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Cal Poly SLO least impacted major?

SunflowergirlrydSunflowergirlryd Registered User Posts: 80 Junior Member
in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering what the least impacted major is in Cal Poly in the college of Agriculture, food, and environmental science. Before I get negative feedback, know that I'm not trying to get in with the least impacted major just to get in, then switch. I know that is a TERRIBLE idea for Cal Poly cuz its so hard to change majors, plus I already know what I'm majoring in. Anyway, I just wanted to see how high my chances were for having little competition in Environmental Managment & Protection? any guesses? thanks!
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Replies to: Cal Poly SLO least impacted major?

  • eyemgheyemgh Registered User Posts: 5,485 Senior Member
    That's one of the easier admits at Poly, although not the easiest. They projected an admit rate of 52% for the class just admitted for that major. Not sure what the actual was. Good luck.
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  • engineerismeengineerisme Registered User Posts: 238 Junior Member
    Can you tell me where you got that data broken down per major. I can only find it per college.
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  • SunflowergirlrydSunflowergirlryd Registered User Posts: 80 Junior Member
    @eyemgh I did the same calculation off of the data I found for each college, but where did you find that for the specific major?
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  • eyemgheyemgh Registered User Posts: 5,485 Senior Member
    The Keys to the Kingdom post pinned at the top has the projections for this incoming class. Take the number of slots for FTF (first time freshmen) multiplied by three (yield of 33% which is typical for Poly) and divide that into the total number of expected applicants. Remember these were PROJECTIONS for this class, not actuals, but it will give you a relative idea. Good luck.
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  • eyemgheyemgh Registered User Posts: 5,485 Senior Member
    @engineerisme‌, 24% for Computer Engineering.

    If you got into Poly, congratulations. If not, you're not alone. There were lots of students in the tougher admit engineering disciplines (ME, CE, BME, Aero) that got into UCB and UCLA, but not Poly.

    The person who ranked your schools on your chance me thread clearly did not understand the difficulty of admission for some majors at CP SLO. Across all majors in aggregate, Cal Poly only trails UCB and UCLA in selectivity. For some high demand majors, Poly is the toughest admit of all publics in CA.
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  • engineerismeengineerisme Registered User Posts: 238 Junior Member
    eyemgh;

    Yes I did get into SLO and am currently attending. I have a brother who will be graduating this next year. He would also like to attend. He is considering Computer engineering, software engineering and computer science. If I did the calculations correctly Computer engineering is much harder to get into than the other two. Is that correct?
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  • engineerismeengineerisme Registered User Posts: 238 Junior Member
    Oops I see I made a mistake. It looks like computer science is the hardest followed by Computer engineering followed by Software engineering.
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  • eyemgheyemgh Registered User Posts: 5,485 Senior Member
    Correct.
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  • averyswaverysw Registered User Posts: 2 New Member
    Wondering if Math level achieved in HS affects admittance chances to one major over another. Taken Alg in 8th, Geometry, Alg 2, Stats, Trig (1 semester class), and now AP Stats senior year. I'm looking at two possible majors -- Recreation, Parks and Tourism Admin major in the Ag/ Food Environmental Sciences School OR Environmental Studies and Sustainability in the school of Liberal Arts. SLO truly has amazing majors, I just know I'll love either one of these. .. just a matter of getting in.
    My tests/ GPA put me right at or a little below avg for these schools within SLO, but not getting to Pre-Calc and going Stats and AP Stats route may have hurt me.... would help to know to see if I need to find a few more safe schools.

    My stats:
    ACT: 28
    SAT I: 1200 (Math is 560 and CR is 640)
    9 -11th academic GPA is 3.79 unweighted and 4.3 weighted
    @eyemgh seems very knowledgeable ... so hopefully he/ she or someone else

    Thanks in advance for the help you're providing us all out here.
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  • eyemgheyemgh Registered User Posts: 5,485 Senior Member
    The math bonus is applicable to all majors and unfortunately statistics isn't counted, only the pure math classes, Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, pre-Calc, and Calc. As it stands, you will meet the minimum requirement of 6 semesters, and get a 125 point bonus for Triginometry (part of pre-calc). The max math bonus is 500, so you aren't as helped as you could have been, but not hurt per se.

    As for your chosen majors, the second doesn't exist at CP (at least that I can find). Environmental Earth Sciences and Environmental Protection and Management are both in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.

    All of your selected majors were predicted to admit more than 50% of their applicants with Recreation Administration being the least selective and E Mgt and Protection being the most selective.

    Your GPA also needs to be run through CP's GPA calculator as they use their own weighting method.

    What I can't effectively do is to "Chance" you. I can tell you that within the CAFED, the average GPA was 3.9, using Cal Poly's own weighting, and the Average ACT was 28 for 2014 admits. Once you calculate your Poly weighted GPA, I believe you'll be close to this year's group. The challenge lies in the fact that every year Poly gets harder to get into and no one has any idea of how qualified next year's applicants will be. What you have in your favor is that they admit strictly on an objective algorithm.

    If you have time, you might want to try to boost your ACT score (it's your better test, 1260 SAT equivalent). Recreation Administration is your best shot. I'm not being pessimistic in this last suggestion, but recommend it to anyone applying to selective schools, have a school that you KNOW you will be able to get into and you KNOW you'll be able to afford, that most importantly, you KNOW you will like, so no matter what you won't be deeply disappointed if you don't get in.

    Good luck!
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  • SunflowergirlrydSunflowergirlryd Registered User Posts: 80 Junior Member
    @eyemgh Of these majors: Environmental Earth Science

    Environmental Management & Protection

    Environmental Soil Science

    Forestry & Natural Resources
    which one is the easiest to gain admissions into?
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  • GumbymomGumbymom Forum Champion UC Posts: 26,414 Forum Champion
    edited October 2014
    One Question: Are you trying to get into Cal Poly SLO in the easiest major possible just to gain admission and then plan on trying to change your major? If so, the Adcoms know all the tricks and they make it difficult to change majors at SLO (but not impossible). Just wondering or do you have a true interest in pusuing an Environmental major?
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  • eyemgheyemgh Registered User Posts: 5,485 Senior Member
    edited October 2014
    Forestry was predicted as the least selective of your choices for this entering class. I'm not sure how it ended up though. Also, this is all based on predictions for last year. The simple fact is, next year will be different, not greatly, but different. Just discussing this here will likely change the admit profiles as students seeking the easier admits could rush to them and thus make them unintentionally more competitive.

    Heed @Gumbymom‌'s advice. If you don't want forestry, don't apply. You might not get to change later. It's far easier to change from a tough admit like ME to an easier admit like Forestry than the other way around.

    Good luck.
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  • SunflowergirlrydSunflowergirlryd Registered User Posts: 80 Junior Member
    @Gumbymom yes I am I definitely interested in an environmental related major. I'm most interested in the environmental management &protection major, but if it's easier to get into with the earth science major I'd be okay with that too.
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  • GumbymomGumbymom Forum Champion UC Posts: 26,414 Forum Champion
    edited October 2014
    You do realize that SLO makes it difficult to change your major, so if ESM is your preferred major then you should choose that major. My older son was accepted into the major 2 years ago with a 4.2 CSU GPA and an ACT of 25. Although his ACT was lower than average, but he almost maxed out on the bonus points awarded due his extra Science/Math/Language and Art classes.
    He opted to go to UCD, but SLO was his 2nd choice.
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