My chances at Cal Poly SLO: General Engineering

<p>Hey I was wondering what my chances are for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, for General Engineering. My weighted GPA is 3.5 and my SAT is 710 math 610 reading and 590 writing. I heard that they mostly look at these numbers... Do I even have a chance?</p>

<p>Your GPA is a little bit low compared to other students that apply to the school, but I definitely think your SAT scores make up for it, especially with the 710 in math! All of your scores are within the average score range of students who are accepted, so I definitely think you have a shot. Also, I think if you have taken a good amount of AP classes, that will help them notice that you’ve taken harder classes, so your GPA may not be as high as someone who got by through taking easy classes.</p>

<p>Here are the 2010 freshman engineering stats:</p>

<p>Avg GPA: 4.03
Avg SAT: 1372 out of 1600 (M+CR)
Avg ACT: 31</p>

<p>Acceptance rate: 33%</p>

<p>You did well on the Math section, that is great. </p>

<p>But your SAT is slightly below average and your GPA is below average. So it will not be a shoe-in for you. But definitely apply, you never know.</p>

<p>Ouch, haha. Okay thank you! Gahh, March needs to come sooner!</p>

<p>I honestly think your chances are pretty good. I applied for San Luis Obispo for the Architecture program and I only received a 600 on the reading section, 620 on writing, and 510 on math, so compared to me that’s definitely a good score, especially because you applied for engineering, in which the main focus is math. Honestly, I think it should outweigh the reading score (which is still pretty high). My GPA was like a 3.8, so I really really hope that will counter my low math score [in reality, it most likely will not]. I honestly think I have a worse chance than you at getting in, but we’ll just have to wait and see!</p>

<p>Dont listen to fermium. Dont look at average stats for most of these places. It will only discourage you. Chances are you will get in.</p>

<p>Good luck and definitely apply to get in. However, fermium is correct and it will be a reach for you. However, applying to a reach school is VERY important and you never know you could get in. Your post really stood out for me because my kid is now studying at Cal Poly SLO and majoring in general engineering (GENE). at Cal Poly GENE is the most flexible of all engineering majors as they allow you to create your own curricula after the first two years. It allows the exploration of new technologies more than other majors at Cal Poly. However, it is also unaccredited by the ABET as well due to that flexibility – keep that in mind. There seemed to be an extraordinary number of kids this year, like mine, that rejected the top tier UC’s for Cal Poly SLO. So expect the stats to get even more competitive in years going forward as UC tuition increases. We met several families on the open house tours for accepted students at UCLA, UCSD and UCSB last Spring that all ended up at SLO.</p>

<p>I suppose I am your competition, as I too am applying to SLO. =)
That being said, fermium is correct that it is best to compare yourself to the previous year’s stats when judging your chances. OsakaDad is also correct that competition is definitely INCREASING and more and more upper tier applicants are favoring SLO’s engineering over that of many UC’s (with good reason).
How do I know this? Well … ummm … I’m applying Early Decision to SLO for Civil Engineering and I have a CSU GPA of 4.18 , and my SAT is 800-Math, 640-Reading, 570-Writing…</p>

<p>You should still definitely apply to SLO though! It’s a great school and you lose nothing by applying.</p>

<p>Good Luck! =)</p>

<p>Do you think I can get in 2014? I have 4.15 gpa, 1920 sat, 32 act, many EC, Eagle Scout, Robotics Vice President (2nd place team in Regionals)</p>