Which majors at Cal Poly have the least competition for a spot? Here’s a list

Cal Poly has received another round of record-high numbers of applications from students hopeful to attend the San Luis Obispo university in fall 2022.

But, due to capacity and budget constraints, it only has space for so many of those students.

Some of its 64 majors across its six colleges have more seats available than others, however.

Majors such as psychology, computer science and marine sciences tend to be the most competitive to get into at Cal Poly.

These are the 10 programs at the university for freshmen that have the most amount of space for the number of applicants for fall 2022 are:

1. BioResource and agricultural engineering: 122 applicants, 54 spaces available (44%)
2. Manufacturing engineering: 62 applicants, 25 spaces available (40%)
3. Agricultural systems management: 67 applicants, 24 spaces available (36%)
4. Industrial technology & packaging: 130 applicants, 45 spaces available (35%)
5. Agricultural communication: 129 applicants, 42 spaces available (33%)
6. Recreation, parks and tourism administration: 251 applicants, 79 spaces available (31%)
7. Dairy science: 39 applicants, 11 spaces available (28%)
8. Agriculture & environmental plant sciences: 275 applicants, 76 spaces available (28%)
9. Agricultural business: 596 applicants, 161 spaces available (27%)
10. Construction management: 375 applicants, 100 spaces available (27%)

And for transfers:

1. Manufacturing engineering: 8 applicants, 7 spaces available (88%)
2. General engineering: 11 applicants, 5 spaces available (45%)
3. Materials engineering: 29 applicants, 24 spaces available (83%)
4. Agricultural systems management: 5 applicants, 2 spaces available (40%)
5. Recreation, parks and tourism administration: 33 applicants, 13 spaces available (39%)
6. Comparative ethnic studies: 13 applicants, 5 spaces available (38%)
7. Industrial engineering: 21 applicants, 8 spaces available (38%)
8. Wine and viticulture: 27 applicants, 9 spaces available (33%)
9. Spanish (modern languages & literature): 12 applicants, 4 spaces available (33%)
10. Agriculture science: 38 applicants, 12 spaces available (32%)

Regardless of how competitive or not competitive a major may be to get into, however, Terrance Harris, the university’s vice president for strategic enrollment management, said competition shouldn’t be at the top of a student’s mind.

“We don’t want them — the majors that they apply to — based on their perceived chances of getting in,” Harris said. “We want students to focus on where they feel like their their skills are best served and where they’re going to be able to dive into their academic experience and thrive and enjoy and want to learn. That’s really important.”

Here’s a table with all the majors and the spots available:

This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 9:00 AM.

Mackenzie Shuman

The Tribune

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Mackenzie Shuman primarily writes about SLO County education and the environment for The Tribune. She’s originally from Monument, Colorado, and graduated from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in May 2020. When not writing, Mackenzie spends time outside hiking and rock climbing.