Cal Poly SLO acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Cal Poly SLO admitted 21,367 of 71,309 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 30.0%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into Cal Poly SLO counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Cal Poly SLO acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 71,309 | 21,367 | 30.0% | 5,456 | 25.5% |
| 2024-25 | 68,604 | 21,416 | 31.2% | 5,276 | 24.6% |
| 2023-24 | 63,955 | 18,964 | 29.7% | 5,277 | 27.8% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at Cal Poly SLO
Early decision counts: Not published. Cal Poly SLO’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
Cal Poly SLO waitlist
Cal Poly SLO SAT and ACT scores
What Cal Poly SLO says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors Cal Poly SLO rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: None recorded
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: None recorded
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: None recorded
Cal Poly SLO testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Not confirmed on the admissions site: Cal Poly's first-year pages do not state an SAT/ACT requirement. The selection-criteria page says only 'GPA and test scores (when applicable) are important'. Its own CDS C7 lists standardized test scores as Not Considered.
From Cal Poly SLO’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
Cal Poly leaves the number accepting a waitlist place blank every year. CSU campuses have no early decision. C7 rates no factor Important.
Cal Poly SLO acceptance rate questions
- What is the Cal Poly SLO acceptance rate?
- Cal Poly SLO's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 71,309 first-year applicants and 21,367 admitted, an acceptance rate of 30.0%. It was 31.2% in 2024-25 and 29.7% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do Cal Poly SLO students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1240 to 1420, and ACT submitters scored 28 to 33. 18.2% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Cal Poly SLO waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Cal Poly SLO offered 8,237 applicants a place on the waitlist; the number who accepted is not published, and 599 were admitted from it.
- Does Cal Poly SLO require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Not confirmed on the admissions site: Cal Poly's first-year pages do not state an SAT/ACT requirement. The selection-criteria page says only 'GPA and test scores (when applicable) are important'. Its own CDS C7 lists standardized test scores as Not Considered.
Applying to Cal Poly SLO?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Cal Poly SLO says it weighs.
Source: Cal Poly SLO Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Cal Poly SLO. All official acceptance rates