<p>But, for many kids, including my own daughter, ED is just too binding, especially for someone who isn’t entirely sure this is THE first choice school. I know of 3 or 4 who applied to Cal Poly ED from our h.s. and they got in. I’m not sure of all their majors, although I know one will be in biology. My daughter applied to Kinesiology RD and got in and they told us it was very impacted. I honestly think a lot of it’s the luck of the draw. Maybe if she had applied EA to Stanford she would have been accepted. Who knows. She got into USC, but others with similar stats didn’t. I’m not sure about the CSUs and even the UCs, but I know that private schools spend more time on the applications reading essays, short answers, ECs, etc. A student may have been fortunate to get an admissions person who decided they wanted to give him or her a chance. Her best friend with the exact same stats and essay might have someone who *didn’t *feel the same. I think with so many excellent applicants for limited spaces, it truly becomes somewhat of a crapshoot. I wouldn’t want the job.</p>
<p>**Einnob wrote:</p>
<p>That’s the biggest mistake Ive made and regret so much: not applying Early Decision. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking back then when I was applying to colleges, ughh!! I agree that applying early will make a big difference, especially if your major is very impacted. Since it’s binding, Cal Poly has a better idea of who is going to their school for sure.
Yes I’m pretty sure selection was done by a computer. Things like demographics, ethinicity, legacies, are more for private schools, maybe a little for UCs too.**</p>
<p>Same here, back when I was still applying to colleges, ED was also a little too binding for me too. I wasn’t completely sure what type of school I wanted to go to. But during that time period between finishing my applications and waiting for acceptances/rejections, I realized a lot of things about where I really wanted to go. I feel like I did more research about colleges after applying than before, because I was obsessing and worrying over whether I’d get in or not. I know it makes no sense…but unfortunately that’s what happened to me.</p>
<p>My D did apply for ED as a business major and was denied. Subsequently she was accepted with the RD pool. In retrospect I can’t help but harbor the suspicion that her ED application somehow bumped her up in the RD pool. CP pretty much knew the ‘had her’. </p>
<p>I also think GPA stats are misleading. For example, the description of the Business Green Light program mentions that some of the incoming students have already completed calculus. Thus they are ready for upper division courses in their freshman year. D took regular calculus vs honors or AP thus not generating the additional GPA point. Another applicant with a higher GPA may only have only taken 3 years of mathematics and topped out a the Algebra II level. That applicants higher GPA may be the result of courses not directly applicable to the specific major. </p>
<p>Also, with grade inflation and lack of a common grading standard the SAT/ACT scores IMO are more useful in cross applicant comparison. In our case, D scores were far and above what her GPA would have predicted.</p>
<p>You have a good point, einnob. Kids are often consumed with the pressure just to get *into *college, period. So, between trying to keep up with their studies and testing, take the right classes and meet the deadlines, I can understand how it would be difficult to take the time to research individual college programs and philosophies. To some extent my daughter did that in her junior year and in the summer before her senior year. However, her “tastes” changed a bit and some of the schools that looked appealing to her early on moved down a notch or two on her list. And vice versa. Of course, in the end, after she got her acceptances, there were other factors to consider. I think one of the biggest one was affordability. </p>
<p>Cal Poly barely even made her list of college choices. In fact, at one time she voiced that she would rather go to such and such school than CPSLO. However, as she whittled her acceptance list down and had a chance to look more into her major at CP, it became evident that there were more pros then she had originally thought.</p>
<p>Also, she knew that if she wanted to come away from her undergrad education debt free at a reputable school in a fun college town—Cal Poly was her answer. Was it her very first choice? No. Did she really even have a “dream school”? No. And, that’s probably a good thing. That way she won’t be setting herself up with a lot of expectations. Yes, she would rather have a “traditional” campus with historical buildings and sprawling grassy quads. But, I think in the case of Cal Poly, she’s come to the conclusion that it has so many plusses that in the end, the “look” won’t be such a huge factor. Hopefully! :)</p>
<p>Einnob, I hope that you find a good home at USC. And, hey, if you still feel that Cal Poly is a better fit for you, there’s always the possibility of transferring. But, I bet you’ll end up loving USC and won’t even look back. Just like my daughter would have if she had decided to take their offer and could have afforded it. I’m sure she probably would have done well at *any *of the schools she was accepted to.</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more! I don’t understand why we have to wait so long. It looks like they made all the freshman wait just to find out they weren’t accepted…hope it’s not the same for us. Plus, July just seems so close to the start of the school year. We’d only have 2 months to figure everything out.</p>
<p>I am currently a student at Cuesta CC so I live in San Luis Obispo. I even talked the admission office to see if I could find something out by the end of the month since my lease will be up. It did not help. Unfortunately, I am now losing my housing. With that said, it will be difficult to find housing if we do not find out until mid July.</p>
<p>Wow that’s terrible. I hope things work out for you. I really don’t know how they expect people who get accepted to get everything together in such a short amount of time. Like you said, it’s very inconsiderate and the admissions processes is so secretive and ambiguous. It seems like they can’t tell us much of anything.</p>
<p>The wait is not a matter of them being inconsiderate, but rather there’s not a whole lot they can do right now. All available spots have been filled at this point. It now becomes a rolling admissions process where they have to wait for spaces to open up, which is usually after the end of the Spring quarter in mid-June, for various reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>students who become academically disqualified</p></li>
<li><p>students transferring out of Poly</p></li>
<li><p>those who leave for personal and/or financial reasons</p></li>
<li><p>freshman who accepted their admission and subsequently back out. This is common in cases when the student is being waitlisted at their first choice school (e.g. Syracuse), but will accept an admission offer to the backup school (e.g. Poly), and is later accepted off the waitlist to school #1. </p></li>
<li><p>after Spring quarter grades come out, the colleges can better project the number of Fall quarter graduating seniors, thereby being able to accommodate more new students. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>If you have other options, definitely starting looking into them (if you haven’t already).</p>
<p>During the summer, with Cal Polys admissions, quite a bit of student movement can happen. That means housing spots will open on-campus and off-campus in July, Aug. & Sept. As soon as you hear of your CPSLO acceptance in July (or earlier), begin checking out various housing situations and get on the waiting lists because housing openings will occur and waitlists will shorten.</p>
<p>I too, log in once a day and check on my status. Every day it reads the same thing. I sure hope our luck (transfers) is a little bit better than those who were dropped off the wait list as freshman. I’ll be really upset if in July my wait-list status changes to you have not been selected for admissions. I am hoping the college in which I applied for has many graduates as well as students incapable of filling the admission requirements who were accepted. Oh, i just think to much. I guess if its meant to be it will be…</p>
<p>Good stuff guys those schools are way good! I’m set at CSUS (Sacramento State). But still would roll down to SLO if the opportunity presents itself, you guys?</p>
<p>didn’t get off the waitlist for undergrad biz… i appealed via email and they said no again. Then today, i randomly get another ‘no’ letter. wonderful</p>