Many students in the valley are interested in transferring to CAL POLY SLO to study math or engineering. Much of this has to do with the college's excellent reputation. Admissions to the math and engineering programs however is quite competitive so that students will want to maximize their potential for acceptance. This is best done by taking advanced math and science courses before transferring. For both math and engineering programs, the CSU and CAL POLY specifically have mandated that 12 semester units of calculus and differential equations be completed at the time of transfer. For FALL 2010, here is a table that indicates what courses are required/recommended at the time of transfer:
| AEROSPACE | BIOMEDICAL | CIVIL | COMPUTER | ELECTRICAL | ENVIRONM | GENERAL | INDUSTRIAL | MANUFACT | MATERIALS | MECHANICAL | |
| COURSES | |||||||||||
| CALC/DIFF EQ | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) | 12 (15) |
| LINEAR ALGEBRA | |||||||||||
| PHYS (CALCULUS BASED) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) | 9 (12) |
| STATICS | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| DYNAMICS | |||||||||||
| ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||
| CHEMISTRY | 4 (5) | 4 (5) | 4 (5) | 4 | 4 (5) | 5 | 4 (5) | 4 (5) | 4 (5) | 4 (5) | 4 (5) |
| MATERIALS ENGINEERING | 3 | ||||||||||
| STATICS/MATERIALS ENGINEERING | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | |||
| COMP PROGRAMMING | 3 | ||||||||||
| COMP PROGR/ELECT CIRCUITS | 3 | ||||||||||
| COMP PROGR/GRAPHICS | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | 3 (6) | |||||
| GRAPHICS | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| SURVEYING/MATERIALS ENGINEERING | 3 (6) | ||||||||||
| COMP PROG 1/COMP PROG 2 | 3 (6) | ||||||||||
| ELECT CIRCUITS/DISCRETE STRUCTURES | 3 (6) |
| Required units in BOLD, desired units in (parentheses) |