Yes, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is genuinely considered a very hard school to get into, maintaining highly selective admissions criteria that attract tens of thousands of top-tier applicants from California and across the globe. The overall acceptance rate generally hovers around 30 percent, but the selectivity varies wildly depending on the specific program or college to which a student applies. Highly sought-after majors in the College of Engineering or the Orfalea College of Management feature much stiffer competition, requiring exceptional high school transcripts, rigorous AP or honors coursework, and strong extracurricular profiles.