<p>Algorithm explained:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.act.org/epc/ppt/EPC%202013%20F1.2%20Maraviglia%20Amos.pdf”>http://www.act.org/epc/ppt/EPC%202013%20F1.2%20Maraviglia%20Amos.pdf</a></p>
<p>2014 projections from which competitiveness of each major can be inferred:</p>
<p><a href=“IR Home - Institutional Research - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo”>IR Home - Institutional Research - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo</a></p>
<p>Great find!</p>
<p>I’m soooooo fortunate to have been given keys to the kingdom </p>
<p>They’ve been around. I just got tired of constantly hunting them down over and over, so I figured I’d start a thread so they won’t get buried.</p>
<p>@eyemgh
Thanks for the stats and info. As you have stated in some of your other posts, it’s often “how well you play the game” instead of just your GPA, test scores, and how many AP classes you take - and why seemingly “overqualified” applicants are wait listed or rejected when others with seemingly “lesser” stats are accepted.</p>
<p>Wish there were a way to pin this post so that young high school kids and their parents could see the rules to get into CP if it is their future kingdom - so that when the time comes to apply their senior year they can check all the boxes, so to speak, for the maximum points. </p>
<p>I don’t know that this is still how they do it, but at least it gives some insight into the process they go through. Specifically, the head of admissions ranked GPA, rigor, test scores and ECs as the order of importance in their assessment of applicants. It appears though in that version that test scores count for twice as much as rigor. Maybe the title should be Keys to the Keyhole of the Kingdom, since we’re just really getting a peek.</p>
<p>It does seem pretty clear that as they said in admissions, GPA, as calculated by CP SLO and not the student’s high school, reigns supreme. It counts for nearly half of the possible points. It’s also clear that there are bonuses accessible only by some that make big differences. For instance, if a student attended a Hayden partner school, what ever that is, and neither parent had any college, they’d get a 1300 point bump. In a 5000 point algorithm, that’s big. A student from a partner school and where neither parent had more than high school education with a 3.4 GPA and an 1100 SAT would have more algorithm points, by quite a bit, than a student with the highest counted CSU GPA, 4.2 and a perfect SAT of 1600.</p>
<p>“For instance, if a student attended a Hayden partner school, what ever that is, and neither parent had any college, they’d get a 1300 point bump.”</p>
<p>^^ Here is where I am unclear. The algorithm assigns 300 points for each parent that has “some or no high school” which I took to mean exactly that, and which, to me, is not the same as a parent that has some or no college. I calculated my daughter’s MCA score without including those extra points because her dad and I both graduated high school although neither he nor I attended college. But I also looked at <a href=“http://www.ir.calpoly.edu/sites/ir.wcms.calpoly.edu/files/publications_reports/cds/cds1314.pdf”>http://www.ir.calpoly.edu/sites/ir.wcms.calpoly.edu/files/publications_reports/cds/cds1314.pdf</a> which shows on page 6, section C7, that Cal Poly considers “first generation” as a factor in admissions decisions. </p>
<p>So, to CP, is a “first generation” applicant one whose parents had some or no high school or one whose parents did not earn college degrees? Or, are the 300 points assigned for only “some or no high school” but CP still gives some consideration for what is traditionally considered a “first generation” college student? Pretty murky! In any event, my daughter was accepted for Political Science and did receive bonus points for 10 semesters of math (500 pts) up to AP Calc AB, 4 extra semesters of lab science (200 pts) and 2 extra semesters of foreign language (50 pts) for a total MCA score of 4151, for those who might wish to compare. </p>
<p>Those are good questions. I don’t know the answer or even if this is the algorithm they currently use. It’s really just to show that Poly is objective and to illustrate that what’s important to them may not line up with what other institutions think. </p>
<p>How do you take 10 semesters of math, when there are only 8 semesters for four years of school? </p>
<p>Anything in middle school at algebra or higher counts. Plus some kids take outside courses at a community college. And some high schools let you take more than 1 at a time.</p>
<p>Oh thanks!! I took algebra 2 in an online class. Does that count as two semesters?</p>
<p>You’d have to check with admissions. They have different criteria for different course modalities. Good luck!</p>
<p>Ok thanks!! One last question. If I took Spanish in 8 th grade, does that count as two semesters?</p>
<p>That is also going to depend on your school district, so you will have to ask specifics. For example, our district gives Spanish in 7th and 8th grade and it counts as one year of high school Spanish 1. If your 8th grade class counts as Spanish 1 and you start Spanish 2 as a freshman, then yes I would think it would count as 2 semesters.</p>
<p>It’s more clear cut on Math since Geometry is Geometry no matter when you take it. Languages are frequently taught at a sub HS level in middle school, but sometimes you’ll see 8th graders and juniors mixed in a true HS class. I’d follow the advice above and call.</p>
<p>Oh, so I took two years of Spanish one. How could I get 8 semesters of language if my school only goes to Spanish 3? </p>
<p>What does mca gpa mean? Looking at the “keys” and saw something with mca gpa. Thanks</p>
<p>eyemgh, thanks for posting the keys. It helps a lot. I’m going to be choosing classes for junior year pretty soon and was wondering if you could help me that would increase my “points” for the cal poly acceptance. Thanks so much!! :)</p>
<p>Should have said. “Help me choose”</p>
<p>Look at the algorithm and try to max out the number of desired semesters in order of importance, math, lab sciences, English, followed by the others with points. Make sure you meet EVERY required. Note: stats doesn’t count for math.</p>
<p>So if I had a job would I get bonus points for that too? </p>