I’m a senior in HS and I’m interested in Cal Poly school of engineering (not sure yet which discipline). I’m still trying to figure out if I even have a chance of being accepted and I’m trying to calculate my MCA score but I have several questions:
First of all my GPA is a mediocre 3.9 (should go up if i include middle school grades)
ACT: 34
Class Rigor: all Honors/AP/Dual enrollment when possible. Never taken an elective
ECs: several jobs over the years, various clubs, and one year of a varsity sport
I’ve taken quite a few of dual enrollment classes with local universities, how are those weighted in the MCA compared to AP?
At my high school, all classes are one semester long, but there are only 4 total classes in a semester, would I just call these full year classes on the application since they are worth a full credit? (full credit classes are one semester, half credit courses are just one quarter)
I’m OOS if that matters. I live on the opposite side of the country, so this MCA stuff is new to me.
Thanks for any help! Don’t be afraid to call me an idiot
My MCA should be between 4400 and 4500 if I’m doing this right. If i take the ACT in November and prepare properly i think i can get my Math/English score up a little bit. I’m mostly interested in ME or AERO. I knew this school was a reach but do I have any chance of making it into those majors?
A target MCA of 4700+ can make you a competitive applicant for SLO Engineering majors. ME and Aerospace have low acceptance rates around 8-15% so you should consider SLO a Reach. It really depends upon how you compare to all the other ME or Aerospace applicants.
Since your are OOS and will be full pay at around $40K/year it may help your chances.
Your GPA probably isn’t the GPA they’ll use. You have to run your courses through the CSU calculator using grades 9-11. @Gumbymom can point you to it. Middle school grades don’t count. They’re only used to calculate rigor. If you didn’t use that calculator, your GPA will be higher. CP only uses the Math and English section of the ACT, not the composite score. DE classes only count as HS classes, but they are very powerful if you get in. Lastly, I’d call admissions and ask about how to count your classes. My guess is they say put it as two semesters. Good luck.
For calculating your CP GPA you can use the Rogerhub UC Calculator but include your 9th grades for the a-g courses taken. OOS applicants get extra honors points for AP and IB classes only taken 10-11th grades, but not HS based Honors courses or DE courses.
Another thing to know. Your GPA is a stretch for the most competitive majors (CS, CPE, SE, ME, Aero) but might be a match for others. It is going to be close to impossible to switch into CS, CPE or SE once you get in, but doable within reason for most other engineering majors. You might be an easy admit into majors such as IE or GE and as long as you don’t want to switch into any of the computer related majors you should be able to switch provided you meet the other requirements (grades, etc). Good luck.