Hi, I’m a high school senior applying to Cal Poly this fall. My stats are a 1210/1600 SAT (680 CR/530 Math) (but retaking early Oct) and 4.01 Cal Poly GPA with 5 APs and ECs in one year of tennis, a community service club, working at VBS, and being on yearbook, and I was wondering which program would be better for me to declare a major in. I’m interested in both subjects, but was curious which I’d most likely get into and which offers a broader, better area of study. Any recommendations/comments are welcome.
Graphic communications is an easier admit than Journalism due to acceptance rates: 63% vs 45% In regards to which offers a broader, better area of study, I would look at the course curriculum for each major and compare.
http://flowcharts.calpoly.edu/downloads/curric/15-17.Graphic%20Communication.pdf
http://flowcharts.calpoly.edu/downloads/curric/15-17.Journalism.pdf
Both have several concentrations available.
I was a journalism major at Cal Poly, and I would recommend you go with Graphic Communication (GRC), assuming both majors interest you equally. Cal Poly is actually somewhat well known for their GRC program, whereas their journalism program has much to be desired, in my opinion. The GRC majors I met at Cal Poly were all pretty satisfied with the major. You can always take some journalism classes if you major in GRC, and if you’re not a journalism major, you can still volunteer for the TV/radio station or write for the school paper as a staff writer. Plus, it’s generally much easier to get a job in journalism/public relations with a GRC degree, than it is to get a job in GRC/design with a journalism degree. I had several unpaid PR/journalism internships while in college, and my first job after graduating was a paid PR internship that barely paid above minimum wage. (The PR industry tends to be pretty stingy about pay for interns.) Most media jobs/internships will still definitely consider a GRC major, so even if you major in GRC but decide that journalism/PR is where you want to be, you should be able to land an entry level job or internship in the industry.
How do you know the rough admin rate for jounalism/GrC?
SLO publishes projected target admission stats each year so you can calculate their acceptance rate.
I meant for the individual majors like how it was posted 63% vs 45%
The target projections are by majors: http://www.ir.calpoly.edu/content/publications_reports/targets/index
You have to calculate based on the #'s given. You take the FTF target number multiply by 3 and divide by FTF Apps to get the projected acceptance rate. Remember these are projected numbers so they could be higher or lower, depending upon the # of applicants and the competitiveness of the applicant pool.
Oh wow. I know that its just an estimate but that is very helpful. Thank you