Parents thread! 2014-2015

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
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<p>To correct some of the misinformation out there regarding change of major at Cal Poly:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/academicpolicies/policies-undergrad/change-major.html”>http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/academicpolicies/policies-undergrad/change-major.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There is also more specific information about changing into individual majors on the advising pages for the different colleges (CENG, CAFES, OCOB, CSM, CAED, CLA).</p>

<p>Keep in mind that the College of Engineering at CP loses many students to change of major (and some to flunking out), creating openings in majors that didn’t exist previously. Only about 2/3 of those admitted to CENG graduate from CENG. It is by no means easy, but for a student that can pass the required classes, it is not impossible to change majors into even some of the most difficult to get into majors.</p>

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<p>Great comments-all of you! I appreciate them all! It’s been quite a ride! To be honest, I did think she had a great shot with her stats (high on GPA and right in middle of averages on ACT) but apparently not for a Kin major (that is one of the things I have learned much to our dismay!) What I also didn’t point out is that she did actually get invited to apply for Honors acceptance at SDSU in December which she did! SDSU is a fantastic option and seeing how many of the kids on these threads will also be attending there, if she chooses this option, she will be in great company! She has not made a firm decision yet as she is also waiting on UC’s. However, we do think SDSU can offer her everything she is looking for and more! Just not the “away” part necessarily! (I just can’t wrap my brain around how you can be denied at one top State school and awarded Honors at another! :slight_smile: That really surprised me!)
My comment about being lifelong California taxpayers and how perhaps that should give someone some bonus points relates to how this state treats its students. For example, UNC-Chapel Hill which we would all agree is a competitive public ivy reserves 82% of its highly sought after spots FOR NC residents (by state law). Our top public, taxpayer supported universities, for example, UCLA and UCB, have merely 66% California residents. Clearly, CP being a smaller university is not as high but it is probably growing as well.
Thanks again for all the supportive comments! My next two children will be able to avail themselves of all the great information you have all provided!</p>

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<p>Notice, number one on the list found in the link above: “The majors for which the student was eligible at time of admission”. Poly does this specifically to make it very difficult to “back door” into a difficult admit program. That is why it’s far easier to move “down” rather than “up.”</p>

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<p>Glad you seem to have cooled off this morning, Seashel. Knowledge is power. And Google can lead you to all kinds of knowledge. :wink: It definitely helps to know all you can about the college admissions game. If you have a favorite target school, do your research about that school’s admissions process, the sooner the better. Often tailoring your high school curriculum to what that school rewards most can be the difference, or in Cal Poly’s case, knowing the majors for which you are more than competitive. </p>

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<p>@Seashel,Oh, and congrats to your daughter on her acceptance and invitation to the honors college at SDSU. I’m sure she will have a great college experience. :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>Hey everyone! I’m a student and couldn’t help reading all off your thoughts and feelings about the events leading to now so far. </p>

<p>I just checked my Cal Poly Portal and I have been rejected, or something along the lines of “You have not been selected to attend Cal Poly.” </p>

<p>Yes, I am pretty sad, because this was along my top choices for Computer Engineering. Just have to wait for UCSD, UCLA, Berkeley, and Irvine coming out in the next few weeks. </p>

<p>As always, good luck to the rest of you. </p>

<p>A bit my more info about myself:
GPA (unweighted): 3.83
GPA (weighted): 4.11
SAT: 2000
Around 200 hours of community service /internships. </p>

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<p>From above:

[QUOTE]
“Our top public, taxpayer supported universities, for example, UCLA and UCB, have merely 66% California residents.”

[QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Those %s are worth a deeper look, particularly since most of us on this board are primarily interested in undergraduates. At UCLA, 82.3% of undergraduates (23,591 out of 28,674) were from California in Fall 2013; at Berkeley the figure was 79.4% (20,463 out of 25,774) in Fall 2012 (couldn’t find % for 2013).</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.aim.ucla.edu/tables/enrollment_demographics_fall.aspx”>http://www.aim.ucla.edu/tables/enrollment_demographics_fall.aspx&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://opa.berkeley.edu/statistics/UndergraduateProfile.pdf”>http://opa.berkeley.edu/statistics/UndergraduateProfile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@Lecter I got my information from this site on all UC campuses, but it is clearly not as detailed as the pdf’s you located for Cal and UCLA! Thanks for the update!
<a href=“http://www.admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/berkeley/index.html”>http://www.admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/berkeley/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>From the UCB Berkeley website:
17% out of state and 13% international for the freshman class, I assume last year.<br>
<a href=“http://opa.berkeley.edu/AnalysesReports/Fall2012SnapshotBerkeleyUndergraduates.pdf”>http://opa.berkeley.edu/AnalysesReports/Fall2012SnapshotBerkeleyUndergraduates.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That’s not good news for the CA tax payers…</p>

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<p>My S just got accepted to UCD, UCI, UCSD, for CS and is waiting for UCLA and UCB. It’s funny that Cal Poly is the only school he was denied so far. He completed all calculus classes + differential equation + two programming classes in CC with 4.0. His SAT was 2200. Cal Poly admission process is worthless. They collected $2.5M in application fee for doing a terrible job. </p>

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<p>Congratulations, vienxu, to your son! He has some great options! Wow, CP has certainly become quite exclusive in some of their more competitive majors!</p>

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<p>I’m not saying the admission process at Cal poly is right, but it isn’t a secret that all majors are impacted and no one applying is assured admittance. I really don’t think you can blame them if they collect $2.5M in application fees. I think the application to Cal Poly is so easy that they get a lot of applicants that would think twice if the application was more involved. </p>

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<p>@vienxu- I completely agree with you. My S is in sync with yours. Additionally, he received an engineering likely letter from UCLA yesterday. I believe there simply are too many applicants for too few slots in engineering/CS and they fill in ED. Its time for Cal Poly SLO to detach from CSU application process because it does not screen its applicant pool deeply enough. Its almost a money making scam for Cal Poly to even ask for these kids to apply RD when most all the slots will be filled ED/OOS.</p>

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<p>@Minnymom - I agree with you. It would be nice if there was a warning for next year’s in-state applicants that applying Regular Decision to SLO for engineering or any of the many impacted majors is like giving them a donation.</p>

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<p>SLO’s selectivity should come only as a surprise to those who didn’t do their homework. I’ve read over and over about disgruntled applicants and their families who didn’t get into SLO, their “safety,” when, for their major, Poly was the toughest admit on their list. That’s not Poly’s fault. That’s pilot error.</p>

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<p>I don’t think people here are surprised by SLO’s selectivity. We are seeing OOS/ ED admits with equal and in some cases lower stats than RD, in-state rejects. The system doesn’t work for “match kids” (not safety)who wish to have options including Cal Poly in late March before they commit to a school.</p>

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<p>You can’t possibly know their stats as they’re reported here. The algorithm is much more complicated than my GPA is X, my SAT is Y and my ECs are Z. You think you’re comparing apples to apples, but unless you are comparing actual MCA scores, you aren’t. Granted, some of their multiple criteria they use aren’t earned per se and may end up admitting a kid from a disadvantaged family or school over an equally or better qualified student from more privilege. It’s no different than Ivys taking URMs or Stanford giving an undue boost to legacies.</p>

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<p>ED is a dangerous scheme that’s Poly is playing. Other school will soon provide the same to compete for qualified applicants. IMHO, it will be known as an overrated state school with unfair admission process.</p>

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<p>This is from the Common Data Set for Cal Poly for the 2012-2013 school year:</p>

<p>For the fall 2012 entering class: </p>

<p>Number of early decision applications received by your institution: 3,591
Number of applicants admitted under early decision plan: 1,104
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) men who applied: 19,855
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) women who applied: 17,086
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) men who were admitted: 5,752
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) women who were admitted: 5,793 </p>

<p>Overall 11,545 freshman were admitted out of 36,971 applicants.
So, the admit rate for ED was 30.7%, lower than the overall admit rate for freshman of 31.2%.</p>

<p>Less than 10% of total offers of freshman admissions were given out at ED. More than 90% were offered at RD.</p>

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<p>I found the numbers for fall 2013 entering freshmen:</p>

<p>Number of early decision applications received by your institution: 3,984
Number of applicants admitted under early decision plan: 1,343
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) who applied: 40,402
Total first-time, first-year (freshman) men who were admitted: 13,953</p>

<p>So, the admit rate for ED was 33.7%, again slightly lower than the overall admit rate for freshman of 34.5%.</p>

<p>Again, less than 10% (9.6%) of total freshman admissions were given out at ED. More than 90% were offered at RD.</p>

<p>It is clear that ED applicants are not getting all the spots for new freshmen at Cal Poly.</p>

<p>It is possible, however, that the competition for those approximately 1,100 ED spots is not as tough as the competition for the almost 13,000 spots available at RD. </p>

<p>During ED, you have mainly 3 kinds of freshmen applicants:

  1. Those whose highest reach and dream school is Cal Poly
  2. Those who are a fit for upper and mid-tier UC’s and exclusive privates, but whose budgets limit them to CSU prices
  3. Those who are convinced that Cal Poly is the best school for them regardless of budget considerations or what other schools they might “fit”</p>

<p>Missing from ED are those applicants who aspire to attend upper and mid-tier UC’s, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc, but also apply to Cal Poly. Because these are missing from he applicant pool at Early Decision, it can make it easier to get one of the 1,100 ED spots than one of the 13,000 RD spots, especially in some of the more competitive majors. </p>

<p>Remember, too, that OOS students get around 10% of total freshmen spots, and don’t have to compete against California applicants.</p>