<p>I currently have a 3.07 gpa from a community college and I plan to apply this semester to colleges for Mechanical Engineering. Are any of these colleges within my reach? The college that is in my area is Cal Poly SLO but it is notorious for not giving preference to students in its area like most CSUs.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO<br>
San Jose State University
San Diego State
CSU Long Beach
Cal Poly Pomona
UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego</p>
<p>I know most of these are a long shot, but if I had a 50/50 chance with any of these I would be happy. If none of these schools seem possible, are there any schools you could recommend?</p>
<p>EDIT: Would it be worth staying at community college for one more year to raise my GPA to a 3.2? I already will have 101 semester credits as is when I transfer but if it will significantly increase my chances then it may be worth it to me to stay for a fifth year.</p>
<p>Staying longer won’t really help as you cannot take Junior/Senior level engineering courses at a Community College. With 101 credits, you have probably maxed out on what you can transfer to an engineering program.</p>
<p>I think you will have a difficult time getting in at the UC’s and Cal Poly SLO. If your strongest grades are in engineering related courses, your chances are a bit better. The CSU’s are probably a 50/50 chance or better.</p>
<p>San Jose State, and CSU Pomona are your best bets. </p>
<p>Most of the CSU’s have a minimum HS GPA requirement of 2.0 GPA. You have college credits which will look better, plus a 3.0+ is a decent GPA. That being said though, competition among public universities in California is fierce right now, and many of the majors at both UC and CSU schools are impacted due to budget cuts. </p>
<p>You might want to look at UC Riverside while you’re at it. They are one of the less- competitive UC schools with an engineering department, but even so it may be difficult getting in.</p>
<p>Try looking outside of California if you don’t have any luck. UNLV has an ME program, and you will likely face less competition getting in compared to California schools. NAU in Northern Arizona is another option.</p>
<p>SLO has its own additional point system for its admissions; local applicants get some extra points. However, it is the most selective CSU campus, so even local applicants face high admission thresholds.</p>
<p>For UCs, you may want to add Riverside to your application list.</p>
<p>Also, run the net price calculators on each school to check cost and financial aid.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how to quote multiple replies on this forum so I will just do it individually.</p>
<p>Xraymancs - Good point, I guess staying at my community college for another year is not a good plan. Which is good news to me! I’m tired of that place after four years. I’m glad that you think I have a 50/50 chance for the other CSUs! My counselor made me feel that every school on that list was a “reach” school and my only chances were the very bottom of the CSU schooling system. </p>
<p>Fractalmstr - Thank you for letting me know about UC Riverside, from the little research I have done it sounds like a great addition to my list! I haven’t thought about out of state schools yet, does it hurt job opportunities or grad school applications to be applying from a school that is out of state? I will have to look into the schools you mentioned, the more options the better!</p>
<p>UCBalumnus - Wow that is quite a swing in the gpa between Fall 2012 and Fall 2013 for SJSU. Is that number the minimum GPA required to even review your application or the GPA that most people got into the school with? Also thank you for showing me a few more safety schools! </p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the replies. It really made my day!</p>
<p>And if anyone has any more information to share I would be glad to hear/read it!</p>
<p>Those SJSU GPAs were the thresholds for admission. Basically, they just rank qualifying transfer applicants for each major by GPA and admit until they reach capacity. Yes, the application season for fall 2012 was unusually selective, possibly because of capacity-limiting budget cuts that may have been eased after Proposition 30 passed. I.e. with your GPA, you would not have been admitted to SJSU ME for fall 2012, but would have for SJSU ME for fall 2013.</p>
<p>Of course, the GPA thresholds for fall 2014 won’t be known until after application season, since they do not know now how many people with how good GPAs will apply to each major.</p>
<p>ME is probably one of the most historically impacted majors at Cal Poly Pomona. I don’t think you have a 50/50 chance. Cal Poly Pomona just added several programs to the impacted list. It’s getting more competitive each year for science and engineering programs. The year I transferred my friend thought he was going to go to CSUN with a 3.2 until he finally was issued late admission to ME.</p>
<p>UCBalumnus - Thank you for clearing that up for me.</p>
<p>CalDud - Interesting, so my chances for Cal Poly Pomona are probably in the 5-15% range or so based on that information. I appreciate the input, I wonder if being a local will give me similar chances with Cal Poly SLO, despite the major being more impacted.</p>
<p>Just for fun I made a list of colleges I am applying to and my perceived chances of getting in. I didn’t intend to share it originally and I have made some changes with the new information I have received. Just curious to see other peoples thoughts.</p>
<p>Cal Poly Pomona 15%<br>
Cal Poly SLO 10%
CSU Long Beach 40%
CSU Northridge 50%
San Diego State 25%
San Jose State University 50%
UC Berkeley 1%
UC Davis 1%
UC Irvine 1%
UC Santa Barbara 10%
UC San Diego 10%
UC Riverside 25%
Fresno State 75%</p>