I already applied to Chico State and I’m really nervous that I won’t get in. I have a 2.9 GPA and 1080/1600 SAT score. Is Chico a huge reach for me? Should I expect to get denied? I applied as a business major.
Anyone? :-S
If that’s your CSU GPA then I think your Index number is on the low side for Chico. Hope for the best but expect the worst. Did you apply to other CSU campuses?
I might apply to more CSUs later but I haven’t yet. Would it be worth it to take the SAT again in December and send in my new scores?
You want around a 3700 Eligibility index for the best chances at Chico State. Your EI calculates out to a 3400 which is low. I would definitely apply to several other campuses such as SFSU, Sac State, Stanislaus, Humbodlt, Fresno, Bakersfield, Sonoma, San Marcos, Channel Islands to name a few.
Bumping up your SAT scores will help but you would need to increase them by 300 points to get an EI of 3700.
If you are local, then you have a better chance at an acceptance.
Thanks for the reply. This is sort of unrelated, but do CSUs take into account the high school an applicant attends? I go to a well known (I guess well respected, or so I’ve been told; 99.9% college acceptance rate) high school in California. My councilor says colleges take it into consideration and know it’s typically more challenging, but I don’t know if that’s true. She said some colleges will as a solid 0.2/0.3 to the gpa. Do you anything about this?
Admissions will look at your HS profile and do take into account the competitiveness of your HS. I have never heard that they give certain Freshman applicants get a 0.2 to 0.3 GPA boost. I have only heard that transfer applicants can get a GPA grade boost if they have completed their AS-T or AT-T before transferring.
If you have any specific questions about Chico State, a fellow CC poster @NCalRent is the expert since his son currently attends the school.
Oh that’s too bad. Are you sure that colleges don’t take into account the rigor of different high schools AT ALL? That doesn’t make sense. I’ve heard from multiple sources that they do. I guess I should’ve stayed in public school 
I did state that admissions does look at your HS profile and will take into account the rigor of your HS but I have never heard of admissions giving you a GPA boost. They may have a lower EI threshold based on your HS. CSU’s are pretty much a numbers game. If you are local, there is a lower threshold than for non-locals.
Oh I’m sorry, I read your post wrong. I originally read “will not look at your HS profile…”. Thanks again.
Also, you mentioned that SFSU would be a good school to apply to but wouldn’t that also be a reach? I’ve heard it’s even harder to get into than Chico in most cases.
As a business major it would be a Reach but are there any other majors you would be interested in applying? Same could be said for Chico State.
Here is a CSU impacted matrix which shows which majors are impacted at all CSU campuses. I would apply to any campus with an non-impacted Business major if that is your first choice and keep 1-2 Reach schools on your list since you never know.
https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/ImpactedProgramsMatrix.pdf
SJSU has several Business majors with specific emphasis where your EI would be accepted. See link:
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html
Thanks for the information, I’ll look into it. Was it a bad idea applying as a business marketing major at Chico? Is it an extremely hard major to get into? I knew business was popular, but I assumed it wasn’t nearly as hard to get into as say nursing,engineering, biology, etc.
Business is not an impacted major at Chico even though it may be popular so there is still a chance. I found some GPA data by major for Chico state and for the Freshman class 2016, the average GPA for Marketing was 3.15 for applicants so you are on the low side but not that far off.
There are no guarantees so cast a wide net and apply to several CSU’s and you should have some choices come Spring.
http://ir.csuchico.edu/ERSDB_Reports/Applicants/Default.aspx
That’s really helpful, thanks. Hopefully I can boost my SAT score a little bit and my chances will go up. I looked up the average SAT score for students admitted to Chico last year and it was 1013, with 1120 being the 75th percentile. If I end up scoring lower in one of the subjects, will it hurt my chances to submit my new scores or do schools take the best scores from both tests?
Nevermind, those were the scores for the old SAT. The average score for the new SAT is 1090.
CSU’s superscore so submit all scores and they take the highest scores from each section.
Chico’s only impacted program is Nursing. Other than that, the same admission threshold is applied to all non-local applicants. Most years, that is an SAT threshold around a 3700 SAT Eligibility Index but, it varies somewhat year to year based on the applicant pool. I think you should apply but, with a 3400, Chico is probably a reach for you unless you are local.
This table will tell you what is ‘local’ for each CSU.
http://www.calstate.edu/sas/onestopkiosk/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf
As far as adding to your GPA because your school is competitive, To the best of my knowledge some UCs have ‘target schools’ that get some consideration but, they are more about the dempgraphics than the competitvness of the school. Cal Poly SLO also has a handful of schools which get some special consideration.
Private schools can do whatever they want on that front.
If your school has Naviance, you should be able to see the admit/reject plot of GPA/SAT for each college from your high school’s applicants.
For Business, take a look at Sac, Sonoma, East Bay, SJSU - good programs all within your reach.
Good luck