Cal Poly is one of, if not the whitest public in CA. That said, it is only 54% Caucasian. What is noticeable however is small number of African American students, hovering in the 1-2% region.
As far as majors go he should dig deeper into what he wants to do. Although programming is often misconstrued as CS, sitting down and pounding out code is really software engineering. Many CS degree holders do SE jobs. CS though is more about algorithms to improve efficiency and speed. I say this because if he really wants to go to CP, I would council him to choose SE. Cal Poly’s Projections for the class that just applied showed an acceptance rate of 5.6% for CS and 30% for SE (assuming 33% yield). Acceptance rate doesn’t tell the full story because we don’t know the strength of the applicant pools. I can’t see CS and SE being that different in that regard though. Job placement and salaries are equivalent.
I must also respectfully disagree about the ACT “easily compensating” for his GPA. The mean GPA for students accepted into the CENG to start in 2018 was 4.21 (the MCA caps at 4.20). That means the “average” student was perfect in that regard and that includes several majors that aren’t very selective. It counts for 2250 of the 5000 max score. The mean ACT was 32 and SAT was 1480. That section is the next highest level of possible points, but 600 points less at 1650.
In the end, points are points and the more better. If he can get more through re-testing that would certainly help. Raising from a 34 to a 36 won’t net him as many points as getting a major related job for 1-5 hours per week. In a perfect world, he would do both. If he’s doing any additional prep, he might want to concentrate on just the math and english sections since that’s all they use. Again, more is probably better, but having a 34 composite in the bag is likely sufficient for any other school he’s considering.
@eyemgh, this Friday my son and I are meeting with a former fraternity brother of mine and Mechanical Engineering Professor at IIT about an internship. He got his PhD at MIT and was one of six featured Alumni at our 20 year reunion so he is the real deal. In college, we just knew him as a jovial knucklehead like the rest of us. Ironically, we only learned he was smart when on graduation we asked what he would do next and he said “Well, I’ll be getting my PhD in ME at MIT”. He is now doing research on self-driving cars now (something my son finds interesting) and he has agreed to take him on as a full time summer intern, part time during the school year. Goes to show how valuable the networking side of college can be. I never looked at it as networking. He was just a friend. That said, there is no way my son gets this internship had I not built that friendship 20+ years ago.
On grades, it is very possible the admissions adviser was just making my son feel better. Prior to learning that California schools grade GPAs differently, we were fat, dumb and happy thinking he had a 4.55. There are not a lot of kids in his high school who have gone the all honors path and he felt it would benefit him. It likely still will in other ways because he should get 7 AP credits when all is said and done. I’ve heard graduating in 4 is tough at CP so that head start should help him.
“Goes to show how valuable the networking side of college can be.”
Fair or not, I can’t overstate how important connections and networking are. It’s unfortunate, because it distinctly disadvantages some, even very accomplished students. Without them though, the hiring process can function like a black hole.
My son went an OOS public university where he knew exactly two people. Both cousins. He had had an insulated life in terms of school and classmates, and could have picked a number of schools where he would have been with a number of people knew and others with just a few degrees of separation. But he wanted the school he picked, and so that’s where he went. He’s happy. I think he’d Have done better around more familiarity and a smaller school as he does do better with more personal attention—I think most people do
Wouldn’t an AP Music Theory help your son’s GPA, plus give him an art credit? Or does he need to perform, like in choir? I do wish my daughter had taken that in high school. Her civil engineering flowchart shows she needs to take something in the arts and that would have been one less class to take.
Fortunately, I was reading along with this site , so I kept repeating to my kid over and over a couple years ago, “don’t forget to input your middle school algebra and geometry grades in the application.”
Whenever @eyemgh tells a poster about how to calculate your MCA points, I usually just glaze over and say to myself, “Eh, SLO knows how to figure it out. Let them do it. Why waste my time?” (kidding)
That could be said about many classes, even the easy ones if the student doesn’t take them seriously. I was just trying to think of a way to get the arts credit (which would garner more MCA points for the applicant) and improve the GPA. Ideally, the applicant should have some music background, and interest, first though.
That’s not bad at all. Better than the SUNYs. I just never heard of anyone going to SLO from OOS. Not many going to the UCs even, other than LA and Berkeley. That’s the whole time I’ve lived in Midwest, Northeast and MidAtlantic areas Not a one from all my kids graduations going to one of the CA public schools other than those two.
@cptofthehouse: If you have to pay OOS fess at $65K/year for the UC’s, you would only want to go to the best and most prestigious UC’s which are UCLA and UCB.
That’s why 15% surprised me. Even the lesser known UCs are more illustrious in rep than, say, the SUNYs which are cheaper for OOS. I’m guessing international students.
Also, aren’t the Cal States less pricey than the UCs ?
I paid OOS premium for one of mine to go to his college choice. Though it was less than a $10k per year premium for that school over their instate prices. But our SUNYs were much less expensive with much lower name recognition
@cptofthehouse “Also, aren’t the Cal States less pricey than the UCs“
Yes, the in-state tuition at the CSU colleges are about $7500 to $9500 while the UCs are about $13500. For example, 4 years COA at Cal Poly SLO is about $118,000; at UCLA about $143,000.
OOS residents at SLO pay tuition of $21,000 and UCLA about $43,000, per year. A big difference over 4 years.
Chiming in myself to emphasize a few things, although most of what needed to be said was said. I have two daughters, one a CPE graduate working for Apple now and one rising sophomore majoring in IE. Both love the school and we are OOS (WA state).
Major. I think the CS will be a stretch for your son, and SE marginal. He will certainly get into IE. The only problem though is that he won’t be able to transfer into SE/CS from IE. It will be a lot easier though to transfer into EE, and that makes him more attractive to startups. Although a controversial strategy to some, something to consider.
Academics. Stretching himself during HS was useful, it guarantees success in college and life. It will certainly make it easier for him to do well academically, which is very important to get good options for internships/jobs. Unless he is passionate and likes computer stuff he won’t succeed in either CS or SE and he should not even consider it, he will feel miserable.
Startups. It will be harder for him to get (well paid) internships with an IE major, much easier (but no slam dunk) with CS/SE. I have worked for big, well known tech companies and I can tell you it might be much better professionally for him to start in a big tech firm. Engineering is a profession where you learn most of the stuff from other engineers in the industry, rather than college, although it is important to get a solid basis from college. You have a lot more structure and a lot more engineers to learn from in a large tech company than a startup. Startups are a lottery, both in terms of outcome/odds of striking it, but also in terms of finding people to learn from. It might be wiser to intern/start with a big tech firm and then move to a startup. When I look at resumes on a weekly basis I value more people that spent a few years in a big firms than people that switched frequently between startups, which is bound to happen.
Diversity. This is a hot button topic for some. Cal Poly is 55% white based on official government stats. https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?110422-California-Polytechnic-State-University-San-Luis-Obispo
While it has the highest ratio of caucasians in CSU schools, it is actually a lower ratio than either California or the entire US and it is certainly closer to what you are likely to encounter in real life. It also feels more balanced than UC Irvine which is 14% white. I am not making a judgment and I don’t think there is a magic ratio anywhere or that either school is good or bad. I know people that went to both schools and I can tell you that most kids these days do not really care about any of that. Bigots are everywhere, but they are a tiny albeit visible minority (not unlike real life) and they are certainly heavily discouraged by the schools. Cal Poly has this ratio for things totally unrelated to any school or state policy, but that is a separate discussion.
Options. I highly suggest he applies to UIUC and Purdue. Those schools have good reputations in the industry and in the startup community and many firms hire from there. He has good odds at those schools, and while they’re not California, they are good schools nevertheless.
Good luck!
I will also throw out a word of caution about dumbing down the senior courses just for a boost at one school. That could backfire for the others on your son’s list. Not only will RD schools expect first semester grades, students self report what they will be taking on the common app, so even EA schools will see the course rigor.
(kidding)