<p>My child is aiming at CSU business major. First choice Cal Poly Pomona. Currently his GPA is 3.1. He wants to take more APs in next year (Junior) but wonders if it is better to stay in regular and get a better GPA. So far we know business in CPP is not impacted. Do they only look at GPA or do they take into consideration of what classes he has taken? Is 3.1 safe for CSU non-impacted majors?</p>
<p>Schools will expect that he have some rigor. Recommend he start with a strength subject so hopefully there isnt a GPA tradeoff. If the school has other examples of rigor, like college level options or honors, those would be alternatives. </p>
<p>There is no such thing as a safe GPA. Every school lists rigor of study as a primary factor. </p>
<p>in the CDS for cal poly it says that about 2/3rd of the admits had a GPA above 3.25, which makes this school a reach for your child. Fresno state is more of a match. GL. </p>
<p>Yes and no. I would recommend not to take APs which would kill his GPA. It is important to keep up his GPA. D2 was more of a humanities student. She was in the IB program, so she took HL English, History, but for physics and math she took the lower level. She wanted to make sure physics and math wouldn’t take up so much of time to effect her grades in English and History. It was better she got As in the lower level math/phsics than to get B/C in HL.</p>
<p>His school only offers regular or APs. So for my child who is in between the 2 levels, it’s hard to decide. His counselor thinks his current GPA is good for CSU, but I think it’s still rocky as they are getting more competitive nowadays. She said for non-impacted majors, they will accept them as long as they meet the min requirement. I kind of doubt it. Anyone has experience with that? Thanks.</p>
<p>If your child is getting mostly Bs he is not in between. A child who is in between would be getting As in whatever level he is in but struggling to get those As. Your child is getting Bs. That’s not the end of the world but I wouldn’t say he is in between. I would say he is exactly where he should be.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have him take any harder classes. At my son’s school the GC always tell the kids to take the highest level classes where you can get an A or B. If you can’t get a B in AP whatever then take the honors level. If you can’t get a B in honors take regular.</p>
<p>A 3.1 is not safe gpa for the Cal States this year and especially Cal Poly. This year I and others have been shocked to see students with a 3.5 or higher get rejected from Sonoma State and Humbolt where in previous years they would regularly be accepted. It makes me sad for our California students but I think our state institutions are so impacted that there is not enough space for every students. For the UC’s the stats last year showed that OOS were accepted at a higher rate for every UC but Riverside and Merced. </p>
<p>If your son only has Cal-States on his list then I encourage him to apply to more schools. Look at the state universities that participate in the Western Undergraduate Exchange. Some may still be accepting apps and still giving out the WUE discount. Some schools that come to mind are Northern Arizona University; University of New Mexico; Boise State and University of Nevada at Reno. </p>
<p>The other thing to consider is that the graduation rate at Cal Poly for 4 years is just 11%!! Similar rates are at the other Cal States. The other schools I mentioned might be better options in terms of making sure it just takes your son 4 years to graduate. </p>
<p>I am going to argue the other side. Some ask if it’s better to get a B in an AP class or an A in a regular class. But that formula does not always work. For some kids (particularly smart, unmotivated kids), they might get a B in an AP class, but still also get a B in a regular class. So you really have to determine how hard he is really working to earn his current Bs. If he is working really hard to earn his Bs, then keep him in regular. If he is slacking off and earning Bs, consider putting him in APs, where he will have to work harder to keep his Bs.</p>
<p>I think here we are assuming the student is doing his best.</p>
<p>YoHoYoHo:</p>
<p>What makes you think that a child who is slacking off in a regular class will all of a sudden work his butt off in an AP class?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Cal Poly Pomona has a four year graduation pledge program:
<a href=“https://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/programs/grad_pledge/”>https://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/programs/grad_pledge/</a></p>
<p>So do some other CSUs (Bakersfield, Fresno, San Bernardino, Stanislaus).</p>
<p>I’ll speak to to YoHoYoHo’s comment… I think in some cases I think he’s absolutely correct. If the kid is smart and unmotivated, one of the reasons for the Bs in regular level classes may actually be that he/she is bored and unchallenged. Sometimes a higher level class with a more energized and engaged teacher and peer group will actually lead to better classwork, despite it being “harder”.</p>
<p>Honors and APs do provide a better environment but more homework and harder tests. Trying to talk him out of one AP so he can focus on the rest of the subjects. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>The trick is optimizing the GPA - keep in mind, the CSUs only look at college prep classes taken in 10-11 and cap your bonus points at just 8 semesters - which is just 2 AP classes soph and 2 jr years. While you can earn the college credit, the GPA impact goes away. </p>
<p>The CSU System (except SLO) use the same basic formula to rate their applicants. If you haven’t completed the a-g course list, you are rejected regardless of grades and test score. BE SURE HE HAS ALL THE BOXES CHECKED. If you pass that screen, they combine your grades and test scores to create an index. Applicants are put accepted highest index first until the seats are full. Some schools do this by major while others use the same stantard for all. The thresholds vary widely by campus, SDSU looks for about 4100. CSU Monterey, 2900. For Business, CPP is currently looking for an index of about 3600. A 3.1, CSU GPA and 1200/1600 SAT, you are in. </p>
<p>Use these links for help whith the way CSU calculates GPA and their Index.</p>
<p><a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
<p><a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
<p>A few other CSUs to think about - Chico State has a great Biz program and a threshold around 3650, CSULB’s thrshold is about 3800, Sonoma’s is around 3300. </p>
<p>All the CSUs are working on their graduation rates. Motivated students who come in prepared and don’t change majors several times have no trouble getting a Business degree in 4 years. The facts are, UNR, Boise State and other western publics have the same, if not more significant challenges getting students throug quickly. They all point to ill prepared students and other factors beyond their control. I love the 4 year guarantee some CSUs are offering (UCB mentions above ).</p>
<p>For Cal State, a B in an AP course and an A in a College Prep course result in the same GPA calc (up to 4 year-long AP courses)…good AP’s for Biz are Calc and Stats.</p>
<p>Note, that the Cal States are numbers-focused, unlike the UCs which have holistic admissions.</p>
<p>Re: <a href=“higher GPA or more AP classes - #13 by NCalRent - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>higher GPA or more AP classes - #13 by NCalRent - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
<p>Where are eligibility index thresholds for CSUs other than [url=<a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/static/admission/impaction.html]SJSU[/url”>http://info.sjsu.edu/static/admission/impaction.html]SJSU[/url</a>] published?</p>
<p>It’s most beneficial to get a high GPA and a few AP/honors classes. It does not really benefit you at admissions tie to take more than a few, and it may hurt you if the result a “B” instead of an “A”</p>
<p>This is my old post from way back when (2006), but I think the information is still relevant: </p>
<p>I thought that I would share some lessons learned because I wish that I had known these things while helping my child plan her high school to college ‘route’. Please note that this information is soley based on personal experience ( family, friends, classmates…small sample size!).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In a college advising meeting, we were told that it is better to apply for a to the University of California system with a specific major, rather than apply undeclared. It seems that undeclared may have been a better way to apply.</p></li>
<li><p>We were also advised to take as many honors and AP classes as we could.
As it turns out, people who took only a few of these, had a relatively easy courseload, and thereby kept a high GPA, seemed to fare better than those who took all the honors and AP classes and had a bit lower GPA. The UC application only gives credit ( extra weight) for 8 semesters ( 4 classes) of honors/AP. Students definitely got into CAL, UCLA, and UCSD with high GPAs and an easier courseload. You do not need to take ALL the honors and AP classes.</p></li>
<li><p>SAT scores do not make up for the lower GPA. You are better off having a great GPA ( even taking the easy route), and having just-ok SAT scores, than having strong SATs, a killer course load and a just-good GPA.</p></li>
<li><p>Having a difficult family situation and lower income, etc, makes all the difference.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>On the bright side, having taken a really hard courseload all 4 yrs of high school, my daughter is extremely well prepared for college and is having incredible success in her first year.</p>
<p>It was just disappointing for me, as a parent, to feel that I had poorly advised her ( based on the advising I received) to take all honors and AP classes. Her SAT scores were, in some cases, much higher than some of her friends, but
her GPA was just ‘good’. She worked much harder that her friends due to the intensity of her classes, but it didn’t really pay off at admission time.</p>
<p>There were lots of examples, but here are three specific ones:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Friends ( several): Accepted to CAL w/ lower SAT scores, equivalent ECs, GPAs somewhat higher helped out by much easier courseload /less honors/APs.
2 of them also had difficult family situations which they shared in essays.</p></li>
<li><p>One of her closest friends : same gpa, slightly lower SATs, same ECs. Sort of difficult family situation. Accepted to UCLA. (applied undelcared)</p></li>
<li><p>Close Relative : Bit higher GPA ( mostly easy classes, only a few honors), MUCH lower SATs, talked about a difficult family situation. Accepted to UCSD.
( applied undeclared).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope this will be of help to someone. It’s hard to see someone work so hard and be ‘rejected’ when a little different planning might have helped them get ‘accepted’.</p>
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</p>
<p>It depends. At Berkeley, frosh applicants to the College of Letters and Science are all treated as undeclared. In the College of Engineering, frosh applicants are admitted by specific majors; one of the majors is engineering undeclared, but it is usually one of the more selective majors in the College of Engineering. Other campuses may have different policies.</p>
<p>CSUs tend to admit by specific major for impacted majors (i.e. those which are at full capacity).</p>
<p>There is no one answer to the more AP verses higher GPA question. It depends a lot on the student and the schools that he/she is applying to. For the very selective schools, one should be taking more AP classes AND getting a high GPA in them. For the next tiers down, you need to do a little research. The best places to get the info are the school’s admission requirements and reading the school’s “common data set” (do a goggle search on the school name and “common data set” to find it). </p>
<p>The common data set (CSD)contains all kinds of statistical data; like what percentages of admitted students fell into various GPA ranges. For Cal Poly Pomona, 68% had GPA’s higher than 3.25, 17% were in the range from 3.00 to 3.24. (so that leaves %15 with GPAs less than 3.0) The average GPA was 3.41. Impacted majors will tend to boost the GPA levels, but IMHO a 3.1 would not be considered safe.</p>
<p>Many schools do consider strength of schedule (even outside the very selective ones) and according to the CP Pomona CSD they do. You should check the school website to see if they limit the number of AP classes that they consider. Some schools will limit the number of AP classes in their weighted GPA calculations but they still consider them for strength of schedule. If in doubt, call the school; they will be happy to answer any questions.</p>
<p>Please don’t feel that you were a poor advisor! Your daughter is smart, hardworking, and truly educated…so much better than if you gamed her into status school. Be proud.</p>