Understanding the MCA plus Calculator

@evergreen5, once you’ve maxed out the courses for the MCA bonuses, you can overflow anything that’s left that also meets the elective requirements into the elective section. There’s very little that won’t pigeonhole into one of those categories, basically PE and religion (I’m sure @Gumbymom could come up with a few others).

As for GPA it is weighted with up to 8 AP/IB semesters (honors do not count for OOS students) and although they report GPAs higher than 4.2 and you can have a GPA a little above 4.2, the MCA (the best we know) is capped at 4.2. In other words a 4.2 and a 4.3 both get max MCA points.

Also, your calculation is correct about adding As and oddly DECREASING your GPA. It’s because the more classes you add, the more they dilute the power of the weighting.

Good luck!

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Thank you @eyemgh ! That is super helpful.

@evergreen5: Electives are a-g courses beyond the minimum CSU/SLO requirements. You can list them under the a-f category or under the g- College Prep category. For example for the History/Social Science CSU/UC requirement:
Two years, including one year of world history, cultures, and historical geography and one year of U.S. history or one-half year of U.S. history and one-half year of civics or American government.

You would list those required courses under the A-History/Social Science section of the application. Any course that is considered a A-History/Social Science course can still be listed under this category but it would be an elective beyond the requirements.
So if you take World History, US History, Government then you have fulfilled the requirements. If also took AP Human Geography/AP Psychology/AP Econ then they would be an elective in the History/Social Science Category or could be used in the G- College prep category.

In general, competitive applicants take above the minimum requirements.

@Gumbymom Thank you! That makes sense. I had hoped I’d never need to get into the a-g weeds, but here we are. My junior attended a college fair (OOS) and the Cal Poly table was quite busy, interestingly.

@eyemgh @Gumbymom Thank you. So helpful.

Can you take a look at this list of engineering schools? I want to study mechanical or materials engineering at a hands-on engineering school.

CalPoly SLO is my 1st choice but is a reach for me.

Here’s my list so far: Rose-Hulman, Oregon State, University of Utah, Arizona State, WPI, University of Colorado and Colorado State, Olin

I live in WA state and can probably handle private school tuition but public would be a lot easier.

Thanks.

We are from Oregon. OSU has a strong program and a pretty campus. Their knock is that they still offer a pre-engineering path. you don’t really get hands on or even declare a major until 3rd year. The do not offer WUE so it would be expensive.

Colorado State declares second year. The campus and location are both beautiful. They do offer WUE so it would be more affordable.

CU has a solid reputation, but being OOS and non-WUE, it never interested our son much.

Rose has a great reputation, but its location and M:F ratio turned my son off.

Olin is love it or hate it. It’s VERY small. the do give half scholarship to everyone. You’d have to visit it and Rose to know for sure.

WPI is very unique with their short terms and project based curriculum. My son was VERY interested and almost chose it ver Cal Poly.

The sleeper is Utah. My son almost chose “The U” over CP too. They offer WUE, but he got even more money. They ME curriculum is innovative and hands on early. The campus is pretty and the town is bustling and vibrant. They’re rabid about their sports teams.

All in all, a solid list. If you can, visit and run the tuition calcs to determine if they are affordable.

Good luck.

Lastly, if you want to continue this thought train, you’re better off starting a new thread. It’s not very germane to the MCA topic.

https://mca.netlify.com/

In the MCA calculator, I see “Hours of Extracurricular Activities Per Week” and “Held a leadership role in an extracurricular”.
But I do not see them in the CSU application form. How will CP-CLO know about my extra-curriculars?

@TonyStark748159, Is this really a question that needs to be asked by a corporate titan and superhero such as yourself? JK ?

It should be on the app. If you can’t find it, call admissions for clarification. They are very helpful. If they point you to where it’s at though and you overlooked it, they won’t allow that as grounds for appeal. Good luck!

Not sure which app you’re looking at (actual digital one or an image?), but when my daughter filled it out, there were a couple of the campuses that had a tab for “supplementary information” or something to that effect. Cal Poly was definitely one of them. I can check with her tonight to see exactly where to find it if you need more help.

Yes, there were two tabs for SLO. If I remember correctly, one was where you indicated a major and the other had questions about work experience and extra curricular activities. There were also at least a couple of places where you had to click acknowledging that you included any applicable junior high math and LOTE.

I find the MCA for CalPoly and the EI for San Diego State and other CSUs refreshing. There is more transparency based on quantitative measures than essays and extracurricular loading, which is subjective. (and the MCA still gives you credit for extracurriculars too)

I just wish other schools would do the same.

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FYI, CSUs will be test blind for this fall. Thoughts?

https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/CSU-to-Suspend-Standardized-Testing-Requirement-for-Upcoming-Admission-Cycles.aspx

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No way to comment. Cal Poly hasn’t openly acknowledged the MCA since 2013 or so. As recently as last year parents have confirmed that the school still uses it. It has likely changed with the change in the SAT, but we don’t know how. Nor will we know how this impacts it. I’m sure their application guidelines will flesh that out a bit, but how they translate to a calculator, no one knows. I think the only safe statement now is to advise maxing out on anything and everything they say is important.

Does anyone know how SLO as well as the MCA calculator tool handle work experience and ECs that aren’t consistent over the year. An example would be a summer job or a volunteer opportunity that the student attends a one or two weeks a month.

@elwha22: Take the total # of hours for the EC’s or job and divide by # of weeks. You do not list each EC but just a total hours per week that you have participated.

You calculate the total number of hours and divide by 52 to give them the hours that you participated only for the 12 months prior to your application.

I just had a quick first glance at the MCA (Multi-Criteria Admissions) “scorecard”, a comprehensive selection process. Personally, I think it’s a very straight forward formula to determine an applicant’s admission eligibility. MCA also gives
non-academic bonus points. But does MCA give bonus points to URM applicants?

I’d say it’s a very effective merit-based formula yet fair and holistic one if offers some bonus points to URM applicants.

If I were a high school student today, Cal Poly - SLO would definitely be one of top two or three choices for best value institutions.

@CalCUStanford Are you not familiar with Prop 209?

At any rate, as discussed in post #1, you can see the guestimate of what is included in the MCA here: https://mca.netlify.app/

Keep in mind that CSUs, including Cal Poly, will be test blind this fall.

Not so fast for SLO.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/education/article242103256.html

That’s a “wink, wink, nod, nod” to me.

@sushiritto When the test blind policy for CSUs was first announced, I emailed Cal Poly to ask whether scores might be considered for OOS applicants. AO responded, “As a California State University (CSU), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will not be considering standardized test scores for Fall 2021 admission as indicated in the Cal State website.” Thanks for the link! It sounds like their approach may be evolving.

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