I’m unsure of what my MCA is exactly, but I would assume it is pretty high.
Major: Computer Science
GPA: 4.7
ACT: 35
Job: 21+ hours a week
Volunteer hours: 6-10 per week
I’m honestly very confused because people got in with lower stats (including friends I know who have taken the same exact classes as me).
Should I appeal my decision? I really do want to go to SLO. I wasn’t even wait listed!
Calling eyemgh for any insight!
Keep in mind, CS is a really, really competitive major in the College of Engineering, even with high stats like yours. Let me ask you, is your 4.7 GPA your CSU 9th to 11th GPA? Is your ACT score your ACT Composite score (CP only considers the English and Math portion). How many semesters of math, english, lab science, foreign language, and visual performance did you take? Another thing you need to consider is that there are people who will have extra non-academic points added to their MCA. For example, I went from a MCA of 4515 to a 5215 just because I went to a partner school. Even though ECs “don’t really matter” for CP, a person who maxed out the ECs would have 350 points, 190 points more than you in this category. Consider all of these factors. The points add up rather quickly.
CS has about a 12% acceptance rate which is comparable to UCLA and UCB. Do as @mariplusplus suggested and calculate your MCA score. If SLO was your top choice, applying ED probably would have resulted in a positive outcome. You are a very competitive applicant and will many choices in the end. Good luck.
I will update you on the semesters of my classes when I get home. Don’t have the exact numbers right now, sorry about that. I do know that my ACT was math and english combined. My 9-11 GPA is 4.5. But the thing is, my friend got in with a way lower test score and the SAME EXACT classes as me. Our work hours and volunteer were the same. His GPA is lower as well.
Thanks for your replies!
Unless you saw someone’s entire application, there is absolutely no way you truly “know” anything about someone else’s total package. You may think you know, but many people don’t actually give out every piece of information. In fact, they really shouldn’t. I have advised my kids and their friends to keep their details vague.
@camomof3 Hi! We filled out and submitted our applications together and we basically share everything. So yes, I do know (we overlooked each other’s applications to check).
Was your friend applying for Comp Sci?
You can’t have a 9-11 CSU GPA of 4.7. Diluting the honors classes over three years makes that number impossible.
It also HEAVILY depends on your classes, but little things can make a difference too, like having a leadership role in your EC or a major related job. There’s a possibility of a typo that caused an automatic rejection. Being a new member and posting that you were rejected with high stats tends to raise eyebrows too. Most here have been outwardly obsessing about this here for months. Your friend might have gotten a non-academic adder. For instance having a parent who didn’t finish HS is the same as scoring 300 points higher on the SAT. Lastly, the MCA may be different. I’m really not sure.
I think it might have been a parent not finishing high school. Thanks for your insight!
(Btw, completely unrelated but I love your username. :)) Midori Green… Midori Gurin. Green Green. hehe)
@MidoriGreen Cal Poly rejects many top applicants with high scores. You are probably correct. Parental demographics come into play. If your friend with equal scores has a parent who did not complete high school he/she will be statistcally more likely to attend a Cal State. Cal Poly knows that kids with that particular demographic qualifier produce a higher yield. Therefore he/she will be admitted and you rejected. Cal Poly also tracks Zip Codes and high school which historically produce high yields /low yields.
@momneeds2no, they don’t do that because of yield, they do that as a round about way of supporting disadvantaged students. The same goes for Hayden Partner Schools. It isn’t about yield. It’s a more objective way and still legal way to try to provide diversity. Fair? That depends on your perspective.
As for the zip code/HS tracking theory to improve yield, it may be that way, but I’ve yet to see any documentation that backs it up. Do you have any?
Every single year, many of the highest stat kids from my kids’ college prep private school are admitted into Cal Poly and decide to go to HYPS etc… My middle S was one of them. This happens every dang year.
As for statistical proof-- the naviance pattern of acceptances at this school over the last 6+ years would suggest there is NO yield protection at all going on as high stat kids get accepted and lower stat kids get rejected.
^^^^^^^
THANK YOU!!!
^ Then why do they accept students with higher GPA and not just some with maybe a 3.6 or 3.5? It wouldn’t hurt the college THAT much and with the MCA scores I honestly don’t care / know
@Mikey17, they accept the best students ranked by their MCA and then admit the ones who choose to go. The point she is making is that they do not protect yield. They try to get the best class they can at the expense of raising yield. If they lowered their requirements in an effort to increase yield, they’d miss out on the MANY very high stats students that DO go to Poly.
The first take home message, based on the Naviance data is that they do not routinely reject highly qualified candidates. The second take home message, based on the anecdotal evidence supplied by @camomof3 is that they do not have secret high schools identified or zip codes picked to protect yield. If they did, far fewer of the students at her son’s high school would be accepted. Instead, they still get in year after year and very few accept, making the yield from that particular school abysmal.