I am currently a junior and a resident of California. I have an SAT of 1300(first time taking and hoping to improve), an unweighted GPA of 3.58 and a weighted GPA of 4.16. I want to apply to a microbiology or general biology major there with interest in med school(but not some super elite med school, just want to be your average dermatologist!). What do you think are my chances of getting in? Also done science olympiad, moot court, piano for 10 years, part of CS, NHS, and nhs.
I suggest you visit the Final status link and look at the stats of the accepted/waitlisted and denied applicants. I would say SLO will be a tough admit but that is true for the majority of applicants.
You can search for a specific major in the thread by using the magnifying glass in the upper right of the thread, type in your key word and all posts with the key word will be listed.
SLO admits by MCA points and major. SLO also uses 9-11th grades in their GP calculation unlike the UC’s or the rest of the CSUs
Here is the calculation:
MCA information: https://mca.netlify.com/
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).
My son is a junior in high school and wants to optimize his chances of being accepted to Cal Poly next year. My question is: he has 3 years of Spanish but cannot fit in the 4th year as a senior and no junior colleges are offering Spanish 4 this summer. I was told he could take French 1 this summer for his 4th year of foreign language. Do you have any info on taking a new language to count towards 8 semesters of foreign language?
@Izzy7: It needs to be 4 years of the same language to get the full points for the MCA. I would also start your own post if you have further questions, since it is considered rude to hijack another posters thread.
whoops so sorry. I am very new to this so I had no idea
I retook the SAT awhile ago, and went up to 1370 (on the new SAT). Is this competitive enough or should I retake the SAT again?
@SaltyMama: What are your calculated MCA points?
About 4600, when I calculated right
4600 can be competitive for Biology and more competitive for Microbiology. You might want to search through this thread and look for the posts from Biology and Microbiology applicants and see how you compare.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/2128373-cal-poly-slo-2019-final-status.html