<p>White Male (Resident of CA)
CSU GPA: 3.89
SAT Math: 630
CR: 680
Writing: 670
SAT Math level 2: 680
ACT composite: 29
4 IBs
6 APs</p>
<p>ECs:
-Member of Marching band all 4 years (held leadership in it)
-CSF lifetime member (held leadership in CSF chapter)
-Interact Club (community service) club member-all 4 years
-Been training for the past 4 years to get my pilots license
-Member of HS engineering/design team
-Member of HS Shotgun Shooting team all 4 years
-Member of HS Winter Percussion Ensemble for 2 years</p>
<p>ACT Math is a low for the School of Engineering considering the average ACT composite score is 32.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO also uses your 9th grades in their CSU calculation along with a computer alogrithm awarding bonus points for extra years of Science/Math/Language/Art and English. Here is a link to see how you compare:</p>
<p>Also Cal Poly SLO will not consider your Alternate Major. I know Aerospace Engineering is not as competitive as ME, but I still think you are a Low Reach/High Match. Alot will depend upon how many extra bonus points you can accumulate.</p>
<p>You’re GPA and SAT are below the average for the whole CENG and aero and ME are two of the most selective majors in the department. If you have time, retake your SAT and make sure you have a safety or two. Poly admits by a strict algorithm rank, so there aren’t any intangibles like an essay that can help overcome lower scores or GPAs. </p>
<p>Do you have any work experience? Either parent not finish HS?</p>
<p>With out knowing the exact algorithm for admission, chancing is pure speculation. GPA and Test Scores are only a piece of the puzzle. Other factors come into play. What’s unfortunate is that CAl Poly keeps it’s admission algorithm under top-secret wraps. As a state funded institution I fail to see how this legally allowed. </p>
<p>@momneeds2no, no university, public or private, in any state, is completely transparent in their admission. Cal Poly is however more transparent than most. In fact, the most transparent of any university my son considered. They frequently release information about their process, not specifically blasting it out to everyone, but in a way that it can be found if you want to find it. They will tell you straight up what their priorities are. I have the algorithm and I can tell you that they tell most if not all of the story to anyone who asks.</p>
<p>Having as good of a Cal Poly calculated GPA and as high of test scores as possible are by far the most impactful to the algorithm. They account for 78% of the algorithm.</p>
<p>They give bonuses for extra coursework, specifically math. A person who has taken calculus will have a bump over students who’ve taken less. The math bonus alone is huge, a potential 500 point bump in an algorithm that maxes out at 5000.</p>
<p>They give a bump if you have work experience and more if it is related to your major. Same with leadership in ECs. The bump there is minimal though as ECs account for very little in the algorithm.</p>
<p>Everyone of these things was freely disclosed at the admissions meeting.</p>
<p>The things that are less apparent, but do show up on the application follow. You get a bonus if one or both of your parents didn’t finish high school. You get a bonus if you attended a Hayden Partner School. You get a bonus if you are a veteran. You get a bonus if a family member works for the university.</p>
<p>They rank and admit as they fall. It really doesn’t get more straightforward and objective than that. Having the algorithm doesn’t really change anything at all. Are you going to move to a very difficult school situation for a bonus or keep the inherent advantage of going to a better school? Are you going to do a “gap” tour in the military? Even if you know the algorithm (I do) and can calculate an exact score (I did), you don’t know what the applicant pool looks like. Since its a pure ranking system that matters just as much.</p>
<p>This is why I never “chance” anyone, but rather point out things that they can still impact that might improve their cause.</p>
<p>@momneeds2no, It doesn’t, the best I can tell. There are 500 points dedicated to “service area.” That isn’t further defined. I believe they give deference to students from the local counties. I’m not sure that is still in effect and I’m not sure the algorithm I have is the one they use now. </p>
<p>The point I’m ultimately trying to make is that I’d rather it be objective with minor boosts for service area, disadvantaged schools, employee family, etc. than like Stanford where the process is nebulous and you get a 600% boost in your chances simply by being a legacy.</p>
<p>BTW, the link to the algorithm is no longer active.</p>
<p>@Gumbymom, there was a more fleshed out Power Point presentation that you could “plug and play” a bit easie with. The information is similar though.</p>
<p>@eyemgh: Yes I had it bookmarked but somehow deleted the link and you are right the other link I saw posted no longer works, so I just kept this link for future reference.</p>
<p>gumbymom, the link looks like study comparing admin data points v. persistency. Does it included the algorithm? What’s interesting is that apparently the the strongest correlation to graduating on time is being a white female–not the ranking deterimed by SAT/ACT or even GPA.<br>
eymgh, the info you provided suggest how CAl Poly ranks candidates, but not how the ranking is used in admissions. Cal Poly as a CSU is mandated to give preference students in the “service area”. Does Cal Poly now excuses it’s self form the overall mission of the CSU system? </p>
<p>It does give preference to students in the service area, 500 bonus points out of a maximum of 5000 in the algorithm. The algorithm itself just doesn’t define what their service area is. I know it isn’t secret and can easily be found. </p>
<p>As for admission, they are very clear that their process is not holistic, but completely numeric. They have no “readers.” I take that to mean that they draw a line based on admitting enough students that their assumption of 33% yield will net the number of admits they projected they’d need and everyone above it gets accepted.</p>
<p>The only piece I don’t know is what ratio of OOS to in state they are shooting for. That’s a constant source of contention for Californians, but the simple fact is they need OOS students because the tax base isn’t supporting them currently. Do some Californians get bumped? Sure, but the experience of those who get in is richer not only from the geographic representation, but from the cash infusion OOS students bring in.</p>
<p>Since Cal Ploy has proclaimed itself “impacted across all majors” it is exempt from the founding CSU principle: Offer admission to to HS / CC service area grads who meet the minimum criteria first. The idea behind granting the exemption is that the impacted CSU is over crowded and can’t accommodate all HS / CC grads who meet the min standard. HOwever Cal Poly (and other CSUs too) have turned the exemption around to disqualify students in their area and accept more out of area students. Ironically, leading to further over crowding. </p>
<p>I happen to agree that OOS students and internationals add to the mix. Diversity is necessary componte of higher Ed. Cal Poly overwhelming white middle class from high preforming California public high schools. </p>
<p>I never had a link to the algorithm per se, but rather to a detailed PowerPoint with screenshots explaining it. The link has since broken, so there’s nowhere to point you. It was linked in my original post Keys to the Kingdom. There were no secrets lurking in it and Cal Poly is very transparent regarding their admissions criteria. You may take issue with not meeting the mandate of accepting ALL qualified applicants from the service area due to impaction. They do however give service area applicants a HUGE boost, 500 points. That effectively turns a sub-CalPoly 550/550 SAT into a perfect score!</p>
<p>Now, completely unrelated, and my opinion only, but in regards to the engineering program, the minimum standard for admission is not sufficient to guarantee success at Cal Poly. I believe that nearly every engineer admitted has qualifications that far outstrip their minimum admission criteria. Admitting students who would basically be under or unprepared would be a disservice to both the institution and the student.</p>
<p>@momneeds2no: I also had the original link for the algorithm which was attached to the digital commons link but it no longer works like @eyemgh stated. I copied it last year when my son was applying ED and looked at it once but just left it bookmarked and haven’t really looked at it since. Sorry…</p>
<p>one of the common misconcetions is that Cal Poly admits purely based upon the ratings. So, like… you have 50 apllicants with 5000 score and 100 open spots, then all 50 will be admitted, right? Well, nope. Admissions for the top two bands of applicants (especially in the uber competetive majors) is not so cut and dry. That’s where the algorithm comes into play… And that’s why it’s never published… All about the yield…</p>
<p>@momneeds2no, You won’t find an applicant with a 5000 that didn’t get admitted. In fact, it’s VERY unlikely that they get a handful if any 5000 applicants. In the PowerPoint they presented an actual year of admissions data from Orfalea with the personal data crudely redacted. The highest score was a 4891 and there were only 4 in the 4800 range. It is VERY hard to hit 5000. That’s a 4.2 GPA, perfect SAT OR ACT, all of the coursework bonuses for rigor, 20+ hours per week in ECs with a leadership role AND a 20+ hours per week job in a field related to your major. Of course that’s without bonuses, but you don’t see many 2400 SATs from students at Hayden Partner Schools, or 4.2 GPAs from kids working more than 20 hours per week.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be confrontational, but I’ve seen ZERO evidence that CP admission is anything other than a straight forward numeric ranking by the algorithm. The algorithm, although not published per se, has been inadvertently published, recently, in 2013. Admissions keeps no secrets about what is in it. </p>
<p>There’s also no secret to the yield. They accept three times more students than they expect will choose admission. Every once and a while, like last year, their yield will be higher than expected and they cramp the class.</p>
<p>If you have ANY evidence for your claim, trot it out. Otherwise, given how well I know their admissions process, it’s a conspiracy theory based on anecdotal evidence and hearsay. </p>