What are my chances? (Real original, I’m sorry)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1

I’m applying for Cal Poly Software Engineering, and I’m not sure how my scores stack up. Out of state, but I’ve heard that doesn’t really matter.

4 years history
4 years english
6 years math (including 8th / 7th grade algebra1 and geometry)
1 year biological science
3 years physical science
2 years foreign language (is this a deal breaker? Spanish at my high school is notoriously difficult)
2.5 years preforming Arts
1.5 years electives (its a dual enrollment CS corse, should I put it down as APCS or College CS?)
I have taken 5 AP classes, scored 4 on all of them, and plan to take 4 more my senior year.

My calculated GPA is 4.33, unweighted is 3.93

My sat score was 1370, I’m really worried it might not be enough.

What are my chances? Anything I should know before submitting? I know CS majors are very exclusive at Cal Poly, but I love the school.

2

SLO admits by major and MCA score. Here is how to calculate your MCA Score. SLO’s GPA calculation uses 9-11th grades for the a-g CSU course requirements. You get 8 semesters of extra honors points for AP/IB or DE courses taken 10-11th grades only. You can use the RogerHub UC GPA calculator and plug in your 9-11th grades:

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Make sure you put any Foreign language or Math courses taken in Middle into the 9th grade section so you get full bonus points for these courses.

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).

3

The application is kind of hinky. You need to make sure you don’t overlook putting in the higher math classes (Algebra and above) in middle school. If you get to the end and that didn’t pop up, don’t submit until you figure out how to get it in. It will make a substantial difference.

As for instate vs OOS, OOS students are ranked together, away from the instate students. There’s some conjecture that it might be a little less competitive OOS since CP is well known instate as a great school at a great price.

Good luck.

4

Your test scores will hurt you. For 2017 the average GPA for engineering was 4.17, but the average SAT was 1467 and average ACT was 32. CS is more difficult to get in than the average engineering major. If you can get your test scores up it would greatly benefit you. https://admissions.calpoly.edu/prospective/profile.html. Being OOS may help as there are fewer applicants than in state.

5

There are fewer applicants than there are for instate, but they allow far fewer slots for OOS. The bigger question is quality of applicant pool. There’s conjecture that the OOS pool MIGHT be slightly weaker because CP isn’t as well known beyond the west coast.