I am glad to hear this. For a lot of us, the admissions process is like looking at the front of the house you’re thinking about buying. And now 15 days after most heard, we still haven’t, so you can imagine what I am thinking of the interior of “the house.” We’re just baffled by how the school can think this is the way to do things, but at least it’s better for the actual students.
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Well, that response wasn’t too condescending.
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Yeah, it was one of the reasons I really really wanted my daughter to go. When we attended the tour in February the admissions person had even looked at my daughter’s application and talked specifics with her about it. I was floored! No way a UC is giving you that kind of attention. You are a number. Classes are overfilled and the administration definitely does not know you. Cal Poly keeps things smaller so professors truly know you, you do a senior project with a 1:1 professor meeting all the time. That is what is so great about Poly. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be for us. I do wish they were transparent and just said in black and white “if you didn’t get an acceptance on March 11th you have a 5% chance of getting one before 4/1”. That’s literally all it would take… After all this is over I will be emailing the admissions person I met with to just share this perspective. For some reason they don’t want to change their process/communication.
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Yes. And this is why I think that all students who meet at certain “qualification threshold” should be chosen through a lottery system at each school. There is no way a school can possibly sort through 170K plus applications and decide on admissions in a way that is “fair” and fully transparent. It just isn’t possible. A lottery system would provide each qualified student with an objective and truly equal chance of getting admitted. But I think we should cut this discussion short for fear of having our posts moved to another thread, lol.
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Maybe Cal Poly is trying to have the “last word” over Cal and won’t release until the 29th to beat Cal…hahahahahaha
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I believe some of the top CSU schools (selective) are going to have to refine their admissions process. They would be wise to include an essay and likely SATs. I think it is already a lottery based on the stats they have now.
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I totally agree. I’ve seen a few of the stats of the kids admitted with the same major as my daughter and they are exactly the same on paper (4.25 calpoly gpa, loads of Ap’s and IB’s, college classes, extracurricular, etc). So there can’t possibly be any explanation for my daughter not getting accepted accept that they drew names from a hat. I think I’d be more at peace with it if they would just be transparent about the lottery aspect.
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They have other institutional priorities which they are very clear about (local, low-income, rural…). The goal isn’t to admit kids with the highest stats, it’s to serve a specific population of kids within the state who otherwise may not have college opportunities. Lots of kids get into UCLA but not CalPoly. They are different schools for different needs.
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I don’t believe it is just highest stats. I believe it is a lottery within stat ranges. The thing is, schools like UCLA with essays have much better insight between students WITHIN those bands (low income, rural…).
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Great to know. Thanks for the reply!
Business Marketing. I’m looking to visit soon
The explanation is not that they “draw names out of a hat,” it’s that it’s decided entirely by a computer algorithm that takes specific things into account and assigns points accordingly. How many “years” completed? How many science classes? Math classes? Math GPA? Years of Foreign Language? Highest level of math? Rigor in major? Whatever it is they are specifically looking for in that major, etc… they are continually changing that
Criteria to reflect the changing students (now it’s pretty standard to say do five years of math or a
ton of dual enrollment).
I have no idea what the specifics are, but it is not a lottery. It’s just a cut off in the rankings when the major fills up. Mine got in with a lower GPA than a friend who is still waiting. I’m glad they are looking at everything they have visibility to and not just straight GPA, because that wouldn’t be fair to the kids who took more challenging classes.
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Child of a Cal State system graduates and later professor here - that’s what makes the CS system so great. Truly.
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We still have not yet heard anything… we thought these stats would be enough for a good chance at admission as a transfer student. Assuming at this point its either going to be a waitlist notification or won’t be accepted:
Applied as a transfer student
Major: General Engineering
GPA: 3.9
AS-T: no, but will have completed 61 semester units at the end of this spring semester
Pre-reqs: yes, plus 4 of the desired classes
Golden Four: A, A, A, A
Local/In-state/OOS/International: In-state
Volunteer/Work hours: 8/20
Leaderships positions: Yes
Calling it a lottery seems a little reductive for the kids that are there. My kid didn’t get into every school he applied to…it happens to nearly every college applicant.
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I think “lottery” is shorthand for the fact the CSUs generally, including Cal Poly, have so little information beyond an applicant’s courses and grades upon which to base acceptance decisions. With so many kids having perfect or near perfect grades it’s nearly impossible to differentiate meaningfully between kids. My son and I are fully expecting a rejection despite applying with a 4.0/4.7, 11 APs (including hard sciences and two 4s and four 5s so far) etc. Using the term “lottery” isn’t meant to disparage the accomplishments of admitted students, but rather acknowledge that the number of equally qualified applicants far exceeds the number of seats available.
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I understand what you are saying but some comments have unfortunately veered in a different direction. My son didn’t get into his first choice and I chalked it up to being edged out by better applicants for his major.
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Similar stats- Honor’s only subjects all 4 years - 12 APs - 5 DE - 3 internships - 1 won state award - 5 years of HOSA with many state awards - clubs with leadership - District mindfulness representative - Overcame life threatening medical condition and is a trailblazer for that treatment.
I am sure, there are students with much better stats out there and they will all get where they need to 
It’s been a gruelling process and I’m glad it’s ending this week. I’m not sure there’s anything I would have told my son to do differently in HS and am surprised at just how competitive the process is now from when I applied 36 years ago. We have only one child and this is my first (and thankfully last) time to witness it. My son is already looking forward to attending another college he applied to and is excited about the opportunity.
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All the best for his future! I have two. This one is such a hard working kid, next one I am telling her to enjoy life and have a balance and do things she loves beyond grades. Don’t kill your self for that 5 points of extra credit when you have a 100. Spend that time swimming in the ocean. Life is no bed of roses enjoy this childhood, we all only had/have one.
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