I’m applying to CSUS for fall of 2021 and am in the ~95th percentile for admissions. It’s my first— and only — choice school as I can’t afford to go anywhere else. CSUS doesn’t do yield protection, right…? I should be fine when applying?
I don’t know the answer to your question. Just FYI, CSUs will not consider test scores during this fall’s admission season.
I can’t speak directly to freshman admissions, but I have seen some very odd results for high stat transfer students who have been denied to their local Cal State in non-impacted majors but then got into Berkeley and UCLA. The most logical explanation I can find is yield protection. (Or gross incompetence on the part of the Cal State admissions committee, but I prefer to think they know what they’re doing.) I know that people will say the Cal States don’t do this, but I have seen it far too many times with my advisees to believe that. I have seen quite a few students end up at much more pricey local privates as a result of not getting into their local Cal State. I would urge you to find a way to communicate that this is your top choice school.
Oh, right! My ECs are also over the top, I better get in. Hah.
EC’s have never been considered for CSU admission (exception Cal Poly SLO) but if you are below a 2.5 GPA for the 2021 application cycle this year, they may be used in the application review. The major emphasis will be on HS grades/GPA, HS course rigor and local vs. non-local geographic location since test scores are optional (suspended).
Hey! I’m also confused as to why I was rejected. My uc and csu gpa were 4.29 (i had gotten all As and 1B) and I scored a 35 ACT but was denied from slo. I was above the middle 50% by a significant margin. My major was going to be biological sciences.
@lftd23 my guess is that you didn’t meet one or more of the a-g course requirements.
CPSLO uses its own MCA formula. An older version (before test-blind) is shown here: https://mca.netlify.app/ . Unfortunately, CPSLO neither publishes the MCA formula itself nor publishes the MCA score admission thresholds for each major so that you can compare your score to that needed for admission to your desired major (some other CSUs like SJSU, using their own formulae now or CSU EI formula in past years, publish the admission thresholds).
An apparently common error by CPSLO applicants is not filling in math or foreign language taken while in middle school; supposedly, CPSLO does not assume validation of lower level courses when counting the number of semesters/years of math or foreign language completed for the MCA score.
ACT was not considered in SLO admissions this year. Also they use 9-11th grades in their GPA calculation and it can also depend upon your applied major. Biological sciences had a projected acceptance rate around 10% so the majority of applicants would be denied. Look at the SLO Stats thread and see for yourself.
Last year, SLO denied 12,000 applicants that had over 4.0 GPA’s. Just too many high achieving students for the few spots that are available, the definition of impaction.