What are the 10 most competitive majors to get into at Cal Poly?

Mackenzie Shuman
Updated ·2 min read

Cal Poly has received a record-breaking number of applications for the fall 2023, coming in at more than 73,000.

The San Luis Obispo university usually accepts roughly 30% of the students who apply but has space available for far less than that.

Across the entire university, Cal Poly has space available for just 8% of fall 2023 freshman applicants. The gap between acceptance rate and space available accounts for the university’s expected yield, or how many students actually enroll over how many are accepted.

Of the nearly 57,000 freshmen who applied to Cal Poly for fall 2023, about one third of them are vying for a spot in just 10 of the university’s 63 majors.

The major that has the fewest number of spaces available compared to the number of freshman applicants is psychology, with room for just 2% of the applicant pool, according to the university’s data released in March.

Here’s a look at the top 10 most competitive majors for freshman applicants:

  • Psychology: 3,579 applicants, 73 spaces available — 2%

  • Software engineering: 795 applicants, 25 spaces available — 3.1%

  • Kinesiology: 2,016 applicants, 78 spaces available — 3.9%

  • Marine sciences: 653 applicants, 26 spaces available — 4%

  • Aerospace engineering: 2,095 applicants, 85 spaces available — 4.1%

  • Biological sciences: 4,336 applicants, 180 spaces available — 4.2%

  • Biomedical engineering: 1,990 applicants, 100 spaces available — 5%

  • Political science: 1,596 applicants, 86 spaces available — 5.4%

  • Biochemistry: 1,288 applicants, 72 spaces available — 5.6%

  • Art & design: 887 applicants, 55 spaces available — 6.2%

And here are the top 10 for transfer applicants:

  • Marine sciences: 28 applicants, 0 spaces available — 0%

  • Architectural engineering: 25 applicants, 0 spaces available — 0%

  • Public health: 134 applicants, 2 spaces available — 1.5%

  • English: 128 applicants, 2 spaces available — 1.6%

  • Biochemistry: 59 applicants, 1 space available — 1.7%

  • Microbiology: 28 applicants, 1 space available — 3.6%

  • History: 105 applicants, 4 spaces available — 3.8%

  • Anthropology & geography: 51 applicants, 2 spaces available — 3.9%

  • Kinesiology: 284 applicants, 12 spaces available — 4.2%

  • Construction management: 68 applicants, 3 spaces available — 4.4%

To see all of the majors, see The Tribune’s other complete database of applications and space by major.