Chances for Business Administration?

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

I’m a current high school senior and I’m applying for SLO early decision this October. I’m female, Asian, in-state, 3 hours away, and attend a hs listed as a “partner school” of SLO (whatever that means).

Major: Business Administration
CSU GPA W: 3.97 / UW: 3.76
SAT out of 1600: 1250 (M: 580, CR: 670)
SAT II: None
MCA score (calculations below): 4345
APs: AP Bio (4), AP Lang (5), AP Psych (5), APUSH (didn’t take), AP Lit, AP Art History, AP Calc AB, AP Stats, AP Gov
Senior year courseload: 5 last AP’s listed above
ECS: President and Founder of Vietnamese Student Union (2 years as Pres), Interact all 4 years, volunteered at community garden 10th and 11th summer, volunteered at hospital 11th-12th grade
400+ hours total

MCA score calculations:
4 years of lab science (+200 mca pts)
3 years of language (+75 mca pts)
2 years of adv math (+500 mca pts)
16 weekly comm. service hrs (+120 mca pts)
Club leadership role (+60 mca pts)

(extra classes pts capped at 750)
750 pts + 180 pts + 2126 (gpa) + 1289 (sat) = 4345 TOTAL MCA SCORE

I’m retaking the SAT this Oct. and plan to get my math up to 650 (that’s the highest that’s realistically possible LOL). I’m applying ED because I know SLO is my top school, but I’m worried about my chances. I know that my SAT is on the low side for business, that my GPA isn’t in the comfortably safe zone, and that SLO is completely just numbers when it comes to chances. How good of a chance do I have to get in as an ED applicant, and will increasing my math score from 580 to 650 bring up my chances that significantly?

I’ve heard that SLO calculates a minimum MCA score for each major and just cuts off acceptances at that number every year. Is that true, and would anyone know where I could obtain the PDF with records of previous years? I’ve seen it floating around but they’ve always been broken links.

Another question I have is that since I have 400+ hours, can I just average it out to ~21 hours a week and gain more MCA points that way? I’d really appreciate any response.

*crosspost from the “what are my chances?” sub with more details/specific questions added

2

There is no official published cutoff of MCA points but the rule of thumb is around 4500 is good. ED should help your chances and you look like a qualified applicant. SLO is very hard to predict but I believe you have a good chance especially if you raise your SAT Math score. It is a bit low at this point. Not sure about the EC’s hours, hopefully @eyemgh can chime in.

Good Luck.

3

Your GPA and SAT are both a little light but, you are in the range. It could go either way.

Good luck.

4

There are minimum cutoff points for majors where you’re automatically rejected if you don’t meet them, but you’re well above that. As for the actual cutoff for acceptance and rejection, it changes every year and I’ve never seen it published.

Did you look at the possibilities for non-academic bonus points? Partner school, “what ever that means,” means a lot. I can’t promise they still do it and I’d retake the SAT anyway just in case, but students at partner schools get a 700 point MCA bonus.

http://sas.calpoly.edu/cas/pprogram.html

5

How do we know if our school is a partner school or not?

6

I can’t find a list. I think you’ll need to ask your school or call CP.