Confused about MCA score

Fingers crossed!

I’m sorry to bother you but I was wondering how impacted in the Chemistry program at Cal Poly?

Everything is impacted.

I saw an earlier post that added parent’s education and school area. What are the requirements for those to add into the MCA score?

@mani4456 Check out post #52

I’m sorry for posting so much. But I have a MCA around 4665. Would that be enough for Chemistry. I’m really sorry.

@mani4456, probably, but you never know.

@eyemgh I was wondering if you know if you get adders for being a child of a veteran. I saw that there was an adder for CA Vet but on the application it only asks if you are a veteran or a dependent of one. UCLA sent an email after my daughter applied asking if we qualified for the Calif. Veterans tuition benefit but Cal Poly never did. I’m only wondering because my daughter’s MCA score seemed to be a bit low and she was accepted but if she got credit for her father being a veteran, it would push her over 5000.

I do not know. I’ve always assumed it meant the applicant had to be a CA Vet. It didn’t mention dependent in the presentation I gleaned the MCA info from. Maybe @Gumbymom knows. She’s very familiar with the process and unlike me, she lives in state.

My assumption about the CA Vet is basically what @eyemgh stated that the applicant needs to be a CA Vet, but that information was never addressed in any of the info sessions I attended. I would call admissions to clarify and please post the answer.

@GumbyMom What should I ask admissions? Would they even admit that Vets have an advantage? In California, some veterans and their dependents are eligible for free tuition at state schools so when you say CA Vet, I’m assuming the 700 points are for those individuals but it could be just for Veterans who are residents of California. On the application though, it only asked if you were a veteran or if you were the dependent of a veteran.

No admission adders for dependent of Vets. Number of Vets enrolled does allow the university apply for various private and federal grants.

@eyemgh Just to confirm, a student that takes both AP Statistics and AP Calculus BC during their senior year earns 500 points bonus. And a student that only too AP Calculus BC also earns 50 points bonus. So, AP Statistics did not make a difference in terms of math bonus points?

@eyemgh In terms of science, if a student takes Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geology, is that worth the exact same thing as a student that takes Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and AP Chemistry?

@WantInternship, 500 bonus points is the maximum you can earn for math. Any student who gets even through Calc AB by Senior year will have maxed out, because it took 10 semesters to get through AB (2 algebra, 2 geometry, 2 algebra 2, 2 pre-calc, 2 calc AB). It’s still worth moving forward and taking BC just to keep math going strong. As a side note, the AB/BC thing is sort of goofy, BC repeats a nearly all of AB and adds a little new information. As for lab sciences, they’re all the same as long as they have a lab. I’d verify with admissions that they count chemistry twice, but I’m 99% sure they do. Good luck.

There might be a question about whether Geology counts as a “d” on the A-G requirements. The “d” description says biology, chemistry, and physics. I asked, and the UC system says that even a Geology class taken at a UC with a separate weekly lab and field trips doesn’t count as a lab science for the “d” category. But, that’s UC, not CSU/Calpoly, so I don’t know for sure.

Good point! It’s always best to verify with admissions. They are friendly and helpful.

@eyemgh Thanks for all the info. My oldest son was accepted at SLO, and plans to attend. I found the MCA presentation, but it is from 2011. Is it still used as the metric in 2016? If so, I will share it with my friends with younger students. Have a great day!

the numbers changed slightly from that presentation to the one I found in 2013. It’s now down, but completely summarized in post #52 in this thread. Congrats to your son!

Hey @eyemgh …I read through this thread and have an interesting, different line of questioning. My son is not an AP/Honors type but wants to go to CP and is happy to major in Parks and Rec or Construction Management if it helps him get in. He is a sophomore and we are in the process of choosing classes for his junior year. His schedule so far looked like this:

Freshman: Alg 1, Earth Science, Eng 1, Spanish 1, Track and Health/non-Fine Arts Elective
Sophomore: Geometry, Bio, Eng 2, Spanish 2, History, Track and non-Fine Arts Elective

SO! Given that he can generally get A’s in regular college prep classes but not in anything higher level but his biggest struggle is Spanish…rather than have a hard junior year which may impact his GPA, would it make sense to do this for his next two years to “work” the MCA system by getting his GPA up while still giving him a few bonus points senior year?

Junior: Alg 2, Conceptual Chemistry (still college prep in our course book), Eng 3, History, 2 Fine Arts classes he can get A’s in
Senior: Math Analysis, Marine Bio (does this count for points?), Spanish 3, Eng 4

Seems like most people on here aren’t worried about getting into the easier majors but that’s my kids so if we can help by juggling classes, we’ll do it!