Hi,
My GPA is 3.62, SAT 1380, 7-8 AP courses, rigorous High School
Many ECs related to Public Health including 3 internships and work at Berkeley Lab doing summer research.
What are my chances please?
I like the location and small class size of CP SLO
SLO has their own GPA calculation which uses 9-11th grades with an extra honors point for each semester of a UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE course taken 10-11th grades only up to 8 extra points.
You can use the Rogerhub calculator and input 9-11th grades for the a-g courses you have taken. https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Once you have this information then you plug it into the MCA point calculator. SLO uses MCA points and ranks applicants by these points and majors.
Below are the average stats for the College of Mathematics and Sciences at SLO. SLO does not break it out by major so these are your targets:
SLO GPA: 4.18 ACT: 31 SAT: 1420
Admit projections show approximately 652 applicants for 45 spots in the Public Health major.
Your GPA will be an issue when applying. EC’s have only a small impact on your chances for SLO or any CSU, since the majority of your MCA points will be based on your GPA, test scores and HS course rigor.
Thanks a lot Gumbymom! That is helpful.
What if I apply to Food Science & Nutrition and then try to change to Public Health after 1-2 years? Is that a possibility to transfer between colleges?
SLO has several conditions you need to meet when changing majors.
Your MCA score at time of admission needs to be competitive for the major you want to change into later so if you do not meet the MCA threshold as a Freshman applicant for Public Health, you may not be able to change. This keeps applicants from “backdooring” into a more competitive major by selecting an easier major upon admit.
Students must complete at least one quarter at Cal Poly before they are eligible to enter into an Individualized Change of Major Agreement (ICMA).
Students are expected to research their options and make a well-informed decision before entering into an ICMA. This includes attending workshops and conversations with advisors and departments.
Students are allowed one ICMA per major. Students who do not meet the conditions of their ICMA will not be issued another ICMA for that major.
Change of major is not guaranteed, but it is possible through the policies that we have set up for each major. Criteria may change as demand changes for each major.
Here is the specific criteria for changing into the Public Health major as of 2019:
1)To apply to change your major to Public Health you must have an overall Cal Poly GPA of at least 2.5 or a GPA of 2.5 in last two quarters.
Public Health is a new major and the department may limit the number of change of major students. They may also limit change of majors to those who are freshmen or sophomores.
If you have questions about the Public Health program, the change of major process, or to determine if Public Health is the better “fit” as your major, you may schedule an appointment to meet with Dr. Kris Jankovitz, Department Chair of Kinesiology and Public Health (43A-458) during weeks three, four or five of the quarter.
Call 805-756-2545 or email kinesiology@calpoly.edu to schedule an appointment
If you meet with Dr. Jankovitz, please bring the following Change of Major Application items to your meeting
A copy of your current unofficial transcripts (print out of Poly Profile)
The completed Change of Major to Public Health Application Worksheet
Note: you do NOT have to meet with Dr. Jankovitz to submit an application.
Submit your completed application to the Kinesiology & Public Health Department Office (43A-458) by Friday of the fifth week of the quarter.
Students who apply by the deadline will be notified by the end of the sixth week of the quarter if they will or will not be put on an ICMA to change their major.
Students who are not put on an ICMA will be able to apply at a later time.
The completion of coursework without prior consultation with the intended major department does not guarantee the student eligibility to switch into the intended major.
Based on the site below, my MCA is 4415
https://mca.netlify.com/
There is very little MCA data for Public Health majors. I saw 3 posts with 2 acceptances at around 4600+ and one waitlist at 4575. It all comes down to how you stack up against all the other applicants. Definitely worth an application but always have 2 safety schools as backups.
Best of luck.
Thanks a lot! Looks like a Reach School to me, but was hoping that since Public Health is new, it’ll have less competition.
Other bet would be UCSC Psychology.
UC’s will definitely take your EC’s into consideration and UCSC does not admit by major except for Engineering. Here is some 2018 admit data for all the UC’s so you can gauge your chances. Some 2019 admit data should be available in August but the admit rates are usually posted in January of the following year so not helpful for Freshman applicants targeting Fall 2020.
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 7%
UCSB: 8%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 14%
UCSC: 33%
UCR: 49%
UCM: 82%
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 10%
UCLA: 9%
UCSD: 34%
UCSB: 38%
UCD: 41%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 70%
UCR: 84%
UCM: 95%
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71
2018 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT:
UCB: 1360-1540
UCLA: 1340-1540
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1270-1500
UCD: 1220-1480
UCI: 1230-1490
UCSC: 1210-1450
UCR: 1130-1380
UCM: 1020-1280