REJECTED: Stats, major decision and advice to future prospects

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1

<p>‘You have not been selected for admission to Cal Poly.’</p>

<p>Cal Poly is not my top choice school, so I’m not too bummed out and therefore don’t damage my pride too much by sharing the details here.</p>

<p>In terms of things Cal Poly sees as a state school, I will exclude extracurriculars and show sheer numbers.</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.02
SAT: 2020</p>

<p>Courses included:
English 1H, AP Chemistry, English 2H, AP Biology, AP Statistics, English IIIH, AP Government/Politics, AP Calculus AB.
3 years of ASB leadership zero period (though they don’t see positions I was in)
3 years of Journalism (though they don’t see than I am this year’s managing editor)</p>

<p>What can it be chocked up to?
Aside from the fact that Cal Poly is a strong and therefore selective school, one thing remains somewhat notorious of the school and that is sensitivity to majors in admission results.
I applied for the Psychology major, and my peers seem to be pretty convinced that it was this choice that lead to my rejection. I will later post the schools I DO get into, assuming of course that I get into any :stuck_out_tongue: Still confident, though.</p>

<p>My advice to current juniors (or younger) hoping to go to Cal Poly is to either base your coursework strongly towards the major you intend to apply for if you can, and to do some research on the which majors are popular, which ones are impacted, etc.</p>

<p>For example, I know someone last year who had a 3.8 GPA and a 19-something SAT, which isn’t remarkable but also is by no means bad. As it turns out, he applied for the Biochem major, which, according to the admissions office (whom he contacted), has a 3% acceptance rate. I was also aware that either civil engineering or architecture (not sure which one it was if it was just one) are also pretty exclusive and difficult majors to gain acceptance on at Cal Poly. I didn’t do enough research and therefore picked Psychology basically because of the majors offered, it bored me the least. For those who really intend to go to Cal Poly, look at their list of majors and make up your mind now, and do your research on how difficult it is to get in. Cal Poly has, for example, a food/agriculture major where the average stats are a 3.2 GPA and an 1100 SAT.</p>

<p>Best of luck to the rest of y’all! Any input would be appreciated as I do not actually know of the exclusiveness of the Psychology major at Cal Poly SLO.</p>

2

<p>Rejected | Business</p>

<p>In-State resident
Cal Poly GPA: ~3.4
SAT: 1870 (1330)
Extracurriculars: 16-20 per week</p>

<p>Courses included:
AP English Literature as a junior; AP Government + AP Statistics as a senior</p>

<p>I realized that my stats weren’t up to par for Cal Poly’s business school and I didn’t really like the campus when I visited, but I figured I might as well apply because it’s a respected school and it’s dirt cheap. I’ve already been accepted to UC Merced (through their “Count Me In” program; I hadn’t originally apply there), Ohio State with a $8,700 scholarship, and Arizona State with WUE reduced-tuition, a small $750 merit scholarship, and acceptance into the Barrett Honors College; that adds up to about $9,300 less than OOS sticker price at ASU, minus the $500 for Barrett. I’m hoping that UCSB takes a more holistic approach and looks favorably upon my extracurriculars (4 years varsity, ASB officer, NHS, various clubs, etc…)</p>

<p>Advice? Grades & SATs are the name of the game at Cal Poly. Aim for that 4.0 and prepare yourself for the SAT or ACT. I was the kid in class that just skated by; I was smart enough to understand what was happening in class, but I never studied for anything or put in the effort to exceed in any of my classes. I never studied for the SAT and I don’t know if those SAT classes really work, but I know I could have gotten much higher than my score had I applied myself. </p>

<p>Good luck, and congrats to those that got in!</p>

3

<p>Rejected | Biological Sciences</p>

<p>In-State
CSU GPA: 3.74
ACT: 31 (32 if superscored)</p>

<p>Advice: Don’t panic…CSUs are one of the few places where only numbers matter, so it’s a complete lottery. Also, those people who go to tougher schools where it’s tougher to get higher GPAs are kind of **** outta luck. In my opinion, don’t rely on SLO and plan for other universities as well. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>These posts were on another thread last year:</p>

<p>“Admission is done by major and not by the univerity or even college. That means there are a hundred separate admission processes. Some majors are more difficult to get into than a top-tier UC. Others may be easier than bottom tier UCs.”</p>

<hr>

<p>Replying to a previous post from a kid who said that “less competitive applicants apply to Cal Poly”.</p>

<p>“I beg to differ that it is “easier” to get in that most of the mid tier UCs. It depends upon the major. Also, you have to remember that Cal Poly just does not just look at GPA and test scores. Rigor of courses account for a lot. Also, Cal Poly considers freshman year, when many kids do not take honors. I bet most of the kids at Cal Poly were accepted to the mid tier UCs and some from even the top tier UCs. I know my son turned down a few UCs for Cal Poly-Irvine, S.B., and Davis. Additionally, some kids who were not accepted to Cal Poly were accepted to the mid and top tier UCs.”</p>

<hr>

<p>“In recent years, these 4 schools (CPSLO, UCD, UCI, UCSB) have had VERY similar stats for incoming freshmen. The reason that CPSLO has the lowest “Acceptance Rate” is because it is the smallest of the four schools --18k, vs. 25k(D),22k(I),20k(SB)-- and therefore has fewer spots available. Also, Cal Poly is by far the least expensive of the four, so it is the best financial value, and is more attractive to many applicants for this reason.” </p>

<hr>

<p>My take on it:</p>

<p>I really think it’s a crapshoot with *many *colleges. They simply just cannot take everyone who applies with stellar stats. I realize that it’s a slap in the face when your friend who seemingly has lower stats is accepted and you’re not. For a school like Cal Poly who looks primarily at the numbers, you have to wonder what little statistic makes the difference between getting in and being denied admission. Is it the amount of AP classes? Freshman GPA? Geographics? Gender? Athletic ability? Nationality? Since they don’t have an essay to look deeper, it’s hard to know what that one thing IS. But, again, it’s inevitable that not everyone who is qualified will be accepted.</p>

<p>Last year my daughter applied to 10 schools and was admitted to 7 of those. The three she didn’t get into would have been Target schools in the past. However, with the economy and more students being accepted from out of state and the country, her chances lessened. And, those schools all required an essay and one of them also had many other questions to probe a bit deeper into the student’s personality. Her fellow classmate could have had the exact same stats, however maybe his or her essay or short questions made the difference. Or that same classmate could have had lower scores, GPA, but do very well in a particular sport. (That *did *happen.) She did get into a well-known private school in CA which had the same format. A VERY long and personal application! However, it proved to be too costly for her to attend.</p>

<p>Either way, please don’t have sour grapes or put down Cal Poly’s admission process. It is what it is and those of you who weren’t offered admission will surely find your perfect match in another school. I’m so glad that my daughter didn’t set her sights on just ONE university. Sure, she might have liked attending one of the 3 she was denied admisstion to. But, she never dwelled on it. Instead, she moved on and chose to make Cal Poly the school she would call home for her undergrad years. And, believe me, it was NOT her first choice when she began the application process. Not until she was actually accepted and she made a pros and cons list did she come to terms with being a student there. :)</p>

5

<p>REJECTED
MechE Transfer
3.65 GPA
All required courses taken (~70 semester hours)
25+ hour work week in related field (NASA mechanic)</p>

<p>I have no idea how this happened…</p>

6

<p>I’m in my junior year of high school and Cal Poly SLO is definitely my target school. I swear I’m going to be in a state of clinical depression if I get rejected, and looking at the stats of those who did, I don’t think my chances are great.</p>

<p>ARCHITECTURE</p>

<p>GPA (so far): ~4.0 weighted, ~3.6 unweighted</p>

<p>Projected SAT : 1700-1800 (I’m taking an SAT prep class to raise that)</p>

<p>Coursework(frosh-senior): 6 honors, 7 APs, I’m taking an English class and Stats at a CC this summer to meet SLO’s recommendation of 5 years of English and 4 years of Math. The 5 years of English was a wonder to me. Do classes like Journalism count?</p>

<p>EC: Volleyball (junior year), leadership positions at various clubs, ~50 hours of community service, show choir</p>

<p>Any tips? Do they really look at your classes and see if they are relevant to your desired major? Thanks</p>

7

<p>Rejected. Not my number one though.</p>

<p>BIZAD</p>

<p>Overall GPA 3.9
AP Classes
Work Experience
1780
28</p>

8

<p>@2leashes :open_mouth:
doesn’t it cost ~$65 to apply to a school? </p>

<p>sounds a little like senoiritis, but my high school counselor said that they look at your sophomore-junior years and don’t pay attention to your senior year (and this makes sense, since you apply ED before December)
should i take some AP courses for my senior year? would they matter or affect my chances of getting into SLO at all?
i just don’t see the point of trying so much harder if the class isn’t going to matter</p>

9

<p>I’ve done the app process twice with my S and D. unlike most CSUs - and I think UCs – cal poly looks at freshmen grades, not just sophomore and junior. Regardless of how they factor it, there is a specific question on the applications (CSU and UC) where you have to tell them what you are in the process of taking and what you plan to take. I know for certain majors at SLO and for certain UCs, they definitely look at the rigor of your senior year classes.</p>

10

<p>i got rejected but i wasnt even expecting to get in because my stats were pretty low since i applied for EE. my suggestion to future applicants is for SLO ur GPA matters A LOT (my friend go in to engineering, not sure which, with a 4.0 but 1700 sat) if you’re doing for engineering the competition is tough (check the other slo thread so many amazing applicants rejected) and make sure you understand the difference between a SLO education and a UC. i would say if you’re going for a B.S. and don’t really have plans for masters go to SLO because it has amazing connections and job recruiters on campus :smiley:
if you do plan for masters i would lean towards more UC only because a UC has more prestige than a CSU and from what i have found out from looking up info online and what not that does hold a nice weight when applying for future education.</p>

<p>Good Luck to all future applicants and congrats to all those that got in this year (and previous years)</p>

11

<p>To cheeseitman: University of the Pacific had a free application online. Some schools were $55. At least one was $45. Stanford was like $90!</p>

12

<p>well *****, i really hope that GPA isn’t the only factor because mine is whatever the opposite of stellar is.
according to the SAT website 5% of students had between 3.0-3.24 GPA, does anyone know why they were admitted?</p>

<p>@2Leashes
correct me if i’m wrong, but it sounds like you are saying that your daughter got into Stanford and not Cal Poly? how is that possible?!</p>

13

<p>GPA does NOT seem to matter that much to SLO. Read the posts. MANY people with 4.0 and higher GPAs are getting rejected.</p>

<p>I’m a transfer student and let’s just say my GPA is hideous. And yet I got accepted.</p>

<p>Don’t worry, they will cancel their offer of admission when they realize their mistake. LOL
This is probably my last chance at college (LONG story), so I really hope they give me a chance to improve. I am already depressed and don’t think I can take another setback. When they actually accepted me it gave me hope. :-/</p>

14

<p>GPA does matter. Cal Poly uses a ranking system based on SAT and GPA, then they take the top students from those rankings. ECs don’t matter much though. If you got rejected, you can call and ask why. I had a friend who did that, and they told him the lowest test scores and GPAs they accepted, and he was below the GPA requirement. Good luck!</p>

15

<p>could you perhaps tell us the GPA requirement?
i talked with a college-help person and they calculate some sort of score for all the CSUs, i know some places like SLO have about a requirement of 4000, i don’t know about any other CSUs but that’s all i remember</p>

16

<p>A friend in one of my classes right now applied as a transfer student. She got rejected for business. She called and asked why she got rejected and they said the cut off GPA for that major was 3.6. GPA does count.</p>

17

<p>The GPA requirement is different for each major, and year-to-year depending on applicants. They do that scoring thing, but I’m not sure exactly how it works.</p>

18

<p>I applied for Business Admin. freshman and got in with a GPA of 3.41 and SAT I of 1840 (M:730, R:580, W: 530) and SATII Math of 780, and Mandarin of 670</p>

19

<p>hmmmm I disagree with the people that say extracurricular do not matter. For one thing, cal poly slo has a policy of “learn by doing.” it was only recently that they incorporated a supplement to their application, of course that part is going to be considered during admissions. As proof here are my stats.</p>

<p>Accepted, Computer Science B.S. Major (heavily impacted as it is in their college of engineering)
uc gpa: 3.42
sat: (also I am pretty sure they look at 1600 scale for this, rather than the 2400 scale) 1400 (1600 scale)
1970 (2400 scale)
Leadership all 4 years
around 150-170 hours of volunteer
(its been a few months since applications, I actually don’t remember the rest of the supplement, I do know for almost all of them I had the max amount though)</p>

<p>I am pleasantly surprised I got in, as this was my second choice college (UCSD being my first, but I got rejected there) I have to say, I attribute the following that helped cover my bad gpa. Good extracurriculars, leadership, and attended one of the top public high school in the nation. </p>

<p>Sorry to the people that didn’t get in, I am sure you will find another place, to future people planning for cal poly slo, there is always a chance. I gave myself around a 20 to 30 percent chance to get in, but I did so remain hopeful. </p>

<p>Accepted: Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UCM, UCR, UCSC, UCD
Rejected: UCI, UCSB, UCSD, UCLA</p>

<p>gl to all.</p>

<p>EDIT: forgot to mention, its also good to have some high school classes that relate to your major.
EX:
Freshman Year: Computer logics and algorithms, Intro to programming
Sophmore Year: AP Computer Science A
Junior Year: AP/IB Computer Science AB
Senior Year: Computer Science: Advanced Topics (IB class)</p>