For CS/Engineering I think Cal Poly beats all of the UCs except for Cal, UCLA, and maybe UCSD.
@ningve CP says they don’t usually consider second major, so in your scenario I think B would get accepted over A. The only cases I can remember where people got in to alternate majors were cases where the alt was very unpopular and likely didn’t fill all their slots on the first pass. Last year 2 got in for Env Earth and Soil Sciences, and one for Anthropology. Two years ago someone got into General Engineering as an alternate, which was a bit out of character, but 2016 was a very low yield year.
I agree with @MelloG, that if the alternate major is considered it is usually in a less competitive major in another College.
I think my kiddo is a good test case for this scenario. UCI is his dream school, but applied to Cal Poly because Mom grew up there and needs an excuse to visit more often. 4746 MCA for computer science with software engineering as alternate.
@eyemgh (#31). I was thinking about the situation where a student started with Algebra 1 in HS, then took geometry followed by algebra 2, and trigonometry. So they have taken algebra 2 so qualify for admission to Cal Poly. However, they only took 4 years of math in HS. The algebra 1 and geometry were taken in HS so they should not be getting bonus points for math. So giving everyone, including these students, the extra 250 bonus points would not make sense to me.
Am I missing something?
@stresseddaddy The trig would count as advanced math, so your hypothetical student would get 250 points. I don’t think the idea is they give 250 points to everyone, instead you are simply forgiven for not listing math classes taken in middle school. If you look at the admissions requirements (https://admissions.calpoly.edu/applicants/freshman/criteria.html) they’ve changed from 6 semesters of math required, 10 recommended, to now they list algebra, geometry and advanced math separately. Presumably the bonus MCA points come from the advanced math. So this year (we think), they’re forgiving the semesters of algebra and/or geometry missing on your application.
Does anyone know how college classes count in MCA score if at all. My daughter is in the CECA program, California Early College Academy, at her High School and she has taken these college classes that count as high school credits and also college transferable credits. She also took Algebra 1 and Geometry math classes in Middle school but did not add them on her application:( She is taking Stats her senior yr and last year took AB Calculus at her High School.
11th Grade
College Composition English (1 semester)
College History of the United States (1 Semester)
College Physical Anthropology (1 semester)
College History of the United States (1 semester)
12th Grade
College Intro To Government (1 semester)
College Advanced Composition English (1 semester)
College Intro to Philosophy (1 semester)
College General Principals (1 semester)
Trying to figure her MCA score, any help would be greatly appreciated;)
@manajlt college courses taken during high school count double, so 1 semester in college is 2 semesters of HS credit. Also, college courses in English, foreign language, math, science and history count as honors, so you get the 1 point bonus (I assume still subject to the 8 point max). I think the only MCA impact would be through GPA, if you wound up with more than 36 semesters of credit 9-11. The good news would be that when your daughter goes to college she’ll have 8 semesters of college credit, plus whatever AP credit she has, so she’ll likely start at a sophmore or even junior level, which would have the benefit of earlier registration than most of her peers, not to mention having some GE’s checked off the list.
do you have the link to that?
My son is applying to SLO MCA 4624 - he wants to apply to CS - wanted to know if your son got into CS. Thanks !
My son is applying to SLO MCA 4624 - he wants to apply to CS - wanted to know if your son got into CS. Thanks !
@College4Me2Go, they aren’t likely following this thread anymore. PM them if you want to know. Personally, I believe 4642 won’t make the cut for CS. He’d have a better chance with SE, but even that will be a stretch. Make sure he has a backup plan. Good luck.
@eyemgh - thanks for the information. Just realized that while calculating his MCA, he did not account for 3 courses he had taken in community college while in high school. How much would that add to the MCA They were courses in CS and the college was on the quarter system.
You would think that, instead of trying to get middle school math into the application, they would just use CSU validation rules: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/csu-uc-a-g-comparison-matrix.pdf
I.e. algebra 2 validates algebra 1, and any “advanced math” (precalculus or calculus) validates algebra 2, algebra 1, and geometry (or integrated math 1-3 for integrated math curricula). Then, for the purpose of counting additional high school math courses to the MCA score, they just need to count semesters of precalculus and calculus.
Foreign language can also be done similarly – completion of high school level N validates all levels from 1 to N-1, so they just need to look at what the highest level completed is.
Is there an admissions ranking or semblance of the Engineering majors ? Assuming Comp Sci would be at the top - where would SWEngineering , Comp Engineering and Electrical Engineering rank in comparison to each other?
@College4Me2Go, This is a rough guess CS, BME, ME, AE, Comp E, EE, SE, Civil, Mat E, Manufacturing, IE.
My son had an approximate MCA score of 4700 last year and was waitlisted for Mech Eng. He never came off the list, but is happy at Univ of Washington this fall - good luck!
Here in Northern Virginia schools, if a middle school course (i.e. foreign language, algebra 1 or geometry) were to count toward a HS diploma, that course would be listed in the HS transcript. Every student gets a copy of the unofficial transcript in paper form or online for the purpose of applying to college.
55 I'm applying to IE with a MCA of 4650 so I'm kind of glad it is at the bottom of the list, but I find it kind of odd that IE is one of the harder majors to transfer into from within CENG. My only guess would be that since it is considered an "easier" engineering major by some they don't want those failing their other engineering majors to just transfer over.
@parentofsix- My son’s CA HS lists the relevant middle school classes (math, foreign language) on their HS transcript just as you described.