Did you get into Cal Poly? Here’s what you need to know as acceptances go out
It’s that time of year again: Thousands of prospective Cal Poly students are anxiously waiting to hear if they will be a Mustang come the fall.
A lucky few have already gotten their answers, as shown in a slew of TikTok videos posted in the past week capturing excited members of the incoming freshman and transfer classes celebrating their acceptances.
But others are still waiting to hear back.
If you’re one of those students, when will you know?
Cal Poly spokesperson Keegan Koberl told The Tribune that all 81,914 people who applied for a spot next year will find out whether they were accepted, rejected or waitlisted by April 1.
That was the largest application pool in the school’s history — up 3.6% from the previous year.
Students will be notified of their acceptance status on a rolling basis, but Koberl did not provide a date for when that process began. The process typically runs through much of March.
Also, not all acceptances for a particular college or major are sent out at the same time, so don’t worry if others have heard back but you haven’t.
Admissions letters can typically be seen through a student’s online Cal Poly portal. For those waiting to hear, keep tabs on your portal and an eye on your email.
Once you’ve been accepted, the deadline to make your decision is May 1.
How tough is it to get into Cal Poly?
With a new applications record set, Mustang hopefuls could see an even tighter admissions process for the upcoming school year.
Data on this year’s acceptance rates and how much space each major might have was not yet available as of Monday, but the prestigious university typically accepts around 30% of applicants — and has space for significantly less than that.
Last year, Cal Poly accepted 23,456 undergraduate students but enrolled only 6,192, according to the Cal Poly Institutional Research data dashboard.
At that time, Cal Poly had room for only 8% of the students who applied, with the availability of some majors dipping below 4%. Applicants’ average GPA was 4.05, spokesperson Matt Lazier said at the time.
The number of available spots can vary widely by major.
The largest number of seats available for the 2024-25 school year was in the College of Engineering, which had room for an anticipated 1,383 first-time freshmen and 217 transfers, according to the data. The fewest number of available spots was in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, which had space for just 427 new freshmen students and only 45 transfers that year.
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 64 available majors. Those were:
- Psychology, with room for only 2% of applicants to the program
- Computer science: 3.2%
- Marine sciences: 3.2%
- Software engineering: 3.3%
- Biological sciences 3.3%
- Aerospace engineering: 3.7%
- Kinesiology: 3.8%
- Biochemistry: 4.5%
- Microbiology: 4.6%
- Political science: 4.7%
I’m waitlisted, what should I do?
If you land on the waitlist, you still have a good chance to get in.
The university begins admitting from the waitlist after students who have been accepted choose to go elsewhere and give up their spot.
That process usually lasts until July 15, but it can go even longer.
“There are no ‘rankings’ on the waitlist, and only the application materials that were reviewed initially will be used in any waitlist decisions,” the university’s website says.
If you are an eligible California resident who has been waitlisted or denied admission to Cal Poly, you could potentially be redirected to a non-impacted California State University campus.
The CSU will inform students of available campuses via email, according to the admissions website.
If you have questions, the Cal Poly admissions office can be reached via email at admissions@calpoly.edu.
I didn’t get in. Can I appeal the decision?
If you were not accepted to Cal Poly for the fall, all hope is not necessarily lost.
Students who are not admitted have a two-week window to appeal an admissions decision — though the likelihood of the rejection being overturned is very low, according to Cal Poly’s admissions appeal website.
“For an appeal to have merit, it must contain new, serious and compelling information that clearly shows you to be academically stronger than had been earlier evidenced,” the website said. “Neither grades received in the current academic year nor mistakes made on the application are a basis for an appeal or the reversal of a decision.”
Students who file appeals will hear back within three weeks of the university receiving their application, according to the website.
This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 9:49 AM.
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