All,
My son is a junior and he is interested in SLO. He got his senior year schedule yesterday. He has only one 1 year of fine arts(9th grade) and we are thinking of replacing Academic mentor with Graphics for next year. I see that the recommended fine arts requirement is 2 years for SLO. What do you think? Please advise.
Thanks,
Sona
Have you estimated his MCA score yet? If not, reference the “Confused about MCA score” thread which is pinned at the top of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo forum. I would say it depends on how many points you anticipate he will receive from the other course rigor subjects to determine if it would be worth it or not. One more year of a fine arts class will result in an additional 25 points, but course rigor points are capped at 750 so if he already meets that number without the additional year of a fine arts class, then it won’t help him. Good luck!
To get the most bonus points, extra Math and Science classes are best but as @usamom stated that if he has already maxed out the bonus points, it will not help unless he enjoys the class over the Academic Mentor.
Thank you very much, usamom and gumbymom. He is maxing on Math and Science classes. I am not sure what 10 semesters of English means? English (10 Semesters; 100 Bonus Points). How are you able to do 10 semesters? He has only 3 years of Spanish but he does not want to continue.
@sona2013 I have two students at Cal Poly. The key is to try to max out the extra points which are capped at 750 in previous years-- my second student now a freshman at Cal Poly earned extras through Math 500, Science 200 and Fine Arts 50 taking 2 years. My first student maxed out with Math - 500 Science 200 and English taking 5 years by taking a Humanities course counted by UCs and CSU as an English in addition to English 11 Junior year. If your student does not have the English or Foreign Language adders then thinking that --yes go for the Fine Arts to get to 750 Max. Good luck to your student-- it is a great school.
@sona2013, before you worry about ANY bonus points, all minimum requirements for every type of class must be met or the student will be automatically rejected. The one that trips some up is performance art.
Thank you Dadfan and eyemgh. My son did Algebra 1 in middle school, followed by Geometry and Algebra 2. He then moved on to PreCalc Honors and AP Cal AB.
This is what I see as a requirement.
English (8 Semesters)
Algebra (4)
Geometry (2)
Foreign Language (4)
Lab Science (4)
History (4)
Performing Arts (2)
@sona2013, those are the MINIMUM requirements. Any student who does not meet those will be automatically rejected regardless of GPA and test scores. Most students who get into Poly will have more. Your son already has math covered for MCA bonus point maximum (500) as well lab science (200). He gets 50 for his extra year of foreign language. The algorithm, IF IT’S THE SAME AS WHAT WE BELIEVE IT IS, caps rigor points at 750. That’s what he has. 