3 days ago
More local students are being accepted to Cal Poly. See where they came from
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Cal Poly accepted more local students for the upcoming school year than in years past — even as more students than ever before applied for a seat at the in-demand campus.
Cal Poly received over 80,000 applications this year for the first time in history, and it accepted 22,956, according to the latest data. Overall, the university was as competitive as ever, with some majors having room for less than 3% of applicants.
Of those who were accepted, nearly 7%, or about 1,525 students, were from the local area, according to data provided by the university. That's a 1.7% increase compared to last year, according to the data.
Additionally, about 58.5% of local applicants were selected, compared to 26.8% of non-local applicants overall, according to the university's selection review report — meaning the acceptance rate for local students was more than double that of general students.
Around 55.8% of local first-year students and 65.1% of local transfer students received acceptance letters, compared to 28.5% of non-local first-years and 15.5% of non-local transfer students, the report shows.
A subsequent report showed that 924 local freshmen and transfers have since confirmed their acceptances and plan to attend Cal Poly in the fall.
The local confirmed students represented 13% of the over 7,000 students who confirmed overall, and over 60% of the 1,525 local students who were initially accepted.
Cuesta College and Allan Hancock College remained among the university's top feeder community colleges, and San Luis Obispo High School topped the list of highest-yielding high schools, according to the confirmed student report.
Updated numbers provided in the report showed the university received 507 applications from transfer hopefuls at Cuesta College and accepted 286 of them.
That equates to a 56.4% admission rate for Cuesta students compared to a 20% admission rate for transfer students overall, according to the report.
From Santa Maria-based Allan Hancock College, Cal Poly received 361 applications and accepted 250 of those, resulting in a 69.3% admission rate.
Despite accepting more local students, San Luis Obispo County, was not among the highest-yielding counties for Cal Poly acceptances.
Those included Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Clara counties.
The data provided to The Tribune did not include specific number breakdowns of school and county acceptances.
