All we see in the application about activities is “Select the average number of hours per week you are involved in activities” and “Do you hold or have you held any leadership positions in these activities?” Is that it? No place to list any of the actual activities?
The application wouldn’t let him list all of his physical science courses, but he’s at 8 semesters, so I guess that’s fine. He just left out one that is in progress this year.
It has been three years since I looked at the SLO application, but I do remember that the admissions officer who led our group said they assess their applicant pool strictly by the numbers. They have a formula, and you get points based on that formula and how well your scores fare in their system.
The AO impressed me as saying they do not want to get to knowyou, but rather simply seek to determined if you have the standing among the applicant pool to be offered admission.
On the CSU application, there is no where to list EC’s, just those few questions. EC’s account for only about 10% of the MCA score so the emphasis is on GPA, test scores and HS course rigor.
Thanks.
We are trying to get the GPA right with all the college classes counting double.
There are 6 10th and 11th college classes that seem like they should “count.” He deleted 2 “interdisciplinary research” classes from a summer program at our local UC. It’s not likely that those count as transferable units anyway, and counting those 4 extra “semesters” plus the 2 semester physical science class he couldn’t list were lowering his capped GPA from 4.20 to 4.17.
@Ynotgo why don’t you call admissions and ask them what to do with his classes? They have a lot of people on staff answering phones right now and they have been very receptive when I have called with questions.
Regarding activities, you need to add them together and then divide by 52 to get an average number of hours/wk over the entire year. You don’t list or describe activities like the UC application.
Look at the Confused about MCA thread and you’ll see how these different values (GPA, test scores, leadership, EC, etc) factor into SLO’s admission calculation.
I’m guessing those classes were dual enrollment and not actually true university courses. If that’s the case, I think they count them as HS classes in the GPA calc, but do give college level credit for them on the CP transcript. I’d have your student call admissions to verify. They are very friendly and helpful. As for his weighted GPA, it will make very little difference either way. The MCA caps at 4.2. It’s a difference of 99.3% of the MCA points vs. all of them. Certainly though, every little bit counts.
Thanks. I’ll have him call on Monday. Should he call Calpoly admissions or a CSU-wide number? (He’s not applying to any other CSUs.)
@eyemgh You are right that this doesn’t affect his MCA score very much. I calculated his MCA score to be 4798 without the extra 4 semesters and 4792 with them. I expect that shouldn’t make any difference, since he’s applying in physics, not any type of engineering.
The classes we are deciding whether to list are not associated with his high school. They are 8 units given as part of UCSB’s Research Mentorship Program (RMP), which he did the summer after freshman year. UCSB calls them “INT 93R: Introduction to Research Techniques” and “INT 93P: Presentation Techniques in Research.” I don’t think they’d count anywhere other than UCSB, and then only as units toward sophomore or junior standing. (He will list them on the UC application, because they help his weighted uncapped GPA, which I’ve read is looked at by Berkeley and UCLA.)
The class that doesn’t fit in his physical science list is a 12th grade engineering course at the high school, so that doesn’t affect his GPA. (It’s odd that he can fit 16 semesters of math but no more than 8 semesters of physical science.)
BTW, we were calculating 10th+11th GPA for what to put on the CSU application. For 9th-11th for purposes of the MCA, it is 4.13 capped with everything counted and 4.14 without the “interdisciplinary” UCSB classes. (Lower because no extra honors points given for AP/DE classes in 9th grade.)
@Ynotgo I’ve always called SLO directly. http://admissions.calpoly.edu/contact/ Note that they are open limited hours - from noon - 5 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
I think when you say “capped” and I say “capped” we’re talking different things. Capped, in the MCA, means the maximum they’ll count. For example, the GPA cap is 4.2 even though higher HS CSU GPAs are possible. Likewise, the MCA is capped at 5000, even though higher scores are possible.
@eyemgh But, it’s still limited to 8 semesters of honors points, right? So, that is also a “cap”. (Otherwise he’d have 26 honors points.)
I saw in your MCA calculation thread that points for taking extra courses is capped at 750, even though he would have 800 points. So, that “cap” is also already included in the MCA numbers above.
There are quite a few caps in the MCA. I’m just not sure what you were referring to when describing his GPA of 4.13 or 4.14 as capped.