Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (2024)

FAQs

How difficult is it to get into Cal Poly San Luis Obispo? ›

The university usually accepts roughly 30% of the students who apply, but it has space available for significantly less than that. As a result, those nearly 80,000 students were competing for fewer than 6,400 freshman and transfer spots, an 8% enrollment rate.

Because this school is very selective, strong academic scores are critical to improving your chances of admission. If you're able to score a 1450 SAT or a 33 ACT or above, you'll have a very strong chance at getting in. For a school as selective as Cal Poly, rounding out the rest of your application will also help.

California Polytechnic State University--San Luis Obispo has an acceptance rate of 30%.

The fewest number of available spots is in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, which has space for just 427 new freshman students. Of the nearly 69,000 freshmen who applied to Cal Poly for fall 2024, more than one-third were vying for a spot in just 10 of the university's 65 available majors.

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.

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly has received Money magazine's top five-star ranking in its 2024-25 Best Colleges in America list that is designed to help students and their parents select a school in terms of value.

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.

All candidates are objectively evaluated by the cognitive and non-cognitive variables 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 is the hardest Cal state to get into? ›

1. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo: Known for its strong programs in engineering and architecture, this university is regarded as one of the most selective within the CSU system. 2. San Diego State University: It popular for its business and health-related programs.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is known for being a competitive school, and the transfer acceptance rate can vary depending on the year and the program you're applying to. In recent years, the transfer acceptance rate has been around 30%. Here are some tips to help you increase your chances of admission: 1.

Because we are an impacted campus, our selection processes uses an objective, comprehensive review process that extends beyond the basic eligibility index utilized by the California State University. This means that many CSU-eligible students are unable to be offered admission.

Cal Poly SLO is an impacted campus so all majors are competitive and there are no easy admit majors. That said, Agricultural Communications, Dairy Science, Food Science, Plant Sciences, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering, Industrial Tech and Packaging might be options if there is an interest.

Cal Poly takes your 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.

If you earned a 4.0 (or better) weighted GPA in high school, you are a viable candidate for any program within Cal Poly –San Luis Obispo. Students with a 4.1 or 4.2 in a mostly honors/AP curriculum will fare best.

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly has received Money magazine's top five-star ranking in its 2024-25 Best Colleges in America list that is designed to help students and their parents select a school in terms of value.

Cal Poly is an impacted campus and admission is competitive in all majors.

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