Chance me mediocre GPA, decent SAts

<p>GPA: (weighted)
Freshman 3.16
Sophmore - 3.92 weighted
Junior: 3.625 </p>

<p>Overall: Soph + Junior = 3.8 </p>

<p>SAT:
1st: 770 w, 710 m, 630 r - 2110
2nd: 740 w, 740m, 660 r - 2140
3rd- 640 w, 760m, 630 r - 2060
will take ACT in ocotober trying to get 34+
Overall: superscored, 2190. </p>

<p>SAT2:
790 math 2, 790 chemistry
Aps: Calc bc (5), Ap chem (5)</p>

<p>EC:
100+ hour volunteering at local tech museum
Volunteering for disabled for week, over 50+ (homeless shelter, blind center, hospice)
Work with start-up companies</p>

<p>Details:
Asian male
200k+ income
CA</p>

<p>Thank you and gl on admissions next year.</p>

<p>What’s your intended major? Cal Poly accepts by majors, not as an university.</p>

<p>engineering</p>

<p>Unlike the rest of the CSUs, Poly uses three years of grades, so you’ll need to include Freshman year too. CSUs also calculate their own unique, weighted GPA. You can find the calculator online.</p>

<p>Which engineering? It matters at Poly, as some are more competitive than others.</p>

<p>computer engineering. w/ freshman year i have a 3.65 weighted</p>

<p>i think cal poly is slightly a reach, since the average gpa for engineers is 4.08. while your sat score is really good, you have to tell your sat cr and math score alone, since ur writing score isn’t considered</p>

<p>Cal Poly superscores the SAT, so you’re at 760M/660CR. As others have commented, Freshman year grades are included at CP, which makes you look less attractive on paper than you will look to a UC, which excludes freshman year grades.</p>

<p>I see a second issue – your weighted GPA went down from sophomore year to junior year, and even more important, your weighted GPA was only 3.63 junior year. Most Engineering admist to CP are well over 4.0 in weighted GPA.</p>

<p>Even though Cal Poly uses a computer model to accept students, in your case I might try to do an end run around the system by interfacing with Professors directly. There HAVE to be exceptions to the computer program selection system, and if there is one, that would be the most logical.</p>

<p>The only way for the Computer system itself to view you equally to a UC would be if that system were programmed to throw out Freshman year grades under conditions in which Sophomore and Junior year grades were superlative. I do not believe such lines of code exist in the Cal Poly selection program, and if they did, I doubt 3.63 Jr. year weighted GPA would trigger a subroutine to throw out Fr. year grades.</p>

<p>Here’s an idea: You could volunteer to a Computer Engineering Professor to fix that system weakness, to patch that system, in exchange for that Professor communicating with Admissions on your behalf!</p>

<p>I’m gonna’ post my stats for you to compare to me, as I got into Comp Engineering.</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<pre><code>SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT: 31 Composite, 35 Science, 35 Math, 27 English, 26 Reading
SAT II: n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.3 (Weighted at 3.7 including freshman year, 3.8 excluding freshman year)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 20%
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C: Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism
</code></pre>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Band all 4 yrs of HS
Job/Work Experience: n/a
Volunteer/Community service: Tutoring
Summer Activities: Summer Session at UCI (attended a GE class and received an A)</p>

<p>Other</p>

<pre><code>Applied for Financial Aid?:Yea
Intended Major: Computer Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese/Vietnamese)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Divorced: Mom: <50k, Dad: <150k (with other 4 dependents)
</code></pre>

<p>Nice. I hear the Cal Poly prefers ACT. Gonna give that a shot this October.</p>

<p>Poly makes no distinction between ACT and SAT. </p>

<p>In rank order, they care about 4 things, your GPA, the rigor of your schedule, ACT or SAT test score, ECs.</p>

<p>Is Engineering at Cal Poly a reach for me?</p>

<p>I’d say it is a reach for both of you. The avg engineering admit had a 4.08 GPA and 31 ACT or 1388/1600 SAT.</p>

<p>[Student</a> Profile - Admissions - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo](<a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>Cal Poly Admissions)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>That is incorrect. According to Cal Poly’s website, “ACT and/or SAT-I test scores are used in the test score field in the freshman admission selection process. ACT is the preferred test for Cal Poly.”</p>

<p>[Freshman</a> Testing Information- Admissions - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://admissions.calpoly.edu/applicants/freshman/testing.html]Freshman”>http://admissions.calpoly.edu/applicants/freshman/testing.html)</p>

<p>Although the web page states that, the director of admissions said they have no preference when asked that question directly in the admissions session we attended.</p>

<p>The Director said the exact opposite for us. Bipolar much.</p>

<p>SAT v. ACT: We asked the same question, and the admissions counselor we spoke to on the phone said there is not advantage given to an ACT score v. an SAT score. That must be an anachronism in the website.</p>

<p>Think about it – there IS NO ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE. The admittance decision is make by a COMPUTER PROGRAM. Unless the admissions office clercs, in inputting your data into the ADMISSIONS COMPUTER, add bonus points for ACT, there is NO difference. The computer is not partial to the ACT. I doubt very much the admissions clercs add bonus points for the ACT before inputting your score into the computer. If they did, their answers to whether the ACT is preferred would not be so ambiguous. They would simply tell you how their conversion from ACT to SAT or vice versa used to input into the computer is different from the correlations tables published by College Board.</p>

<p>or maybe they just want more applicants with SAT scores? idk, just a theory</p>

<p>I suspect that the term ‘prefers’ may have a slightly different meaning or implication than usually comes to mind. Neither the school or the computer gives bonus points for the ACT, however the school may feel that the ACT favors Cal Poly applicants because of the question type and content, giving students taking the ACT an edge over those taking the SAT which is considered more abstract by some. They may feel that it is just a better fit for a ‘Polytechnic’ applicant, more hands on so to speak. Just a guess.</p>