Cal Poly Transfer Acceptance Rate and Requirements — 2024

Cal Poly’s San Luis Obispo campus is the most selective school in the California State University (CSU) system. Taking less than 30% of first-year applicants, the mid-50% of enrolled Cal Poly SLO freshmen is 4.08-4.25. In other words, if you don’t have an A average, chances for success are minimal at best.  Fortunately, there is more than one way to become a Mustang as the university admits close to 2,000 transfers each year. This blog will share the Cal Poly transfer acceptance rate as well as other essential pieces of information like the Cal Poly SLO transfer deadline, the requirements for applicants, the transfer decision date, and much more.

Cal Poly Transfer Acceptance Rate

Below we present the most current available Cal Poly transfer acceptance rate as well as historical data.

For entry in the fall of 2023, Cal Poly received 9,216 applications and admitted 1,968 students. This means that the Cal Poly transfer acceptance rate is 21.3%.

When trying to get the complete picture of how difficult it is to transfer into a given school, it is important to also look at historical data. Many schools have wild fluctuations in transfer acceptance rates from year to year. As you can see, Cal Poly’s transfer acceptance rate has been consistently in the 14-20% range in recent cycles.

Historical transfer rates are as follows:

Transfer Acceptance Rate by College

Here are the Cal Poly SLO transfer acceptance rates by college/school within the larger university.

 Cal Poly Transfer Deadline

The transfer deadline is November 30. The application window opens on October 1, so you can begin completing all materials at that time.

Cal Poly Transfer Requirements

All students must submit the following items as part of their Cal Poly SLO application:

• A Cal State Application
• Unofficial college transcripts
• Unofficial high school transcripts
• Supplemental materials, if requested. For example, qualified Architecture, Music, and Art & Design students will be contacted in mid-January with further instructions about portfolios and/or auditions.

Cal Poly Transfer Acceptance Rate (Continued)

In addition to meeting the aforementioned requirements, you’ll need to have achieved/earned the following:

• Completion of the “Golden Four.” This includes coursework in Oral Communication, Written Communication, Critical Thinking, and Mathematics.
• Finish 30 units of Gen Ed Requirements.
• Completed recommended coursework for your intended major.
• Minimum 60 UC-transferable semester credits (90 UC-transferable quarter units). To clarify, this university only accepts upper-division transfer students, meaning that you will be starting at Cal Poly SLO at the beginning of your junior year.

Transfer GPA

There is a minimum GPA requirement of 2.0 in order to be eligible to apply. However, this is of little relevance to the actual standards of the school. The mid-50% transfer GPA range is 3.39-3.90. The College of Science and Mathematics has the highest GPA standards (3.49-3.9), but all schools are fairly close to one another.

Transfer Decision Date

The Cal Poly transfer decision date occurs by April 1 at the very latest.

Final Thoughts – Cal Poly SLO Transfer Acceptance Rate

The major that you select on your application is a driving factor in the evaluation process. In the school’s own words, “We evaluate and admit students by their major and admission is competitive in all majors. Each major has its own selection criteria and required coursework for transfer students to have completed in order to be considered competitive during the selection process.”

If you are looking for information on how to apply to Cal Poly SLO as a first-year student, you may find the following blog to be of interest:

• How to Get Into Cal Poly SLO

Those searching for application info on other institutions may wish to visit our Dataverse pages/blogs:

• Transfer Admissions Deadlines
• Transfer Acceptance Rates
• How to Complete the Transfer Common App