My DD just got her SATs back, 1300, Cal State GPA I think is about 4.1, her unweighted is 4.3, I’m getting the 4.1 number from her high school portal where you can run CSU and UC eligibilty. Looking to major in either Business/Marketing or their Hospitality program with a minor in Business.
Her course load has not been the hardest…does that hurt her chances? Our high school does integrated math 9-11, which she has taken the honors version. Planning on either Calc AB or Stats next year. Only took 2 years of language (Latin), Biology H, Chem H and is taking AP Environmental Science next year. Has just taken regular English
She may also be interested in Long Beach, Fullerton or SLO (don’t think she’ll be qualified). I’ve tried to have her take a look at CP Pomona, but she has heard is it a ghost town on the weekends.
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Our local CS is CSUSB, so for any of the above we’d be out of area.
What are her chances?
The CSU’s calculate their Capped Weighted GPA like the UC’s (except SLO) which uses 10-11th grades for the a-g courses and gives 1 extra honors point for each UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE course taken during this time. The maximum is 8 semesters of Honor points or 4 year long classes.
Rigor beyond the 8 semesters of weighted classes will not make a huge difference, but if she does not maximize her CSU capped weighted GPA, then it will affect her chances. Senior grades are not considered for admission decisions at the CSU’s and UC’s, but they do look at the rigor of Senior courses reported on the application.
Also unweighted cannot be higher than weighted and HS’s weighting can many times be incorrect.
I would calculate her Capped weighted GPA using this link for confirmation: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
If you are not sure what courses at her HS are UC approved for the extra weighting, you can check here: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist
Once you have the capped weighted CSU GPA, plug that into the Eligibility index formula below:
EI= (CSU/UC capped weighted GPA x 800) + (SAT Math + EBRW). She wants a target EI of 4300+ for the best chances at SDSU, however, much does depend upon major and how she compares to the other applicants applying for the same major. They rank by EI and major and accept from the top down. Local applicants get priority so their EI thresholds will be lower.
SLO uses MCA points instead of Eligibility index. Here is a link on how they are calculated and SLO uses 9-11th grades with the 8 Honors points max.
https://mca.netlify.com/
CSU’s just like many schools can be very competitive and she needs to apply widely and like all schools on her list.
with a 4.1+ GPA and 1300 SAT, your daughter is highly likely to get into all of the CSUs except CPSLO. For CS, I think CPSLO will be a coin toss. As i think about it, SJSU, probably not for CS but, they do look at alternate majors so it isn’t off the table.
If she’s looking for the classic ‘college experience’ SDSU and Chico (with good CS programs) should be on your tour schedule. (SLO too but, as noted above, may be a tough admit). There are several other CSUs with outstanding CS programs but, she may find to also be ‘ghost-town’. To be fair, CPP and SJSU have both invested heavily in casting off their commuter image -so you really need to walk the schools on normal days before scratching them off your list.
UCR, UCSC both have excellent programs and are worth a tour and ap.
With her stats, she could get some merit $ from LMU and USD which are also very good and offer the pvt school surrounds.
out of curiosity, do CSUs pretty much just look at your eligibility index? i know cal poly looks at more, but do the others like SDSU even really look at the applicant or do they just “throw the numbers in a machine” and see if you get in or not?
CSU’s will rank all applicants by their EI and major. Very important is CSU GPA, Test scores and HS course rigor. Important is Geographical residence (local vs non-local) and CA state residency. Cal Poly SLO is the only CSU that does consider EC hours, Leadership, Jobs related to major, First Generation. Veteran Status etc… but GPA, HS course rigor and Test scores are still the most important even for SLO.
With those scores and gpa she has a great chance at most CSUs! I’m not sure how competitive business/marketing is at SDSU but I was accepted into SDSU (where I will be attending), CSULB, CPP, CSUN, and CSUMB as a hospitality major for 2019/2020. I had a 1230 SAT, 3.91 CSU GPA and I only took 1 honors class (bio) and 2 AP courses (Calc AB and Psych).
I have a 4.08 GPA and a 1070 SAT. I’m planning on retaking it though. By the time I graduate, I would’ve taken 5 AP classes and 8 honors. I’ve done a lot of extracurricular activities as well. I want to apply for aerospace engineering and I’d be a girl in the stem field. Do I have a chance of getting into SDSU with my stats???