Slo it Goes is a senior-year admissions practice for families pursuing Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. We work with a small number of families each cycle to build a single, coherent strategy — academic, narrative, and tactical — for one of California's most sought-after universities.
“I started Slo it Goes after the fifth family asked me to walk their senior through the door of Cal Poly. By then I'd done it enough to know there was no luck involved — only a quiet, well-built plan.”
Suzette Kerris built her practice over years of guiding her own children, then their friends, then their friends' families through what is — by every meaningful measure — one of the most selective public universities in the country. The work is part strategist, part editor, part calm-in-the-storm. It is not a template, and it is not a guarantee. It is a carefully designed runway tailored to one student's particular shape.
Slo it Goes accepts a small number of families each cycle, by design. The aim is depth of attention: a unified strategy that aligns coursework, extracurriculars, story, and the application itself into one persuasive portrait of the student standing in front of the admissions team.
The Cal Poly application is unusual — heavily weighted on coursework, math rigor, and a Multi-Factor Admissions formula. We design every element of senior year so the application doesn't read as a checklist, but as one coherent, defensible case for a particular student.
We map your student to the Cal Poly major(s) where they're most competitive on the MCA formula — and where they'll thrive once admitted.
Every line of the activities list, every honor, every supplementary detail — ordered, weighted, and worded to do the work it's supposed to do.
A line-by-line audit of the senior schedule with an eye on Cal Poly's specific GPA and rigor calculations. We catch what counts — and what doesn't.
A senior-year admissions cycle is a household project. We help parents know when to lean in, when to step back, and when to simply trust the plan.
Cal Poly runs a tight admissions calendar. These are the dates that matter — the ones we build the plan around, and the ones we make sure your family never has to think about at the last minute.
The application opens October 1 and closes December 1. Late applications are not accepted.
Art, Design, and Music applicants submit portfolios and any program-specific supplemental materials by January 31.
File the FAFSA between October 1 and March 2 to be considered for priority financial aid.
Admission decisions are released by April 1.
Admitted students have until May 1 to accept or decline their offer of admission.
These are the ones who come back to write us, often a year or two later, once the dust of senior spring has settled and their student is already a Mustang.
“Our son had the grades but no story. Suzette spent an entire afternoon asking him questions his grandmother wouldn't have thought to ask, and three weeks later he had essays we didn't recognize as his — except that they were unmistakably him. Architecture, class of '25. Yes, he got in.”
“Suzette is unflappable. She has seen every version of this year and is allergic to drama. Our daughter applied to seven schools — Cal Poly was her dream, and Suzette built the plan around that.”
“We came in with a learning difference and a lot of fear. We left with a BioChem acceptance and a daughter who now coaches her younger brother.”
“The MCA formula is a black box for most of us. Suzette opened it, showed us where the leverage was, and told us — gently — what to stop stressing about.”
“Worth every minute. Worth every dollar. Worth every conversation. We will send our second to her without hesitation.”
Slo it Goes accepts a small number of families per cohort. The first conversation is unhurried, complimentary, and does what it's meant to: give us a chance to meet, and give you a chance to decide whether this fits.
