Graduate program acceptance rates

Cal Poly offers students over 35 areas of study for graduate students looking to continue their education and make a difference in the world.

Masters Degree category for contribution to the public good based on social mobility, research, and service. Cal Poly consists of seven academic colleges or schools for graduates:. Encompassing the Cal Poly spirit of Learn by Doing, students have access to over 6, acres of agricultural production processing, research land, and facilities. Students will be prepared for opportunities that await after graduation in agricultural, food and environmental sciences.

With an enrollment of more than 1, students, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design offers a unique blend of three graduate degree programs: architectural engineering, architecture and city and regional planning. The College of Engineering is nationally recognized by U. As of Fall , dedicated engineering faculty are ready to help prepare students for success both in and out of the classroom.

It is home to 17 departments in the humanities, social sciences, communications and performing arts offering four graduate degrees in English, History, Psychology and Public Policy.

With a reputation for award-winning faculty and researchers, students are offered many hands-on learning opportunities that prepare students for their next professional and academic pathways. Small class sizes and the Learn by Doing mind-set expose students to push their boundaries and make significant strides in their area of study.

Students work closely with faculty, who act as mentors and guide students towards success. The School of Education is a leading school offering four programs that will benefit working professionals in K education including, education leadership and administration, higher education counseling and student affairs, curriculum and instruction, and special education.

These programs prepare knowledgeable skillful and caring education professionals for positions in an increasingly diverse , technologically situated situation.

Following the pedagogy of Learn by Doing, Cal Poly provides exceptional academic excellence in a practice-oriented environment. Cal Poly offers over 35 graduate programs across several colleges. That's not an easy answer and it depends on the type of program. Perhaps surprisingly, some programs have very high acceptance rates. Of course, some schools and programs are much more selective than others. These include the usual suspects, including programs within the Ivy League, which can have admission rates below 10 percent of students.

Stanford and Harvard business programs, for example, admit about 7 and 11 percent of applicants, respectively. Technology programs, elite music programs and schools like Cooper Union are also very selective. It's hard to say whether you got in. But if you're nervous and want to do everything possible to receive that "Congratulations! Use this time wisely. How prestigious a particular grad school or program is can affect its overall competitiveness and selectivity.

An easy way to determine school or program prestige is to consult official rankings, such as those listed on U. Grad schools are typically ranked by field or program and not by overall institution. For example, a U. And this is true: in , Duke reported a mere 10 percent acceptance rate to its political science doctoral program, while Northwestern reported a 12 percent acceptance rate.

Another major factor is degree type. This trend is likely due to the fact that doctoral programs often look for higher-quality applicants with proven academic track records and more relevant experience in their fields.

Additionally, M. In , the creative writing M. Well-funded programs typically receive more applications than those offering little to no aid, thereby raising their selectivity. Competition is especially fierce for fully funded programs — possibly because fewer people are willing to go into debt for grad school.

Before we dive in, note that not all institutions calculate grad school acceptance rates using the same methodologies. Some offer only a single acceptance rate for all of their grad schools put together, while others offer individual rates by school, field, or program. Therefore, expect actual acceptance rates to be slightly higher.

Unfortunately, grad school admissions statistics tend to be more difficult to find than undergrad acceptance rates. But there are ways to search for them — you just have to do a lot of digging and possibly a little reaching out. By far the most reliable resources for grad school admissions statistics are school websites.

Start your search by consulting program and departmental pages, particularly admissions and FAQ pages. For example, Princeton offers a handy PDF containing acceptance rates for all academic fields of study. Additionally, many schools release admissions statistics without explicitly publishing acceptance rates.

The acceptance rate equals the total number of applicants offered admission divided by the total number of applicants and then multiplied by , or:. Be sure to avoid conflating the number of students who were offered admission with the number of students who accepted their offers of admission.

These two concepts sound alike but are actually different. Want to improve your GRE score by 7 points? We have the industry's leading GRE prep program. Built by world-class instructors with 99th percentile GRE scores , the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through machine learning data science, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible.

Try to think outside the box as you do your research. What are other ways people talk about acceptance rates? This website offers official rankings of grad programs as well as lists of the most and least selective programs in various fields. For example, I found a list of the most competitive online M. One less reliable method for looking up grad school admissions statistics is to look for unofficial websites discussing acceptance rates for your school or program. Search for your program to get a rough feel for how many acceptances and rejections go out each year.

You might notice that certain types of applicants are more active than others.