As part of the CSU System, Cal Poly utilizes the Cal State Apply application. We have compiled a variety of workshops, tips and guides to help guide you through the application.
2025: A few International/US Abroad admits on February 11, 2025. Admits Friday March 14 6:15 PM PST including some Portfolio based majors. Admits Monday March 17. Waitlist on March 21 around 4 PM and rare denial. Mainly Denials, few Waitlists and Rare admits March 27, 2025 around 12:30 PM PST. Rare admit posted March 28. One International CE admit April 9, 2025.
2025 Waitlist: Admits Thursday May 1, May 2. Few admits (OOS) July 15 and denials.
Once you have received your decision, please post your results using the template posted below:
Decision: Accepted/Waitlisted/Denied
Major:
SLO GPA (9-11th a-g courses with an 8 semester Honors point cap for 10-11th eligible classes):
Number of UC approved Honors/AP/IB or DE courses:
EC hours and with leadership or job related:
In-State/OOS/International:
Number of years for the following courses:
English
Math
Science
Foreign Language
Social Science/History
Visual/Performing Arts
Originally SLO had planned on offering a year round schedule for students but was pushed back until summer 2027. Perhaps they are looking at starting the program sooner for Spring 2027 and trying to determine if applicants would be interested in this option?
If a student is admitted to Spring 2027, are they allowed to take classes at a local community college the semester before (after they have graduated form high school but before starting at SLO)?
Originally set to start in 2024, then pushed to 2025, the university announced in mid-June it plans to begin providing students with the ability to take classes all year long starting in the summer of 2027 instead.
So Spring 2027 does not look like an option and I am sure that specific policies such as taking College courses if a student starts in the Spring will be decided before implementing the program. I would contact admissions but I am sure that they are still in the planning stages especially since SLO is currently transitioning to a semester system.
My S26 is considering taking an additional online science class (now!) to make his application stronger. Unfortunately, he already submitted the application. It looks like Cal Poly takes changes to the application for 12th grade coursework either in progress or planned. Do you think it’s worth it, if he can manage the work?
He is applying to a major in the CAFES. He has 10 honors / AP classes (capped at 8) and Cal Poly GPA is 4.29 (still capped at 4.2?).
The difference of one class since he has already maxed out the Math and English course recommendations will probably not have that much impact but since I do not work in admissions, I cannot give any guarantee. If SLO allows him to update his 12th grade course work and he feels it is manageable, I see no downside in taking the class.
Regarding SLO GPA cap, the admitted student profile shows GPA ranges up to 4.25 so the 4.2 cap is no longer used.
Just wanted to say Hi. Our son was rejected by Cal Poly for engineering about eight years ago (valedictorian, checked all boxes, accepted to UCs and ended up with a full ride to Smittcamp) and now here we are with my daughter in the same boat wanting so badly to be accepted by Cal Poly. We are going to visit CP tomorrow for SWE Welcome day. I’m honestly hoping she decides she hates it. It will make the next few months so much easier
Best of luck to your daughter! My older two were rejected by Cal Poly (though are happy where they are), but we knew nothing of the MCA, number of classes, etc. We thought it was all GPA. I learned so much from this website. Now my youngest has applied and we are much better informed and he’s better positioned and has a chance! As a Cal Poly Alum, I would be so happy for my youngest to attend. I am spending an unnecessary amount of time perusing previous years posts.
Does anyone know how to enter a semester course if the school otherwise has year-long grading? My daughter goes to a school where we only have a year grade per course. However, she took a class that was offered for only a semester. When you set up the grade level you have to pick whether it is year, semester, or quarter. We tried to set up a second 11th grade with semester classes, but the system will not allow to change the length of courses for that same year.
It gets a little more complicated. because our school was a semester based school for 9th and 10th grade, she had to create two high schools in the application. The first one was her school with semester grading, and then a second entry with the same school as year-long grading, adding the correct years for each one. I guess thats why the system doesn’t alow to pick a second 11th grade entry with semester-long classes because it doesn’t exisit for that timeframe. Should she extend the dates of her school doing semesters to include 11th grade?
