Advancement of Teaching and U.S. News & World Report describe Cal Poly Pomona's admissions process as "selective". The CSU system lists Cal Poly Pomona among 16 of its institutions with higher admission standards for first-time freshmen. For the Fall of 2016 there were 32,917 first-time, first year applicants: 19,474 were admitted (51.9%) and 4,204 enrolled (an admissions yield of 21.6%). The middle 50% range of SAT scores was 440–560 for reading and 460–600 for math, while the middle 50% ACT Composite range was 20–27. Of the enrolled freshmen, 25.6% had a high school GPA of 3.75 or higher, while the average GPA was 3.45.
Freshmen applicants who graduate high school outside Cal Poly Pomona's Tier 1 area (known as Tier 2 applicants) are rank ordered by eligibility index and granted admission based on a year-specific cutoff score. Since academic year 2010–2011, Tier 1 applicants may no longer be guaranteed admissions based on the CSU Eligibility Index and may be subject to similar criteria as Tier 2 applicants.
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