@CaucAsianDad - Go Gators! My kid loves it more every day.
ThanksâŠpretty excitedâŠchanged my icon to Seawolf dad (lol)âŠmy D just shakes her head âcâmon dad really?ââŠI had a friendâs S went to V Tech for civil engineeringâŠproud HokieâŠhad nothing but positive things to say about the school as well.
Cal Poly is more of a tech school, itâs in the Cal State system but itâs very different. Not a commuter school like most of the CSUâs. I think itâs more akin to a Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech? When people say Cal Poly they generally mean slo. The acceptance rate is in line with the mid tier UCâs. The cost of attendance is considerably less. The acceptance rate for competitive majors like computer science and engineering can be Ivy range. The UCâs were intended to service the top 10% of CA students, my daughterâs in the top 9% of in state applicants, yet she was shut out of UCâs. But, she was accepted at slo. I feel like I have the slo app dialed in. If you child decides to apply message me and I can break it down for you. There are no essays, but they use an algorithm that gives points for rigor, hours of ECâs, leadership, work experience, etc⊠The UCâs will give you no aid, except maybe a very small merit scholarship. Iâve heard of Cal Poly giving merit to oos students, but not huge awards. The cost isnât insane though, so it could be competitive overall.
@dfbdfb Hereâs what you need to knowâŠ
Cal Poly SLO annual OOS tuition is only $20,000 - VERY reasonable for such a great and selective school.
OOS tuition at most of the UCs hovers around $40,000 with very little merit aid available.
Cal Poly SLO is very good for STEM, correct? My younger son will be looking at tech schools for engineering and likes schools such as RPI, WPI. MIT ( lol), etc. He has a fantasy of going out to CA to Harvey Mudd ( another lol) so I am just going to have to read up on his options out there. I think cost/distance will probably keep him around the Northeast, but he has a dream at least for now.
@STEM2017 I just looked up the pice of Cal Poly, that does seem like an unusual bargain.
@RightCoaster If your S is looking for West Coast STEM, CPSLO should definitely be on his radar.
Cal Poly SLO is very very good for STEM. No doubt about it. And its not a safety by any means - its tough to get in.
My S is currently on their wait list.
@RightCoaster SLOâs most known for engineering specifically. I donât really know about their other STEM programs, but engineering is their standout. Their motto is âLearn by doingâ and you will hear it ad nauseum at any tour there. So a very hands on approach to engineering.
@STEM2017 , Iâll do some more research later, but is there engineering school super duper competitive? Younger son has very good grades right now, but no test scores yet. Heâll be a decent applicant to a lot of places, but not sure on the tippy tops? Heâll probably study ME, but like design/engineering and biomedical engineering.
Good luck to your son on the waitlist!
@RightCoaster I think the acceptance rate for ME at SLO is in the 12-15% range. CS appears that it will but under 10% this year. I think BME is even harder. A couple of others have much higher acceptance rates such as Industrial Engineering.
1000 dollars not 1000K LOL
@RightCoaster Iâm not positive, but I think the acceptance rate to their engineering school is below 30%. So yes, its pretty competitive. Also, their admission is strictly formulaic (MCA score). Applicants dump all their ECs, work history, test scores, and grades into the app and their algorithm ranks you - thats it.
My S applied for aerospace engineering. He probably should have applied for civil or industrial if he really wanted to go there. But his major was more important than his school - smart kid.
San Luis Obispo is spectacular. Its definitely worth a look. Perfect weather and scenery every day of the year. If your S gets in, he may never come home.
Thereâs a guy on CC called eyemgh - heâs the CPSLO guru. Heâs a huge fan and knows everything you need to know. Also gumbymom.
Thanks @youcee, good info.
For all you folks with engineering kids, how did you find the acceptance rates of schools broken down by their intended major? Iâm sure youâve all talked about this somewhere in this thread before, but it probably flew over my head as I didnât need that data at the time. Thanks for your help/insight.
@RightCoaster You can calculate an approximate acceptance rate for each engineering major at Cal Poly from the data at his link: http://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/2017-18%20Enrollment%20Targets%20and%20Projections.pdf
Multiply the target by 3 (their yield is about 1/3) and divide by the number of FTF apps. Looks like I was a little low for ME and BME acceptance rates, but they are still tough. Yield may vary by major, so 33% is just an approximation.
From a thread in which âeyemghâ posted how his S ended up choosing CPSLO. I think its pretty awesomeâŠ
@RightCoaster For acceptance rates by major for engineering, I think I only found a published value for UCLA. Cal Poly is a guesstimate based on their published application and target numbers. I saw Berkeleyâs a few years ago, but havenât found it the last couple of years. I heard UCSBâs ME (maybe engineering in general?) acceptance rate at an orientation a couple of years ago and doubt it has changed much (15-17%). UCLAâs was 9.8% for ME last year. I could not find those numbers for other schools we looked at.
Cal poly has very good data publicly available. You can see their targets and yield and figure out next yearâs projected acceptance rates by major. We were somewhat strategic here in my daughter wasnât sure if she wanted to major in math or statistics. Statistics had a 17% higher acceptance rate, so we went with that. Once your child has test scores you can figure out their mca score and see if they are competitive for their major. Have your child max out their EC hours if they are considering slo. Make sure they have leadership, and get them some work experience related to their field of study. Points are applied for all of the above. The other BIG thing I can offer, my daughterâs boyfriend was denied because he didnât list junior high math. He started high school in trig, obviously took algebra and geometry in junior high. But, he didnât list it, so it doesnât count. Points are allotted for the number of semesters of mathematics. Screw this up, and youâll be denied.this goes for foreign language too, if you took it in junior high you must list it and itâs not very obvious to do so.
^^. Very helpful re-post @STEM2017 . That is exactly what my son is looking for. He loves hands on and labs with toys and group projects. Ok, thanks everyone for some great info today! I will add that to the list for son19. We have a rough short list started for him, Iâll show him Cal Poly SLO later. Itâs obviously a reach, but will be good to think about at the least.
A brief Cal Poly SLO discussion going on here @eyemgh. I re-posted above one of your fantastic thought pieces on the college. Hope you donât mind.
There is also a Visual & Performing Arts requirement that some OOS students miss too at CP SLO.
@RightCoaster Calpoly SLO admits directly to majors based on the MCA score, which is detailed here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19077718/#Comment_19077718
Quite competitive for most types of engineering.
Lots of Califorinia-style complexity over A-G requirements, etc. Let us know if you have questions or Eyemgh is very helpful.