Since there’re not much threads out there for international students applying to CalPoly, I have decided to start this new one.
Alright internationals, sharing your experience would be appreciated.
These are my stats:
Country: Morocco
Major: Mechanical engineering
GPA: 3.95
Major GPA: 4.0
In/out state: International student
IGETC: Completed
Extracurriculars: physics and math tutor, Alpha Gamma Sigma member, president of the international students club, member of the engineering society, member of the engineering abroad program. worked for 5 years as mine equipment maintainer.
I am currently taking my last required classes at a CC (Linear Algebra, Diff eq’s, physics3 and Speech)
Good luck everyone!
Glad to see more internationals applying (I myself am one)
I got in Cal Poly’s computer science program with a 33 on my ACT, and a 3.9 GPA
There’s a different admission criteria for international student; the biggest one being the international evaluation thingy aka AACRAO. Don’t forget to get that sent!
@yengkerng Thank you for your advice.
I have already submitted my official transcripts as college transfer. So I didn’t need the AACRAO. I was asked to submit my TOEFL grade though. I wrote them an official letter to get a waiver, but they denied it. I talked to the head of the engineering department in my college about my problem. She called them and submitted my unofficial transcripts via email, and I got a TOEFL waived next day.
Do you know when do usually international students hear about their admissions? It would be nice if you share your admission experience ( where are you from? dates, procedure …)
@vulcatim Sure haha
I’m a 1st year computer science student from Malaysia. I heard about Cal poly through my aunt, who’s based in Silicon Valley. Cal Poly’s undergraduate engineering program is one of the top in the country, so it’s obvious why it became my first choice. The climate and vibe surrounding Cal Poly and SLO itself is amazing; I’d say it might be the perfect place to come for college on just environment itself.
The procedure for applying to Cal Poly was SO EASY compared to other schools (AKA common app or MIT)… No essay or any kind of that stuff really. Cal Poly’s tuition rates are also SO MUCH more affordable as compared to other
schools (cough UC Berkeley cough)
I got my acceptance letter from Cal Poly on the 22nd of February, which is a few days from now actually! Make sure to check out the mycalpoly.portal on your admission results!
@yengkerng I appreciate sharing these valuable information. I am crossing my fingers and hopefully I’ll be able to get in. I know my major is pretty competitive at Cal Poly, but I am positive.
Do you live in campus? How does it cost
to rent a room in SLO? How about the international tuition?
@vulcatim Mechnical Engineering, or any engineering in Cal Poly is pretty competitive. Did you take the SAT/ACT? I can better gauge your chances through your standardized test scores.
The on campus fees are very affordable; though not cheap by any means. I live in a triple, so I’m paying about 3,300 dollars a year. As for international tuition cost, we pay the same amount as OOS people. I think that amounts to 35,000 dollars a year total of everything.
As for the cost of renting a room in SLO, I can’t answer that as I’m only a first year.
Good luck with your admission!
@yengkerng Being a transfer student, I don’t need any SAT/ACT test. To be honest I don’t even know what that is :-?
How much do you pay exactly for tuition only (12 units)?
@vulcatim ahh I see, which community college are you transferring from?
I think you pay roughly 255 dollars per unit, but I might be wrong.
@yengkerng I am transferring from Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz county. My counselor told me that I have solid chances to get in, but you never know.
Cal Poly is my first choice. I was not actually planning to apply this year because I was missing a couple of classes., but since I had the intention to take all the required classes cited above, I was like why not give it a chance. The other university I applied for is UCB.
@vulcatim Has your status been updated? I am an international student transferring form a US university as well and I am wondering whether we get to know later than the other transfer students. Trying to stay hopeful for acceptance status.
@InternStudent My status didn’t change. It still says “No determination has been made at this time.” It is so annoying. I literally check every 15min. What’s your major? Have you submitted your official transcripts?
@vulcatim Yeah, I do the same thing. It’s like the life stopped and I cannot do anything until I KNOW. I am applying to Agribusiness. I submitted my transcripts sometime in January as I thought it would speed up the process, but I guess I was wrong. I was confident I would be accepted until I started reading the comments on this website.
@InternStudent Since the deadline for international students to submit all the paperwork is March 1st, I would assume that we won’t be able to hear from them before the 9th or the 10th.
@yengkerng When did you hear from Cal Poly last year? Did you get an email or just checked your portal?
@vulcatim I heard from Cal Poly on the 24th of February I think, via portal.
@InternStudent Any updates?
@vulcatim not at all… you? This is getting pretty frustrating.
@InternStudent Nothing yet. I called the admissions and they said that it might take up to April 1st.
@vulcatim did you ask specifically about international students? In the other thread for transferring students, people are being rejected already. I hope we are not the case and they only have a different procedure for internationals.
@InternStudent They told me that international students go through a different process, and it’ll take a couple of weeks before they start making decisions.
I know a couple of friends in my college who got in, others waitlisted and others just got rejected yesterday. What’s you major and stats by the way?