MCA and chances for 2019 Freshmen

Nervous2022 · September 2018

Hi

My son is applying this year for 2019 and Cal Poly SLO is in top of his list. He has a 1460 super scored SAT. 4.2 GPA capped. Ton of extra curricular activities in the field of interest (Computer Science and Electronics).

I have been following some old threads and calculated his MCA as 4800+.
Math - 10 sems
Science - 8 Sems
English - 10 Sems
Chinese - 6 Sems
Film (Visual P) - 3 Sems
Work - 100 (working few hours on weekends for my friend's company - tech support / admin work)
EC - 200 (has 25+ hrs of volunteering and extra curricular at school and outside)

Any guidance on chances for him getting into Computer Engineering at SLO? In state CA (Los Angeles County).

Thanks

eyemgh · September 2018

He should be a strong candidate if your calculations are correct. Make sure he reads the application carefully. There are usually some odd questions, like having to enter math and/or language classes from middle school. Have him pick a safety he'd be enthusiastic to attend and that you can afford. In a perfect world, that choice would be in the hunt for the top choice. Look at WUE options in addition to CA schools. Good luck!

Nervous2022 · September 2018

Thanks so much. Your posts have been super helpful.

Nervous2022 · September 2018

WUE as in Western Undergrd Exchng? Thanks :-)

eyemgh · September 2018

Thanks!

Yes, it is competitive, and not all campuses participate, but there are some solid options. The award is 150% of instate tuition or better.

My son, now a grad student in ME at Poly, almost chose Utah over CP. They have a very solid ME program, he's been a life long skier, and they offered him one year tuition free followed by three instate. His unweighted GPA was 3.98, Poly GPA was 4.32, old SAT was 760/700.

Nervous2022 · September 2018

Nice. Congratulations!! I will look into wue. Again thanks so much for your guidance.

portalupdateplz · October 2018

Is a 4442 MCA score competitive for a History major at SLO?

Nervous2022 · October 2018

Hello @eyemgh - One more question. I was revisiting all the calculations and wondering if I am calculating the GPA correctly. Is there an online calculator I can use to calculate Cal Poly GPA. I went to CSU Mentor site and it takes only 10-11. Thanks so much again for your help and guidance.

Gumbymom · October 2018

@Nervous2022: You can use the CSU calculator just include your 9th grades into the calculation and you will your capped weighted SLO GPA.

Nervous2022 · October 2018

Thank you so much.

Nervous2022 · October 2018

So the CSU applications are now open and I just finished entering the grades. It says the GPA is 4. the 2 programs i added were SLO and SJSU both Computer Engineering. Can I assume that SLO GPA is 4? or I should use CSU mentor? Sorry for the dumb question. And Many Many Thank you for providing guidance :-)

Gumbymom · October 2018

The CSU calculator will calculate your capped weighted CSU GPA using the 10-11th grades. SLO is the only CSU that uses 9th grades so you should recalculate your SLO separately using the calculator posted on the Cal State apply website. There were some wrong CSU GPA calculations on the Cal State apply application last year so you might just want to double check any of the calculations using this link: https://www2.calstate.edu/apply/eligibility-index

Another option is using the Rogerhub calculator which will give you the UC capped weighted GPA which equals the CSU capped weighted GPA.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Nervous2022 · October 2018

Thank you @Gumbymom . The cal state apply calculator caps my honors to 8. Does SLO cap it as well?

Nervous2022 · October 2018

For 9th - 11th grade (+ 1 Summer course), my son is sitting at 11 honors (including 5 APs)

Gumbymom · October 2018

SLO caps the honors at 8 semesters also but all CSU’s take into account HS course rigor.

Nervous2022 · October 2018

Got it. Thanks. My capped GPA ends up at 3.97 now. Putting my son's MCA at 4682. Do you think he has a chance at Computer engineering for 2019 Fall?

Gumbymom · October 2018

He looks like a very qualified applicant but much will depend upon how his MCA score compares to the other Computer Engineering applicants. He definitely has a chance but difficult to determine where he stands. Usually a 4700+ MCA score has been competitive for Engineering and he is close.

eyemgh · October 2018

Using 9th grade significantly dilutes the power of weighting.

Based on last year's Final Status thread, which is by no means definitive, low 4600 would appear to be the bubble for Computer Engineering. Remember though, not everyone posts on College Confidential. There could have been MCAs lower than that. Also, it gets more competitive every year. Having a safety is certainly a good idea.

Nervous2022 · October 2018

Thank you @Gumbymom and @eyemgh. Really appreciate your guidance. We are also eyeing UCSD, UCI. Berkley and UCLA are stretch of course. :-)

Gumbymom · October 2018

Make sure he has some solid safety schools on the list and he would happy to attend. Best of luck.

eyemgh · October 2018

I'd consider CP a stretch too. The median GPA in the CENG is 4.21, and there are a couple of non-selective majors pulling that down. His full points for his ECs will definitely be needed to even be in the hunt. Good luck.

MCA and chances for 2019 Freshmen

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