How to calculate MCA score?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
21

@VickiSoCal I am happy to hear you say Stats count. Obviously since non of us is in admissions, we can’t be positive. Can I ask where you heard that it counts? This thread below response #52 says it doesn’t count. It is from several years ago so maybe it has been updated. Otherwise it seems to match the calculation info on this thread.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/1694769-confused-about-mca-score-p4.html

I think it would be dumb to penalize someone who starts in a higher math Freshman year. My son took

Algebra II/Trig Honors
AP Calc AB
AP Calc BC
AP Stats

If he was able to get credit for Middle School than it won’t matter, otherwise dumb to penalize. As with everyone else, hating the waiting game.

22

Much later in that thread someone called and was told AP stats counted.

23

This thread is fantastic! Does anyone know how internships work? My D has had an internship at a university lab for the last 2 summers for about 5 weeks, and 20 hours a week. Also, how do sports count if its only during the Fall season? 4 months of a sport (August - early November each year, about 10 hours a week?

24

Are MCA scores used for transfer students from CC as well?

25

@mommv, yes, but it’s calculated differently. It’s more simple. I don’t know all the details, but basically it’s GPA and how many of the desired classes a student takes, the more, the better.

26

@eyemgh Thank you for the info! That’s helpful to know. Do all schools use this or just CPSLO?

27

The system i outlined is unique to slo. I’m sure other schools have similar systems.

28

If a parent has a GED, I would assume that counts as HS graduate for MCA calculation purposes??

29

I can add that after a real conversation today w Admissions, that Stats count (Stats and AP Stats according to officer) as higher Math, as does Math Analysis.

They will not discuss anything about MCA Not is there UC-friendly Admissions Data by School for CA state schools. Nor is there admit data by major, just by College. Confirmed by Admissions.

30

Ik this thread is a little old but who decides if an EC or Work is major related? For example, I want to major in ME and I work as a private math tutor. Does that count as major related? What about Girls Who Code? Its not computer science but it is the realm of the major right?

31

@amd2019 You decide. You don’t even have to list what the EC is. Math tutoring and Girls Who Code both sound related to engineering to me.

32

How would a community college concurrent enrollment CSU transferrable GE class taken in 9th grade be handled?
One semester or two (high school gave a year’s worth of credit) and do the honors points count or do honors points for SLO MCA only count from 10th grade on?

33

If it was labeled as an honors class, it will count, even if it was in 9th grade. As for dual enrollment taken at the HS, but given college credit, our son counted them as HS classes. For him it didn’t matter, as he’d maxed out rigor and honor either way. I know if you take them at a college, they count double, but I’d call admissions to clarify. If you don’t need the extra semesters, and you can do it either way, don’t count them as double. It’ll dilute the influence of honors/AP/IB on your GPA. Good luck!

34

Question regarding calculating the MCA in regards to parent education. If you are first generation (neither parent graduated from college) is that an additional 600 points?

35

First gen has no impact. The bonus occurs if one or both parent(s) did not graduate from high school.

36

Do you know if the parent having passed the CHSPE (California High School Proficiency Examination) and then leaving HS counts as graduating for these purposes?

37

If the newest version of the SAT came out since then, it is possible or likely that they changed the SAT / ACT concordance table.

38

Seems like if they are still admitting by MCA score (or a revised version of such), they should really just publish the calculation and also publish the past MCA score admit thresholds by major (like SJSU does with regular CSU eligbility index). Since CPSLO is a public university, such transparency would be desirable, and would help prospective students know how realistic it will be to apply.

39

@ucbalumnus, I’m not as familiar with SJSU as you or @Gumbymom, but my understanding is that the published figures aren’t admission thresholds, but rather minimum eligibility marks. If you don’t hit that mark you are automatically rejected, but the admission threshold could be substantially higher.

As for transparency, public or not, I don’t know of any school that publishes that granular of information. It would be easy. Maybe they don’t want to dissuade applicants. They do publish projections and actuals for every major each year in their institutional research.

40

http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html indicates that the numbers were the thresholds for frosh applicants to be admitted to each major at SJSU.

Some majors admitted any applicant who met baseline CSU eligibility (2950), while the needed eligibility index was much higher for other majors (e.g. 4725 for computer science).

For a public university using a non-holistic point system for admissions, there is no disadvantage to this kind of transparency. Indeed, it gives prospective students a much better idea of whether the school will be a reach, match, likely, or safety for admission for them. Even though thresholds do fluctuate over the years, an applicant can know that computer science is likely to be significantly more difficult to get admitted to than art, math, philosophy, physics, or sociology for example.