply broadly, perhaps Sonoma, SJSU, Sac, SF, Humboldt or Monterrey depending on your interests.
You have a better chance of getting into the Cal state for your local admissions area. (Depending on the campus, some majors are still very competitive.) Find it here:
http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf