Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Catalog (2024)

FAQs

What is the hardest major to get into at Cal Poly SLO? ›

Once again, the major that had the fewest number of spaces available compared to the number of freshman applicants was psychology, with room for just 2% of the applicant pool, according to the university's data. That major has routinely been the most impacted at Cal Poly.

At Cal Poly SLO, liberal arts and humanities majors generally have less competition compared to engineering, architecture, and certain disciplines in the sciences. Examples of less impacted majors include English, history, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.

Extracurricular Activities and Work Experience

Cal Poly takes activities such as work experience, internships, volunteer programs and extracurricular activities into consideration. We are also interested in any leadership roles you may have held in these activities.

For every 100 applicants, 30 are admitted. This means the school is very selective. If you meet Cal Poly's requirements for GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and other components of the application, you have a great shot at getting in.

Is California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo or UC Santa Barbara Harder to get into? Which school is easier to get into? If you're looking at acceptance rate alone, then California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo is more difficult to get into.

The most popular majors at California State Polytechnic University--Pomona include: Business Administration and Management, General; Psychology, General; Civil Engineering, General; Mechanical Engineering; Hospitality Administration/Management, General; Sociology, General; Biology/Biological Sciences, General; Computer ...

Title says it all. A lot of people says that business is the most popular course whereas engineering are the least.

All Cal Poly applicants must select a major. Undeclared is not an option for our campus. You will be evaluated against other first-year applicants applying to the same major. You may select an alternate major, but very few applicants are offered admissions based on their alternate major selection.

All candidates are objectively evaluated by the cognitive and non-cognitive variables such as veteran status, area of residence and more under our faculty-mandated Multi-Criteria Admission (MCA) process. We encourage students to apply to the program they feel best fits their academic and professional goals.

What are the golden 4 requirements? ›

The following semester campuses require the "Golden Four" courses (Oral Communication, Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning) be completed the semester before the start of the upcoming term.

Cal Poly will notify all applicants of admission, rejection or waitlisting by April 1, according to university spokesperson Matt Lazier. The notices will be visible through applicants' Cal Poly portal. Those admitted will have until May 15 to accept or reject their application.

In June, Cal Poly received Money magazine's top five-star ranking in its 2024-25 Best Colleges in America list that showcased the top 745 colleges and universities in the U.S. based on graduation rates, cost of attendance, financial aid, alumni salaries and more.

@csm09, Cal Poly uses 9th-11th grade GPA for their admissions decisions. Junior year grades are not weighted differently. Senior year grades don't matter for admissions.

Undergraduate students can choose from almost 70 majors, with Cal Poly's highly ranked engineering programs as the most popular choice.

It is important to understand that though all majors are impacted, the admission threshold for each major varies, depending on the capacity of the major to take new students, and the number of students applying for that major in that term. We encourage you to apply for the major in which you intend to earn a degree.

Acceptance into Architecture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo is highly competitive due to its reputation for excellence. The program receives many more applications than it can admit students.