At my school, we take 8 classes a year so I am not worried about credits. However, my junior year, I had to transfer to a charter school due to personal problems and my mental health. I only took AP Calculus AB and Honors English. I got an A in both classes but I’m very worried that it would look like I slacked off. I am a part of key club and the varsity captain for track. I am planning on taking English and Engineering at a community college this summer to compensate but I’m not sure if it will count for my Junior year when applying to Cal Poly SLO. I had a 3.6UW Freshman year, 3.8W 3.2UW Sophomore year, and a 5.0W Junior year with my 2 classes. Could I possibly salvage my chances with my senior year?
Your GC should write about the fact that you had to transfer and that caused anomolies in your classes.
For Cal colleges…check out that you meet all the requiremetns for courses (A-G)? that may be needed.
Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades in the a-g course requirements. They cap their Honors weighting to 8 semesters or 4 year long classes taken 10-11th grades. They also admit using an MCA point score and major. You get rigor points in the MCA points calculation for extra years of Science, Foreign Language, English, Art and Math. Unless the Engineering is considered an a-g transferable course, I would spend my time taking English and another a-g course such as an extra Science if you have not taken Chemistry/Physics and Biology.
SLO selection criteria: https://admissions.calpoly.edu/applicants/freshman/criteria.html
Senior year course rigor will be considered but grades are not included in the GPA calculation
I will link the Rogerhub UC GPA calculator and input all your grades 9-11th including summer grades prior to 12th to get your Cal Poly GPA.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Your capped weighted UC GPA will be your Cal Poly GPA if you input all 9-11th grades.
Here is the MCA point calculation information. You will be ranked based in your MCA points and major. Also be aware that there is a huge discrepancy between major selectivity at SLO. Some majors have acceptance rates below 10% and some at 90%.
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).
Lastly,
Cal Poly ACT/SAT Concordance Chart in case you took ACT (use only Math and English and figure out the two equivalent SAT scores)
ACT CR M
36 800 800
35 770 790
34 760 780
33 750 760
32 720 730
31 700 700
30 680 680
29 650 660
28 630 640
27 610 620
26 590 600
25 570 580
24 550 560
23 540 540
22 520 520
21 500 500
20 490 480
19 470 460
18 450 440
17 440 410
16 420 390
15 400 360
14 380 330
13 360 300
12 330 280
11 300 260
Here’s how it works. Cal Poly does TWO “READINGS” one of academic only and one after adding additional non-academic bonus adders. The reason I put readings in quotes is that they don’t actually READ them. A computer tallies points and then ranks students.
If you need more information about SLO, I suggest you look through the decision threads and final status threads for ballpark MCA points by major.
Also if you have any other questions in regards to other Cal States and UC’s, do not hesitate to PM me.
Best of luck.