Can anyone help me with the CalState application ?

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I am really having trouble figuring it out. 

[gstharr]

Can't help you.  But a community college student I am working with told me that many of the very

top students at his jc are applying to cals state los angeles., He does not know why.

 

[Lanny]

12 hours ago, gstharr said:

Can't help you.  But a community college student I am working with told me that many of the very

top students at his jc are applying to cals state los angeles., He does not know why.

 

 

That seems weird.  On USNEWS it is ranked as a Regional University, not as a National University.  It is tied for #52 among Regional Universities in that area.  https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/california-state-university-los-angeles-1140/overall-rankings

I was born and raised in that area and like you cannot imagine why very top students would apply there and not to UC schools.  There must be reasons they do that...

[gstharr]

I

32 minutes ago, Lanny said:

 

That seems weird.  On USNEWS it is ranked as a Regional University, not as a National University.  It is tied for #52 among Regional Universities in that area.  https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/california-state-university-los-angeles-1140/overall-rankings

I was born and raised in that area and like you cannot imagine why very top students would apply there and not to UC schools.  There must be reasons they do that...

Seemed very odd to me as well. I am very familiar with the university as I have considered placing the 8th grader there through its early entrance program. Have not because he greatly enjoys middle school.   But the junior college student who told me this is one of those top students that I am helping with his Stanford app, and the students he knows applying to CSULA he considers way above him.  

 

[Roadrunner]

I can ask around if you have a specific question about it.

 

For those questioning CalStates... they have extremely reasonable tuition; some have excellent engineering schools with acceptance rates not in single digits (as in UC engineering schools); there is even a great music conservatory within a CalState system; they have excellent professional programs (nursing, education); some have very specialized programs the best in state (agriculture!), and some of them have really good computer science departments (again a department that is absurdly competitive at UCs). And if they happen to be local, the tuition can't be beat! 

[SeaConquest]

59 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I can ask around if you have a specific question about it.

 

For those questioning CalStates... they have extremely reasonable tuition; some have excellent engineering schools with acceptance rates not in single digits (as in UC engineering schools); there is even a great music conservatory within a CalState system; they have excellent professional programs (nursing, education); some have very specialized programs the best in state (agriculture!), and some of them have really good computer science departments (again a department that is absurdly competitive at UCs). And if they happen to be local, the tuition can't be beat! 

 

At my local Cal St (SDSU), the avg admittee to the nursing program had a 4.0 in science pre-reqs, a 3.9 overall, and a 99%ile on the entrance exam. Some of the CSU programs are becoming just as competitive as the UCs!

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So true. On the whole, they are less exciting and less competitive.  (with the exception of CalPolySLO) but even within the really average CalStates, you have certain programs that are not only extremely competitive but extremely well regarded.  

Anyway, my son did apply as a FRESHMAN to CalPolySLO but after speaking with the admissions counselor I doubt he will get in.  His stats are extremely high- his SAT is about 100 points higher than their 75%, and his grades are higher and he has the equivalent of 20 AP classes (20 community college classes) but she said because he only took one year of foreign language the system will likely kick him out before it even gets to a human being.  

I asked if there is any kind of holistic review process, and she said that is not the CalState way and they are the opposite of holistic.  Every application is evaluated based almost solely on stats and much of it is automatic rejection before moving onto the next step in the choosing process.  

I was not extremely surprised since to be honest, the application for the CalStates was extremely and I mean extremely limited. NO teacher recommendation. No essays, no personal questions, no place to even upload a transcript.  Nothing!  The ONLY thing they wanted was A-G approved classes, community college classes, SAT and AP scores and that's it.  They had a few general questions asking about whether the student participates in any volunteering or work, and how many hours.  Not even asking what work, or what volunteering.  NONE.

The ONE shining light is that she did say, if your homeschool class was equivalent to A-G, and a high quality class and you have paperwork to show samples, etc, to just list it as a class under the A-G matching since they have no other way to list your classes, and they don't even look at a transcript.

I will say, that with such a robotic admissions process it's no surprise that CalPolySLO has a reputation of being extremely vanilla ...it's a great school and well regarded but generally speaking the reputation here is that its very white, very pro-fraternity, not very anything unusual or creative.  But they produce good engineers that can do their jobs well. 🙂  And the weather and location is nice.  

Oh well.  She didn't say it's impossible, but she said it's highly, highly unlikely that any human with any interest or power to review it holistically will ever see the application.

Wasted 55.00 probably.

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BUT then again if he perchance got in, we'd save a lot of money and he could enjoy going to a college with a lot of engineering people which he'd really enjoy.  It's not too far away, has good weather and an allergen free food station...it would move pretty high to the top of the list if he did get in, for only 25K per year including room and board.  

[Roadrunner]

3 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

BUT then again if he perchance got in, we'd save a lot of money and he could enjoy going to a college with a lot of engineering people which he'd really enjoy.  It's not too far away, has good weather and an allergen free food station...it would move pretty high to the top of the list if he did get in, for only 25K per year including room and board.  

 

Their admissions is really strange. They calculate MCA score and admit according to it. Here is a discussion on how it’s done.

 

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/2047291-how-to-calculate-mca-score.html

 

this school is close to top of our list for some of my kids.

[...................]

Wow thanks for the link to that discussion!  It makes perfect sense and I bet they're doing something almost exactly similar to this. 

Speculation alert: I would imagine the reason they pulled it is that it is now considered un-PC to release exactly how they do things, as students from more affluent families and "in the know" will shoot for it as if it is a formulat (which..it is...) and the thinking I have heard in CA is that this is unfair to kids that aren't "in the know..."

Anyway we will see what happens.  My son will get almost top points on everything but he will get a zero for minimum requirements and a zero for German/foreign language so that'll probably kick him out 🙂

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I was just going to add, that it's so funny because my son will have over 64 college credits....as a freshman, and CalPOly and all the Cal States and UC's accept CA community college credits.  So he could take German every semester if they wanted, ....and a double major ....and still graduate on time.  

It's sad when there's only a formula and no holistic review.  

[amsunshine]

On 11/30/2018 at 10:12 AM, SeaConquest said:

 

At my local Cal St (SDSU), the avg admittee to the nursing program had a 4.0 in science pre-reqs, a 3.9 overall, and a 99%ile on the entrance exam. Some of the CSU programs are becoming just as competitive as the UCs!

 

Not only that, but the Cal States are much less expensive than the UC schools -- and appear to have a few more dollars in merit money for top students from what I've been able to tell.  Cal States also have a reputation for being more "hands on" and helping students develop marketable job skills vs UC schools, that are more theoretical and geared toward prepping kids for grad school.  Frankly, with the tuition explosion that has occurred over the past couple of decades, a couple of the Cal States are really appealing to our family (moreso than the UCs) -- and our dds are pretty high achieving students.  Having our dds graduate without student loan debt is very high on our list in this house.

[Juliegmom]

On 12/2/2018 at 8:20 PM, Calming Tea said:

The ONE shining light is that she did say, if your homeschool class was equivalent to A-G, and a high quality class and you have paperwork to show samples, etc, to just list it as a class under the A-G matching since they have no other way to list your classes, and they don't even look at a transcript.

I may be wrong, be I believe this is easier said and done and I've never thought of CalState of UC schools as being homeschool friendly. I've completely removed them from the list of possible universities. If attending CC first were a possibility then it might be on the table, but since we live overseas CC is not possible. I love the attractive lower tuition rates, but be sure to look at the graduation rates. I've heard that students often can't  graduate on time because they can't get into the classes they need and there goes the money you thought you were saving by having you child attend a CSU or US.