Understanding CS is one of the most competitive majors at CP (and everywhere else it seems) trying to discern if S has chance of admission to this amazing campus.
CP GPA: 4.12 (a-g Grades 9-11, not including AP/Honors 9th grade)
ACT: 31 (Math 31/English 31)
Coding Internship + Documented Paid Tutoring
Tons of EC + Leadership
Max Course Rigor
No Non-Academic Bonus’
MCA 4869
Has anyone tracked MCA’s for CS for 2016 CS Admits? I’ve only seen a small handful on this site.
Nothing is guaranteed, but I’d venture that would be a competitive MCA. Are you sure you calculated correctly as it’s tough to get to 4800+ without maxing the GPA and having a 32 or higher ACT. It does look like he’ll get the bonus for major related work and likely has more hours there than most. That might very well make up for it. In any case, make sure he has safeties.
@eyemgh Thanks for input. Safeties will be lined up for sure, but dang it, forgot to add summer school Spanish 3 (A’s) but drops MCA 5 pts (Pretty sure I added it up all correct except not being 100% if supposed to add 7th/8th grade math’s to the GPA (added it to rigor, but not GPA). ACT’s 33/33 Math/Eng (typo above).
Middle school classes (advanced math and HS level language) and senior classes count towards rigor, but not GPA. That is a curious thing about the MCA, bonus points are diluted by the volume of classes. Anyway, I’d venture that 4864 will be enough, but you never really know. He’s amassed an impressive record, so he’ll certainly have multiple options.
The secret to safeties is finding schools that are a sure thing admit, but that your son is enthused about. My son applied to eight schools and got I to seven. Four of the seven were easy admits. When he narrowed his options down to three, two of them were technically safeties. Even though he chose Cal Poly, he was really uncertain until the last minute where he’d go.
Good luck.
@eyemgh Went thru this with DD a few years ago, different field but equally competitive. Whole college admissions process has gotten so crazy. Difficult to swallow the fact that taking more courses (rigorous ones at that) can bring down GPA just by the divider. If I knew then what I know now… He’s a great kid, hard worker, solid credentials and passionate about CS. He’ll gain admissions somewhere he’ll thrive to be sure. He loved CP so we’re going to stay optimistic. Your input on this site has been extremely helpful, thanks for your time/dedication ‘paying it forward.’
My pleasure!
@eyemgh Looking at the current published Newly Selected Freshman Profiles for 2016 the chart indicates ‘selected averages’ for Engineering with GPA of 4.17 ACT 33. S with an MCA of 4869, but a CP GPA of 4.13, slightly lower than ‘selected averages’. Dang, 3 B’s in weighted classes out of 41 courses (rest A’s) may derail the dream. Thoughts?
@catchastar do you mind linking that data?
CP publishes those numbers so people have an apples to apples way to compare to other schools. As you know though, it’s not the whole story. ECs count for very little in the algorithm, but at the margin they are very powerful. Major related work is the same as scoring 50 points higher on the ACT. In the final analysis they don’t care where the points in the MCA came from, they just care about the points. Your son’s work points more than offset his slightly reduced GPA. I could be wrong, but I’d guess that MCA will be enough. With that said, CS, BME and ME applicants can’t have enough to be 100% certain. It’s just the nature of applying to a hyper competitive program.
@Jpgranier Here is the link for the Freshman Profile for 2016 admits found on the CP Web Site and in printed material widely distributed at College Fairs.