I know that cal poly looks at 9-11 grades unlike all other csus. My CSU gpa is 4.04 capped and weighted and my unweighted is 3.74. My cal poly gpa would be 3.94 for weighted and 3.66 for unweighted. My SAT score is 1410, and I’ve recently taken two subject tests(BIO and Math 2). I sent the scores already and im expectin a good score fhave over or bio but a not so good score for math 2. I’m only sending two ap scores for AP Lang and AP Environmental Science. I got a 3 and a 4, respectively. Can someone estimate my chances at Cal poly Slo with my stats for a biology major. Thanks.
I also have over 500 hours of comm. servic and 19 a-g approved ap and honors courses(per sem). I have 27 honors and ap courses including ones that are not UC/CSU approved
SLO does not consider your AP scores or SAT II subject tests in their admission decisions so a waste of money if you sent them in.
You need to calculate your MCA point score. You have a competitive SAT score and your GPA is within range but with around a 13% acceptance rate, the decision could go either way. SLO only cares about the UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE courses in their GPA calculation.
When you do the MCA point calculation, you do get bonus points for taking extra Math/Science/Language/Art/English courses so depending upon the HS courses you have taken, it could help your chances with these bonus points.
Here is how to calculate your MCA points:
MCA information:
Academic MCA:
The maximum GPA they will use is 4.2, even though you can have a higher calculated CP GPA. A 4.2 is worth 2250 MCA points. Thus, multiply your CP GPA by 535.7 and you’ll get your MCA points for GPA.
The next biggest thing is test scores. The odd thing, likely because they wanted it to total a nice round number, is that the max score is 1650, even though the max SAT score is 1600. Multiply the total of your best SAT CR and your best SAT math by 1.03125 to get your MCA test points. If you took the ACT, they convert and vice versa.
The third largest section is the class rigor score, worth 750 points. In this section you get zero points for meeting the minimum admission requirements and adders for more than the minimum. The bonuses in order of power are (min semesters/max total semesters/bonus per extra semester/total possible bonus): math 6/10/125/500, lab science 4/8/50/200, English 8/10/50/100, foreign language 4/8/25/100, visual performance 2/4/25/50, no bonus points for social sciences or electives. As with GPA, you can actually score higher than the maximum, but 750 is the most they will count.
Finally, work and ECs, worth 350 points. Work (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/20, 6-10/40, 11-15/60, 16-20/80, 21+/100, add 50 points if work is major related. ECs (hours per week/bonus): 0/0, 1-5/30, 6-10/60, 11-15/90, 16-20/120, 21+/150, add 60 points for leadership role.
There are also other Non-Academic Bonus Points:
CA vet/701, Hayden Partner School/700, faculty/staff dependent/700, service area of CP/500, either parent with some or no HS, but who DIDN’T GRADUATE FROM HS/300 (per parent).
FYI: You posted this in the UC general thread.
TY. and oops about the wrong thread. Also do u think applying for microbiology would be less competitive.
Microbiology has a slightly higher projected acceptance rate in the 20%+ so if you are interested in that area of study, I would opt for Microbiology (FYI- that was my major at the other Cal Poly).
probably not but, it is worth a shot. Be sure to apply elsewhere too. SDSU, CPP and UCR are 3 that ought to be on your list.
good luck.
Also, I recalculated my cal poly gpa and it’s a 4.0 weighted and 3.67 UW. @Gumbymom Where did u find the acceptance rate of each major?
There are projected target/acceptance rates for SLO posted here: https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/2017-18%20Enrollment%20Targets%20and%20Projections.pdf
Again these are projected and they will fluctuate from year to year. SLO is overenrolled this year, so they may be accepting less Freshman for Fall 2018.
ok ty. btw what does ntr and ftf @Gumbymom?
NTR= New Transfers
FTF= First time Freshman
Since there is no “official” formula posted by SLO, the rule of thumb is you take the # of FTF targets multiply by 3 and divide by the FTF apps. This is based off the assumption that SLO has approximately a 33% yield rate for enrollment.
Nothing is set in stone but it does help gauge the selectivity of each major. Your chances are dependent upon the stats (MCA points) of all the other applicants in your intended major.
As @Gumbymom said, Cal Poly is over-enrolled this year and the university president strongly implied that the classes would be balanced out over the next year or two. What he specifically said was that there was no intention of maintaining a student population in excess of 21,500-22,000 range within the next five to ten years. They were at 21,300 in the Fall of 2016 with around 4,300 FTF and 800 NTR. They had an unexpected over-enrollment of more than a thousand freshmen for Fall 2017. Simple math means that they will cut back new admissions (both FTF and NTR) in 2018 and and 2019 by hundreds per year.