When evaluating the California State University system, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is universally recognized as the most selective and hardest campus to gain admission into. Maintaining a competitive acceptance rate that hovers around 27 to 33 percent and demanding exceptionally high high school grade point averages alongside rigorous course prerequisites for impacted programs like engineering and architecture, it receives tens of thousands more applications than it can accommodate, setting it apart from other comprehensive universities in the system.