Confused about MCA score

@akcvms1, no one will see that question here. Make a new post and you’ll get better feedback. Good luck.

Thanks! I decided not to include it just because I would rather not risk having my entire application invalidated for ~200 points, I’m above 4700 without it and hopefully that won’t be the difference between accepted/rejected…knock on wood :slight_smile:

sorry meant to tag @eyemgh in above post

Entered less number of hrs ,son was confused …he calculated total hrs in a period and divided by weeks.came out around 5 . did he just lost ec points. He did not even enter the leadership position of chess club. Worried now.

Hmm you might want to try filling out on of the Application Change Forms… https://admissions.calpoly.edu/applicants/appchanges.html… Maybe comment that you mistakenly filled out the form and state the change needed to be made. Good luck :slight_smile:

@eyemgh do you have a sense of the mca cutoff for acceptance to construction management in previous years?
My estimate is at 3800. My GPA is 3.85 of 4. I’m out of state.

I do not. Sorry.

How does the act scoring work? Confused at how to calculate the points.

@TheKaz Consider only the Math and English portions of ACT and convert to equivalent SAT as post #46 of this thread shows
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/1694769-confused-about-mca-score-p4.html
For instance D got 35 on Math which equates to 790 (from the link) and 29 English = 650 so her score for MCA is 1440.

Note, that was posted before the “new” SAT. The concordance chart may have changed.

@eyemgh I’m sure the tables have changed but at least what you posted before let’s people calculate and compare MCA scores to admission stats from prior years.

@lkg4answers, and, as you know, it’s all relative. Knowing an MCA helps further delineate what it takes to get into Poly. Having a given SAT/ACT and GPA are only part of the equation. Even though rigor and ECs are the least important things in the MCA, they make BIG differences at the margins. So, as you’re suggesting, it’s just another piece of data, but a pretty powerful one.

WOAH it is interesting to see that this thread was pinned and ended up garnering a lot of attention these past few years. From the beginning I knew it was a long shot getting in with my score (especially with engineering…RIP me), but I’m glad to see that others were able to have an idea and find where they stand with theirs. Today I am actually currently attending Cal Poly …just not “THE” Cal Poly SLO lol.

If you’re on this thread I know that your #1 priority is knowing whether or not you (or your kid) have enough points to get that acceptance letter, so you probably don’t care about what I’m even saying or what I’m about to say. It’s most likely the last thing on your mind right now, but I truly believe you’ll end up where you’re meant to be regardless of whether or not it’s SLO. At the time I made this, SLO was my top school and I was OBSESSED with it, but now I am so glad things turned out the way they did.

But good luck to everyone!! (and may you get through the dreadful waiting game)

Dang and shoutout to @eyemgh. First one to reply and seems to always be the last, even 3 years later. (keep it going :slight_smile: )

I can’t emphasize enough how important this post is. We, parents in particular, tend to become obsessed in finding THE school. There is no perfect school. They all have short comings. Yes, even Cal Poly. :smiley:

When people that hold undergraduate degrees are surveyed, over and over 80% say they were very happy with their institution. Quite a few in retrospect even feel like their first choice was probably not as good as the school they ended up at. That’s irrespective of where it fell on their original hierarchy, even last place. The other 20%, some even at their #1, likely wouldn’t be happy anywhere.

The point is…it’s all OK if you do as @Ohhibye did. Make the best of the opportunities in front of you.

Congrats! I’m glad it’s working well.

@eyemgh Any thoughts on why STATS are not counted for math?

Statistics is not in the progression chain of classical maths. It’s meant to award the most rigorous path a student can take. Given a choice between calculus or statistics, Calc is far more “rigorous”.

Does anyone know if the scoring system differentiates berween community college vs university credits/grades? In other words, would a kid coming from a university with a 3.6 GPA get the same consideration as a kid with a 3.6 coming from a community college (assuming similar courses completed)?

what is the 300 (per parent) for in the Extra points on the MCA? Is that if they went to college, or not, or didnt finish high school or… very confusing

@Suburbialife - points are given if your parents didn’t finish high school.

Too bad they don’t give points for being a legacy - but no CSU cares about that.
Thanks for the reply.