@NewPoster123, yes, with one caveat, AS OF 2013. They don’t comment on MCA anymore. Parents have posted that they do now count stats and finite as advanced math.
eyemgh, where did find these details about the MCA calcuations? please link to where the MCA formula is shown on Cal Poly SLOs web site.
As you know, because you ask this every year, it was pulled down in 2013. I still have the original. It is a powerpoint. Many older posters here have it too. I can’t link it on CC.
It is still referenced all over the CP website, including here: https://admissions.calpoly.edu/applicants/freshman/criteria.html. It just doesn’t break it down in as much detail as the powerpoint given to HS counselors did.
I stated very clearly in post #1 of this thread that it was pulled, that we have no idea if it is still in effect, that things have certainly changed since the SAT has changed and ED was dropped, but that there is no evidence to suggest that they are operating under any majorly different rules.
This year’s group confirms that. Those who should have been accepted but weren’t based on other posted MCAs left off middle school grades.
Interesting. I’ll need to dive deeper into that thread. I saw allot of extermly high stat in-state kids rejected. Didn’t see any mention of middle school from the OOS kids or In-state kids with solid (but not over the top) scores. Prehaps there’s a flaw in application that requires middle school input and disregards higher level math and lanuage mastery. But maybe not… Prehaps the higher prepared California kids are not a good fit for CP SLO.
@momneeds2no, IF the MCA as outlined the last it was publicly available to view still holds, then it’s understandable how some high stats students get rejected. The logical thing would be for the highest math and foreign language to confer that the lower classes were taken. For whatever reason though, they didn’t design the MCA that way. They count classes to determine rigor. If a student did not report their middle school math and language classes, their MCAs will be hundreds of points lower. For the most competitive majors, that will be the difference between acceptance and rejection. There were many students with extremely high stats accepted both in state and from out of state.
Regardless to what extent the MCA is currently used, it forces people on this forum to calculate their stats in a uniform manner. Many times one will post that they have high stats yet when you look into it, their ACT has a very high science section but lower math/critical reading or the GPA is 10-11 or they didn’t take art. The MCA calculation allows us to quantify “lots of EC” or “captain of sport.”
SLO has probably made modifications to the calculation over the years but for those on this forum who are looking to compare their stats to previous admits, the MCA as posted is very helpful.
@lkg4answers, a parent just messaged me to say that the MCA is indeed alive and well. They met with a counselor at the school that confirmed it was indeed used and said that it was right on the screen in her profile. Whether it has changed or not is another story. Certainly with the loss of ED and the change in SAT it has changed a little. As you’ve astutely said though, it gives a uniform metric to compare. It certainly helped put a nail in the coffin that CP rejects high stats students to protect yield.
Seems odd that CPSLO would want applicants to put in middle school math and foreign language, rather than just use the presence of precalculus and/or calculus (for math) and level 3 and/or 4 foreign language as the way to determine the MCA bonus points for taking math and foreign language beyond the minimum CSU requirement.
CSU and UC generally treat math and foreign language by level completed or equivalent, so it would be more consistent for CPSLO MCA to do it that way.
Of course, it would also be better if CPSLO went to full transparency and publicly posted the MCA formula and past years’ MCA thresholds for each major (like how SJSU, CSUN, and CSUMB publish past EI thresholds).
This is super helpful—thank you for taking the time to create this.
Can you clarify whether middle school math credit would include both Algebra and Geometry?
Also, is it correct that CSU includes bonus GPA points only for the same honors courses that UC does? For example honors English and Spanish courses do not receive a grade bump, with the exception of Honors Spanish IV.
Thank you!
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Another question— I see you considered the English points calculation as being out of a total of 8 required semesters, but that would mean you are including 12th grade courses. MCA only includes 9-11 correct? So wouldn’t English be only 6 required semesters?
Thank you!
So I roughly ran my D20’s numbers and get around 4800. Is that a good score and do you have a range of historical acceptances. She’s a likely business major.
@AwayHeGoes, my pleasure.
Basically any HS level math or language class taken in middle school count towards MCA rigor points. Typically thats Algebra I and Geometry plus the first and sometimes second year of a language.
The GPA used in the MCA uses only grades 9-11, but the rigor section uses classes currently taken and anticipated to be taken in 12th.
As for AP/IB/honors, the Cal Poly resource guide does not specifically say that it excludes any course. You can find it in step 4 of the page linked below. I didn’t review the CSU resource guide.
Good luck!
@AwayHeGoes: Algebra/Geometry taken in middle should be included for the bonus points. CSU’s and UC’s use the same UC approved courses for the honors points in the GPA calculation.
MCA bonus points are based on all a-g courses taken or in-progress 9-12th grades including middle school Math and Foreign language.
@socaldad2002: MCA points of 4800 is competitive. Much depends how she compares to the other Business applicants.
Great, that explains it.
Thank you all.
Hi, I have my youngest (rising senior in California) DD setting their target on CP SLO for Computer Science. My DS was accepted into CP SLO for Mech Eng for the 2018 freshman class (we were OOS at the time) but chose to go somewhere else - I didn’t discover this website until after he had sent in all of his applications but have learned a lot more since then.
First, thank you for the MCA dialogue and explanation. We punched in my DDs stats (just like a lot of candidates, straight A’s, AP course, high ACT and SAT scores, good ECs and work experience, etc), and we get an MCA score of 4918 using the provided online calculator. I know CS is impacted and very competitive so hard to say what that score really means.
My question is about the other criteria outside of my DDs academic experience. My wife works in a staff role within Cal State but at another school - there was a potential of 700 points for faculty/staff dependent…would anyone have any experience with that aspect of the MCA scoring? Does working within the CSU system count towards anything (outside of tuition benefits of which there are some) or is it really intended just for SLO faculty/staff only?
We’ll bring it up with admissions later in early fall on a revisit to understand what that affiliation brings with CP-SLO but thought we’d ask here first.
Thanks in advance!
@whaaa2022, it’s only Cal Poly employees. 4918 should be competitive. Have a safety.
I have a couple questions on extra-curriculars and how to calculate hours within the MCA. My son is on varsity soccer at his high-school, lifeguards in the summer (with limited winter hours at our town’s indoor pool) and is also a leader for our church’s teen retreat. All of these have significant time requirements but they’re obviously highly variable. Should he take total hours accumulated in each per year / 52 weeks or, to use soccer as an example, would he count the peak hours/week he invests during the season? For soccer, he’s probably at games & practices 20+ hours/week in-season but then much less during the off-season. Same is true for lifeguarding. He’s at the pool almost every day during the summer but only ~5 hours/week in winter when only the indoor pool is open. And lastly - how are these figures validated and/or are there standards used for say a varsity sport (which should be almost identical nationwide)?
@121IllinoisDad, CP is vague on how to interpret this. We did it like you are suggesting, averaging over a whole year. Our son was very active in several athletic and music endeavors. Over a whole year they averaged 20+ hours per week in total. This information is not validated. You only hope people are honest. At the end of the day, each applicant has to be at peace with what they supply. They are also vague on what constitutes major related work, or even whether or not it has to be paid work. We applied the same rules to work. Good luck.
Three years ago when we toured SLO, we sat in on an info session with an admissions counselor. I asked the same question as my child was a summer camp counselor which involved a lot of hours in a short period of time. The admissions counselor said to average the hours over 52 weeks but to not calculate in activities that were not within the past year.
Wondering if the new MCA calculator categories reflects the coursework required/desired by CP on their freshman admissions page? If so, there is an Electives category. Does anyone think this is likely how it is?
Based on this, would it be better to take a 4th year of Spanish or another year of a Visual Performing Art? Both categories are lacking 1 year to max out what CP desires. Any thoughts???