Chance Please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1

<p>I am going to be a senior next year, I am worried about where I might end up. So please help me out to get an idea of where I stand. Well here it is…</p>

<p>Ethnicity/Sex: Indian Male</p>

<p>State: CA</p>

<p>Parent’s Income: My parents BOTH lost their jobs this year, most of my junior year was on my parents savings and unemployment. My mom recently got her job back, my dad got his as well. But, as I said before, they both lost their jobs this year; which was my worst year GPA wise (If that helps at all). When they both have a job, I think they make around 100k-130k.</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.417
UC GPA: 3.65ish
W GPA: 3.7ish</p>

<p>=(</p>

<p>Class Rank: 70-80/ 515 Top 20% for sure, UC wise, maybe top 10%?</p>

<p>SAT: 2050
Math: 680 =/
Writing: 680
Reading: 690</p>

<p>SAT 2:
Math: 670. (Retaking aiming for 800)
History: 630
Chem: In Oct. (Going for 800)</p>

<p>AP/HON:</p>

<p>My courses have been very rigorous. I have taken 3 or 4 Hon/AP out of 6 classes every year. We cant take AP classes till our Junior year… So, One AP Junior year, 4 next year. Total Hon/ AP classes: 14</p>

<p>USH: 3
Calc AB: Next Year
Stats: Next Year
Gov: Next Year
Ecom: Next Year</p>

<p>EC’S:</p>

<p>Summer Classes:</p>

<p>Took Psychology at a CC my Sophomore summer and got an A</p>

<p>This Summer, I am taking Chem 1A at UC Berkeley through the pre-collegiate program. It is a Undergrad class offered for High school students with a better then a B average. My parents had to bust out a lot of money for this, they insisted I go here, instead of a CC. Its basically a Berkeley class, you get 4 UC credits, a Letter of Recommendation and so on. Hoping to do well in this and get an 800 on Chem SAT.</p>

<p>Clubs:</p>

<p>Mediocre here… CSF 3 years.</p>

<p>Volunteering:</p>

<p>I have worked at a local community center for a program called Teen Leadership Academy. They say working there is as good as being on ASB, Boy Scouts,etc…</p>

<p>Freshman Summer: 88 hours
Sophomore Summer: 80 Hours
Junior Summer: I hope to do 40+ hours, will have to try to do this with my summer class.</p>

<p>I tutored math at my school for 30 hours my Junior year, 2 hours a week through the course of the year.</p>

<p>Total: Before summer: 198. After Summer: Prob will have 235-250.</p>

<p>Major: Engineering, any of these three will suffice: Electrical, Chemical, Bio. </p>

<p>I would like to go to a mid tier or high tier UC, I would be happy if this is a match or safety.</p>

2

<p>Your stats look pretty good although, suffice it to say, you need to nail it hard next semester. My son got early acceptance @ Cal Poly in Aerospace Engineering with similar stats and also got into the UCs and Univ. of Colorado. Selecting Cal Poly was a no brainer. Relative to Cal Poly, EAs don’t matter and everybody has unemployed parents these days. Your location does matter. Where in CA are you?</p>

3

<p>gotpeter…your son got into AE at all the UCs with a 3.7? Just curious because my son was denied at all with a similar GPA but lower SAT for business admin.</p>

4

<p>slodad . . . 3.82 unweighted with 2 AP classes; Physics and Calculus. Oh, and he did not apply to UCB or UCLA; didn’t like them. There seems to be little rhyme or reason for who gets accepted and why. I’m hearing that each dept. has a huge say and demographics can be crucial.</p>

5

<p>that’s true about who gets accepted or not but with a 3.75, 4 AP classes,lot’s of ECs and a 1950 I thought he would have at least gotten into UCSC (although Merced and Riverside did accept him even though he didn’t apply)</p>

6

<p>So… a good shot? No? </p>

<p>gotpeter, why did your son not go to Cal or La? Something special about Cal Poly?</p>

7

<p>The Legend…hard to say. With the budget and all next year will be tougher for admission I would think.<br>
I know your second question was directed to gotpeter but here’s my two cents. My older son got into both Berkeley and UCLA for ME and we live in San Luis Obispo. He didn’t want to stay in town so even though he got into Poly it was never an option for him. He chose UCLA because he didn’t like the feel of Cal. He couldn’t be happier. Has been involved in research since his freshman year…changed his major to Bio Eng…and got to see the 13-9 defeat over USC!. He is planning to go on for his PHD somewhere besides UCLA. That said…I was pushing Poly because I know the reputation it has for Eng. But in the end he knew what was best for him. My other son however doesn’t want to leave town and is VERY happy he got into Poly. Great school…great town! The only downside is after you graduate you won’t want to leave town and jobs are very hard to find here. Best of luck to you.</p>

8

<p>Legend - Yeah I’d say you have a good shot.</p>

<p>My son spent a summer at UCLA and, while he liked the school except for its size, he grew to dislike the LA environment quite intensely. We live in the Bay Area and I would have been concerned if he had reacted any other way :slight_smile: Conversely he took to the SLO environment like a duck to water. What’s not to like?</p>

<p>Bezerkley is a meat grinder for Under Graduates for a whole bunch of reasons you can find by searching this forum. It was never seriously considered. Too close to home as well.</p>

9

<p>I live in the bay as well. I am currently going to Cal for a summer class, I don’t see what’s so bad about it?</p>

10

<p>Well, UCB is your classic publish or perish institution where teaching undergraduate classes is often considered a necessary evil; where all the money goes into the graduate school and research. So the GE classes tend to be very large and taught in a less than engaging, enthralling way. Now, you may be able to dodge some of these classes through your AP efforts and that could make UCB far more palatable. Also, if you are one of those students who is what I call “teacher proof” - one who does well no matter how the class is taught - then this is non issue. However, it was for the dozen or so students I know who went there.</p>

<p>Another big potential draw back is housing. Unless things have changed recently, and they may have with the bad economy, the lack of student housing can make life very difficult. I advise you to rigorously check that out unless you have a way around it.</p>

<p>Again, I suggest you search this forum. There are number of threads that could be most helpful.</p>

11

<p>Alright thanks for the advice, I will look into it more!</p>

12

<p>Don’t forget to take in account though that since Cal Poly compares applicants for each major, your chances might improve or lessen based on your choice. From what I hear engineering and architecture are quite competitive there. Not sure about other sciences though I’d think bio would be more popular than chem.</p>