Cal Poly SLO least impacted major?

Sunflowergirlryd · August 2014

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!

eyemgh · August 2014

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.

engineerisme · August 2014

Can you tell me where you got that data broken down per major. I can only find it per college.

Sunflowergirlryd · August 2014

@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?

eyemgh · August 2014

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.

eyemgh · August 2014

@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.

engineerisme · August 2014

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?

engineerisme · August 2014

Oops I see I made a mistake. It looks like computer science is the hardest followed by Computer engineering followed by Software engineering.

eyemgh · August 2014

Correct.

averysw · October 2014

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.

eyemgh · October 2014

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!

Sunflowergirlryd · October 2014

@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?

Gumbymom · 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?

eyemgh · 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.

Sunflowergirlryd · October 2014

@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.

Gumbymom · 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.

Sunflowergirlryd · October 2014

@Gumbymom yeah I know it's difficult to change majors, and I applied under environmental management and protection which is my preferred major. I do know that it isn't impossible thought my cousin was able to change majors, although it was from civil engineering to history lol. I don't think I'll be able to get in tp cal poly anyway because I have a 3.39 unweighted gpa, 3.59 weighted and my SAT out of 1600 is 1100, so this is definitely my reach school.

Gumbymom · October 2014

@Sunflowergirlyrd: It is always easier to go from a competitive major and college such as Engineering to a non-competitive major such as History than the other way around.

blueskies2day · October 2014

Eyemgh, you stated earlier..."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."

Stats and AP Stats are accepted a-g courses for our high school, and AP is an accepted AP/honors course (gets additional point for GPA). I called Cal Poly admissions and they confirmed AP stats is included as an advanced math and qualifies for the MCA math bonus.

High schools a-g vary, have to check the pathways site for your high school to make sure which classes count.

eyemgh · October 2014

Good to know. The director of admissions led us to believe otherwise and the MCA algorithm doesn't specify.

CADREAMIN · October 2014

AP Stats counts for our HS too, maybe it was an update made in last year or two. Things can change every year with the a-g course list for each school. Our HS just started offering AP Computer Science which isn't recognized as an approved a-g course (it will be an elective but can put it in section about classes related to major), but is in the approval process with the UC/CSU system to be added to the a-g list, not sure if it will be science or math, don't care, won't be there! Can take 1-3 years, sometime longer for approval. Taught by a CP grad that went on to get Masters at UCB or somewhere else great. Thrilled that my S could take the class this year to see if they actually like CS before applying to colleges. Not a problem if you go to a school where changing majors is easy, but at the UCs and CSUs, while things aren't written in stone, it can obviously be better coming in knowing what you want to do.

Cal Poly SLO least impacted major?

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