Applicants, Acceptance Rate, Yield Trends at Cal Poly

At California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, the average acceptance rate over the past 11 years is 31.63%, and 2024's acceptance rate is 30.00%. Cal Poly's acceptance rate has been lower every year for the past 3 years.

The average yield (enrollment rate) over the period is 29.60%, and the 2024 yield is 28.00%.

The number of Cal Poly applicants increased by 8.44% (4,962 applicants) compared to the previous year.

Acceptance Rate Changes

The average acceptance rate over the last 10 years is 31.63%, and this year's acceptance rate is 30.00% at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo. By gender, men students' acceptance rate is 27.42% and women students' rate is 36.05%.

The following table and chart illustrate the acceptance rates changes at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo over the past 11 years (2013-2024).

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Men	Women
	2013-14	31.23%	28.94%	33.89%
2014-15	30.89% -0.34%	27.16% -1.78%	35.17% 1.28%
2015-16	31.29% 0.40%	27.40% 0.25%	35.69% 0.52%
2016-17	29.49% -1.80%	25.80% -1.60%	33.60% -2.09%
2017-18	34.61% 5.12%	29.98% 4.18%	39.72% 6.13%
2018-19	30.17% -4.44%	25.68% -4.30%	35.03% -4.69%
2019-20	28.42% -1.75%	25.04% -0.64%	32.05% -2.98%
2020-21	38.43% 10.01%	34.51% 9.47%	42.50% 10.44%
2021-22	33.00% -5.43%	28.00% -6.51%	38.00% -4.50%
2022-23	30.43% -2.57%	25.09% -2.90%	35.85% -2.15%
2023-24	30.00% -0.43%	24.00% -1.09%	35.00% -0.85%
Average	31.63%	27.42%	36.05%

Admission Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes

The average admission yield of the last 11 years is 29.60% where the current academic year yield is 28.00%.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in yield at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo from 2013 to 2024.

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	31.51%	34.82%	28.22%
2014-15	34.45% 2.94%	37.41% 2.59%	31.83% 3.61%
2015-16	33.74% -0.71%	36.26% -1.15%	31.55% -0.28%
2016-17	30.57% -3.17%	33.32% -2.94%	28.21% -3.34%
2017-18	31.24% 0.67%	33.24% -0.08%	29.57% 1.36%
2018-19	26.67% -4.57%	29.43% -3.81%	24.48% -5.09%
2019-20	30.02% 3.35%	32.54% 3.12%	27.90% 3.43%
2020-21	23.79% -6.23%	26.26% -6.28%	21.72% -6.18%
2021-22	27.00% 3.21%	31.01% 4.75%	24.00% 2.28%
2022-23	28.57% 1.57%	32.46% 1.45%	25.81% 1.81%
2023-24	28.00% -0.57%	31.00% -1.46%	26.00% 0.19%
Average	29.60%	32.52%	27.21%

Applicants, Admitted, and Enrolled Headcount Changes

Over the past 10 years, The average number of applicants is 51,137, the average number of admitted is 16,158, and the average number of first-year enrolled students is 4,724.

The number of Cal Poly applicants increased by 8.44% (4,962 applicants) compared to the previous year.

The following table and chart show the changes of applicants, admitted, and enrolled headcount at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo from 2013 to 2024.

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Applicants	Admitted	Enrolled
2013-14	36,941	11,537	3,635
2014-15	43,812 18.60%	13,533 17.30%	4,662 28.25%
2015-16	46,820 6.87%	14,651 8.26%	4,943 6.03%
2016-17	48,162 2.87%	14,202 -3.06%	4,341 -12.18%
2017-18	48,588 0.88%	16,817 18.41%	5,253 21.01%
2018-19	54,663 12.50%	16,491 -1.94%	4,398 -16.28%
2019-20	54,072 -1.08%	15,366 -6.82%	4,613 4.89%
2020-21	52,371 -3.15%	20,127 30.98%	4,789 3.82%
2021-22	54,570 4.20%	18,008 -10.53%	4,862 1.52%
2022-23	58,774 7.70%	17,885 -0.68%	5,110 5.10%
2023-24	63,736 8.44%	19,121 6.91%	5,354 4.77%
Average	51,137	16,158	4,724

Compare Acceptance Rate Change to Similar Colleges

The following table compares acceptance rate changes from last year between California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo and similar schools.