by our College Data Analytics Team
College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo was awarded 689 badges in the 2023 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is communications technologies and support.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is ranked #97 out of 2,241 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2023 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is also ranked #16 out of 170 schools in California.
See all of the rankings for California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo.
If you're applying to California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo you'll face some tough competition, since the school's acceptance rate is only 38%. Definitely don't wait until the last minute to submit your application, since applying early may be in your favor.
About 80% of students accepted to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 610 and 690. Math scores were between 610 and 720.
Learn more about California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo admissions.
At California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, the student to faculty ratio is 21 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.
In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo is 70%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo has a freshmen retention rate of 94%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for first-time, full-time students is 48%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 21,456 undergraduates at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with 20,198 being full-time and 1,258 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $12,173 | $13,194 | $17,340 | $22,744 | $27,740 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, approximately 28% of students took out student loans averaging $6,270 a year. That adds up to $25,080 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is 0.7%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
Get more details about paying for California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo.
See which majors at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo make the most money.
Get more details about the location of California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo.
Contact details for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1 Grand Ave., San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 |
| Phone: | 805-756-1111 |
| Website: | calpoly.edu/ |
| Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaPolytechnic |
| Twitter: | https://twitter.com/calpoly |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Business Administration & Management | 766 | $63,640 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 293 | $74,806 |
| General Biology | 204 | $32,589 |
| Animal Science | 187 | $30,350 |
| Computer Science | 178 | $91,351 |
| Civil Engineering | 172 | $72,381 |
| Computer Engineering | 158 | $91,493 |
| General Psychology | 155 | $29,831 |
| Architectural Sciences & Technology | 154 | NA |
| Electrical Engineering | 141 | $79,454 |
Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.
In 2019-2020, 22,344 students took at least one online class at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. This is an increase from the 1,699 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | 22,344 | 18,546 |
| 2018-2019 | 1,699 | 68 |
| 2017-2018 | 1,685 | 48 |
| 2016-2017 | 1,003 | 35 |
| 2015-2016 | 892 | 14 |
Learn more about online learning at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo.
If you’re considering California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
Curious on how these schools stack up against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.
