My son is trying to complete his CSU application today and he has 2 questions.
He took Intro to cultural anthropology (3 units) on-line through a local community college his junior year and got an A. From what I can tell this falls under A-G as an elective so it can be included in his GPA calculation. Is this correct and how is it calculated? Does it count as 1 A grade and then also 1 for honors class?
He has done a 4 year elective pathway called Project Lead the Way in Engineering. We think this also falls under A-G under electives. Is that correct? My son said the 12th grade year it’s considered honors but since it’s 12th grade I assume there are no additional points for that.
The CC class if CSU transferable will be counted twice so 2 A grades with 2 Honors points. Remember the maximum honors points for the CSU GPA calculation is 8.
Honors points are given to qualified courses that are taken the summer after 9th to the summer prior to 12th so no additional points for 12th grade courses.
If you are a California resident then you can look up the a-g courses and categories for your particular HS using this link. Just type in the HS name.
Do look it up through Gumbymom’s link above. Some PLTW engineering classes are counted as D:SCIENCE category, which can be a good boost for that category on the application.
Note that University of California A-G Course List also lists courses at California community colleges, so you can often get the exact a-g classification there.
A semester college course counts as one semester course and grade for UC, but two courses and grades for CSU, when recalculating GPA for frosh admission.
Thanks for this info. My son did most of his application today and we are still unsure where to put the Anthropology 103 class he took at a community college on the A - G mapping. We aren’t sure if it should go under D or G. He already has the required years under D so not sure which is more advantageous. We looked at both Assist and the UC site and this is what it said:
Assist
IGETC: 4A; CSU GE: D1
UC A-G list
It’s listed under G (College Prep Electives) but the discipline is listed as History/Social Science
Having classes in each category beyond the minimum requirements can help in regards to HS course rigor. I do not know of any CSU campuses that would give additional points in their application review for extra Category D courses.
There is no bad option either way so if there is room you can list in Category D or G.
Okay last question…everyone has been so helpful here!
My son’s dream school is Cal Poly SLO which is probably not likely but I want him to have the best chance possible.
The way his courses populated to the mapping currently have his D2 (Physical Science) as 5 years and his D1 (Biological Science) as 2 years. His G (elective category) is at 2.5 years. He could move 1 year of his electives (PLTW Engineering to D2 (physical science) according to his school’s A-G page and that would give him 6 years in D2 and 1.5 years in G.
Does that help him in any way? I know SLO looks at math/science heavily but I also know they can see all the classes in the academic section anyway so not sure the mapping section really matters.
Any opinions on this before he hits submit on his application? Thanks
CPSLO reputedly gives bonus points for math, lab science, English, foreign language, and visual / performing arts beyond the CSU minimums. Be sure that any high school level math and foreign language courses taken while in middle school are listed on the CSU application.
If the older reverse-engineered MCA estimator at https://mca.netlify.app/ is still current with respect to course work bonus points (it is not current otherwise, since CPSLO is SAT/ACT blind like other CSUs), then the maximum bonus points for course work are reached at 10 semesters of math, 8 semesters of lab science, 10 semesters of English, 8 semesters of English, and 4 semesters of visual / performing arts. Note that the bonus points differ by subject; math has the largest bonus points.
If Cal Poly SLO is still using the same rigor points for extra years (semesters) of A-G courses, the maximum’s were as follows:
5 years (10 semesters) Math
4 years (8 semesters) Lab Science
4 years (8 semesters) Foreign Language
5 years (10 semesters) English
2 years (4 semesters) VPA
No additional points for Social Science/History or Electives. If there is room to list, he can move the PLTW to D2 but I do not think it will make a difference.
@Gumbymom, the a-g look-up by high school does not designate lab vs non-lab science does it? I know that the second year of PLTW Engineering at our high school has a heavy hands-on portion that I would call a lab.
If it counts as lab science, then it could affect the lab science GPA that Long Beach and SLO consider in their Admissions Factors, couldn’t it?
There is no distinction made in the D category regarding Lab sciences vs non-lab sciences other than the CSU’s require 1 Biological Lab Science and 1 Physical Lab Science. Integrated science and interdisciplinary courses can meet this requirement which includes Earth Science, Space Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Science courses.
I would go by the HS categorization since these are approved A-G lists.
According to my son’s school list on the UC doorways it shows 3 of the 4 PLTW classes under physical science and when you click on them they have a lab icon. The only PLTW class not listed under Science is Aerospace and that is under elective but the subject is listed as math.
That calculator was taken from a post I made in 2015ish. As you mentioned, things have changed. I know the SAT is different, but they’re test blind anyway. I think they have a higher weighted and capped GPA now. It was never super transparent like SJSU is, so I’d take it as a guideline at best.
@lcarlson90 Have you considered asking Cal Poly SLO admissions directly? They had mentioned during our tour earlier this week that they are available for questions. Someone on another thread (I can’t remember which one) had indicated that they were able to reach admissions officer.
Edited: Found the post that was very recent
P.S. @eyemgh Thank you for all of your Cal Poly SLO insights especially the MCA calculator!
