MCA score is around 4600
ACT: 32
Female
Cal Poly GPA: 3.87
A couple of EC, volunteering and unpaid working experience and leadership roles
Thank you very much for your input in advance!
With a less than 10% acceptance rate and a below average CP GPA (average Engineering GPA 4.16, it will be a Low Reach. Your ACT is on target but you want around 4700+ MCA points and an applying to the most competitive major at SLO, it will be a tough admit. You might want to consider Software Engineering (around a 30% projected acceptance rate).
Also take a look at the MCA point decision thread to see what level of MCA points for CS were accepted last year.
This past year my son’s two friends were rejected from CS with ACTs of 35 and max Cal Poly GPAs. Was not a big deal for them as Cal Poly was a “backup” and they ended up getting into their first choice programs- one at Stanford (early decision) and the other at Brown. If you look at last years admissions thread you will see CS applicants getting waitlisted with MCAs as high as 4765. So, if your heart is set on attending Cal Poly I would advise you to pick a different major. Good luck to you!
Among Cal Poly students there’s sort of a shrug amongst CS and SE students when they’re pressed to explain the difference. If you know you want to go to Cal Poly, SE, for now, is the easier admit, and offers similar job placement and salaries.
Don’t discount Computer Engineering. From my industry insider perspective and personal experience with my daughter, recruiters do not distinguish between the 3 majors when hiring. Additionally, I feel Computer Engineering might provide a more complete education as it gives a solid knowledge of the hardware space, which makes degree holders more versatile on what they can do. CS focuses exclusively on software, languages, algorithms, which is not bad, but from my perspective might be over doing it. Once they get in the industry they’re still novices and have to work for years to gain professional expertise. CPE majors start from a wider base with their broader level of knowledge. The difference is not big though. Additionally, from what I heard from my daughter, switching between the three once you get in (and I believe switching even from EE) is very easy, provided you have good academic standing.
Here are the flowcharts for each so you can compare.
http://flowcharts.calpoly.edu/downloads/mymap/15-17.52CSCBSU.pdf
http://flowcharts.calpoly.edu/downloads/mymap/15-17.52CPEBSU.pdf
http://flowcharts.calpoly.edu/downloads/mymap/15-17.52SEBSU.pdf
@Gumbymom , thank you very much for your input!
@choroidal & iulianc, CE is harder to learn is what I have heard. I want to get in a good college, but I also want to graduate from the college with a higher gpa. Thank you for your suggestion!
@eyemgh , thank you for your suggestion, what’s the difference between cs and se? Thank you.
They are quite similar. From what I understand, CS is a bit more theoretical and SE a bit more practical. In reality though, nearly all CS majors enter a job where they are doing practical coding, not theory based research. So, again with my limited knowledge, they are very similar.
Don’t fear Computer Engineering because you think CS or SE might be easier. They are all going to be hard and lots of work. That said, Computer Engineering has a hardware focus that the others don’t. Typically they have a little different job focus when they get out, less writing code and more developing hardware. There will be plenty exposure to coding, but it won’t typically be front end.
@Tulip02 here is my suggestion. The major you do will be critical for the rest of your life. You’ll hopefully spend one third of the next 40 years of life doing what you’ll learn in school. Your main purpose should not be to finish with a high GPA, but rather to get solid knowledge that would set you up for success in your profession. This profession is changing very fast and requires a vast amount of knowledge that changes completely every few years at least. You will hate what you do if you don’t enjoy this learning process, you will be miserable and very likely unsuccessful. I don’t expect you to know already if you’ll like it, but think about it through this journey 
There is little to no correlation between the GPA you get and how successful you are in this industry, although a higher GPA might help initially to land you in decent internships. So don’t be afraid or phased out by comments that one major is slightly harder than another. Take that as a challenge. If you like it fine, if you don’t like it chances are you would not like the entire thing anyway and better look for something more suitable. Good luck
@iulianc, I agree that mastery is far more important than grades per se. I do wonder though how much GPA is correlated to future success, not simply getting a job, but doing meaningful work and advancing. I asked my son, who is a ME at Poly and has a relatively high GPA (he’s in TBP which requires a student be in the top 12% of their class) what the difference between a 3.8 and a 2.8 student was. He said it was really just one thing, work ethic. He was inferring that there are some smart students who will be good engineers in their jobs who have 2.8 GPAs. I wonder though if the work ethic and drive, as an intangible, might pay off in more “success?” Just a thought.
Actually, there is significant research on the correlation of GPA and success. Here is an older study: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00983503
More recently, Google did extensive studies on the predictor of professional success for new college graduates working at Google, measured in the long term performance evaluations at Google. Very little to no correlation to the school you attended, grades, SAT scores, etc, etc, etc. The only thing that is slightly correlated is that kids in the top 50% at good state schools tend to do better at Google. The speculation is that they are humbler, learn early on to do well on their own without a strong support system behind them, etc. All that correlates well with my limited and unscientific personal observations, having worked with, managed and hiring quite a few number of interns and fresh graduates.
All documented in this book, which is a very good read.
https://www.amazon.com/Work-Rules-Insights-Inside-Transform/dp/1455554790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498804567&sr=8-1&keywords=laszlo+bock
I do agree with you work ethic is important, especially for getting a good GPA. I am not discounting that at all and I am certainly agreeing someone with a good GPA has more chances to do well. However, the correlation between the most successful people and GPA is weak. I think it might have to do with the fact that the most successful engineers I have seen are not necessarily the brainiest or hardest working (although they are smart and hard working), but rather the ones that can work well with others, can motivate and lead people and are superb communicators. I don’t think we’re saying different things, there is just a little more nuance in what I am saying.
And BTW, my daughter has a strong GPA too, she always hovered around 3.5 or thereabouts.
Hello eyemgh- I believe someone, perhaps you, posted a link a few months back to a statistical breakdown of the admission rate per each major that gave the rates for each of the specific majors such as Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and so on for each school. Is that something you can share with me?? Thanks!
@Gormom: https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/2017-18%20Enrollment%20Targets%20and%20Projections.pdf
These are projections and can fluctuate so not definitive.