No public school in CA is allowed to give advantaged or deny advantage based on race. That said, cal poly does indirectly give advantage to traditionally disadvantaged students by giving extra points to students of Hayden Partner schools and to students who have one or both parents without a high school degree.
@evergreen5 , @sushiritto , @eyemgh : Thanks for the information. It’s interesting to note the demographics difference of this year entering freshman class between UCB and Cal Poly - SLO.
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Overall, I think MCA based scorecard is by far the best well-defined admission criteria assessment I have known in years.
Has anyone discussed what the test optional situation and the wacky disparity in grading from school to school in Spring of 2020 will do in light of the MCA calculator? For many other schools they are saying test scored can help but not hurt (thats a whole other conversation), but what happens when a computer is figuring it out? I apologize if this has been addressed somewhere else, I am just not finding it.
@tysonfam: I do not think anyone knows so if you have questions, I would contact admissions.
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Cal Poly doesn’t publicly comment on the MCA anymore other than to acknowledge it exists. So, no idea.
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Dear @Gumbymom,
I saw this is in a previous thread, and it made mt wonder if we received bad advice:
“I am one of those idiots who lost 300 points because I did not include my middle school Algebra and foreign language. As a result, my MCA dropped from 4500 to 4200 . . . do you think I am out of luck”
My son did take Algebra in middle school and he also took Spanish in middle school, but his freshman year, he took Algebra 1 and Spanish 1, (he was advised to do so bc the high school was limited in its offerings) so I am guessing that is why his college counselor said to forego putting down any middle school coursework?
Just want to be sure we arent omitting anything!
Thank you!
Don’t want to step on @Gumbymom toes, she’s the “best-est,” but yes, you’re correct. If your son had taken Spanish 2 and Geometry as a HS freshman, then an applicant would enter their HS classes taken in middle school. Repeating them freshman year doesn’t count, unfortunately.
My D21 is also applying and my D18 applied way back when.
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@sushiritto is correct that since both Algebra and Spanish 1 was repeated in HS, there is no reason that these courses would need to be listed for Middle school. SLO’s algorithm for the MCA will not take into account the repeat courses for extra rigor bonus points in the MCA calculation.
@Gumbymom: we are another casualty of not indicating middle school classes on the Cal Poly SLO application. Our son took Algebra and French 1 in middle school, then started with Advanced Algebra and French 2 in 9th grade. Not sure we understand all this MCA mumbojumbo, but it appears to change his score from a 4670 to a 4520 since we left that information off. I believe he can request a change to update his application. Is this something you would advise?
@ChiSea: SLO allows some changes to the CSU application but making or adding course changes is not one of them.
Also the MCA calculator is not accurate since test scores are not considered this year.
From SLO website:
Changing Your Application
There are a limited number of changes you can make to your application once it is submitted. All submitted changes are subject to approval. We are not able to accept changes to grades or coursework, including your twelfth-grade schedule or self-reported GPA.
Argh. That’s so disappointing. He feels so mad at himself for not understanding the importance of middle school classes when he filled out his Cal Poly application-- can’t say I blame him. It’s a little weird. Thank you for the expertise and advice Gumbymom!!!
@Chisea: SLO’s admission process is different from the rest of the Cal states so it is a common problem where Middle school courses are not submitted. The CSU application when my son’s applied was a bit more straight forward so the Middle school courses were not routinely missed.
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So is everything done by computer then? So if a candidate say didn’t put in their honors classes in the drop down correctly would they then be dinged on rigor as well even though their transcripts show that they had the highest rigor their school offered??!
SLO does not allow changes to their application after submission so probably yes. Since I am not in admissions, I am not sure if the application information is first reviewed for proper input or just flagged by the computer if there are issues. What issue did you have regarding flagging your Honors courses? This would effect your GPA and possible HS rigor. There is always the appeal process if it comes to that.
My child had it correctly entered as an honors course. She was confused on the A-G (OOS) and as she shared her screen. Her HS advisor told her she couldn’t put down any of her honors courses and told her to take them off. Said it was only for California applicants. She had 7 honors courses and 6 APs. So unbelievably upset as this was not her mistake. She asked the “expert” at a very competitive high school.
That is not a mistake. OOS honors courses cannot be designated as honors courses in the app, per the Cal Poly admissions office and I think also per the Cal State Apply instructions. If anyone has heard differently, please post.
Nonetheless, I have often wondered whether Cal Poly might take a more holistic view of OOS transcripts, based on what I see in the Naviance scattergram.
No it is not true. Talked to cal poly rep. They accept honors from OOS
I have an email from them saying the opposite. (Wow this is really frustrating.) Actually, let me clarify. They cannot be designated honors if the high school does not weight honors courses, even if they are actually honors courses. So, it depends on the high school’s weighting system. (Our high school only weights AP courses, not honors courses. Yet, at least in past years, the high school has done quite well with acceptances to Cal Poly.)