<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>My friend, one year old than me (I’m a senior in HS) is now going to UCSB. He had the option of UC Davis, Santa Barbara, and Cal Poly SLO. He ended up w/ UCSB over SLO because apparently at SLO it takes you 5 years to graduate. WHY?</p>
<p>If I were him I would’ve picked either Davis or SLO, not SB. Can anyone explain the 5 year grad rates?</p>
<p>OH and chance me:
3.62 UC Weighted GPA
33 ACT (~2190/2200): 35 English 36 Math 32 Reading 30 Science
790 Math Level 2 SAT II Subject Test</p>
<p>Cal Poly takes 5 years for some kids because they just don’t want to leave paradise! (Seriously, some kids actually told me this) Your buddy completely missed the boat. One of the primary reasons why it takes some folks 5 years is that Cal Poly emphasizes internships and co-ops. If you take full advantage of these programs you could actually be in the field working and earning real money for a significant chunk of your school experience. Between study abroad opportunities and relevant work in the field you can easily burn up and extra year. This is also another reason why so many kids graduate with jobs – they get hired by the companies that they interned with. Your buddy read the stats and chose another school without doing the research. Too bad for him. Also, some majors are extremely rigorous and require a bit more time. This is why employers love Cal Poly grads. By the time you graduate you are an experienced, plug and play ready to work professional.</p>
<p>OK - He got back to me. He chose UCSB over Cal Poly SLO because apparently the engineering major is so impacted it’s difficult to get the courses you need to graduate on time, and thus, it ends up taking another year. </p>
<p>OsakaDad, can you provide some insight into this situation?</p>
<p>@TheNexus, not even. most of us who graduate in 5 years graduate within the first or second quarter of the year.</p>
<p>Wow… It seems your buddy chose UCSB for reasons that were completely baseless. My kid has never had trouble getting classes. Now, this does not mean that you will easily get every teacher that you want or the time slot that you prefer. I am talking about getting the classes that you need in the quarter that you need them. It is possible that from time to time you will have to take a class early Monday morning or late on Friday afternoon. You may also get teachers that don’t have the best rating on ratemyprofessor.com. (By the way, often these ratings are not deserved. A bad rating sometimes just indicates that the teacher and the class are rigorous and not an easy A.) However, it would be that way for any school not just SLO. So far, my kid has not had one professor that he has truly disliked. He has had some that were extremely demanding and a few that were very sparing on handing out A’s. However, this is the big leagues – not high school anymore so get used to it.</p>
<p>My daughter is only a 2nd semester freshman and one of the most important things she learned after deciding to go to calpoly was that setting up a schedule for the 4 years of which-classes-to-take-when was paramount. She’s had some long long days 8AM to 9PM and has not always had the “best professors” but as OsakaDad says, this ain’t friggin’ hi school anymore. I think that is true for all the schools in the CA system these days.
She is already strategizing with her advisors about study abroad in Jr. year. She wants to take science classes rather than GE classes on her trip so, planning ahead is necessary. Her advisors were really helpful in doing this. That’s another thing to remember about this wonderful school, if you need help—just ask!<br>
TheNexus - Hope you go there, it is a great place.</p>
<p>Wow, sounds good! Good and bad news for Cal Poly, for my admission:</p>
<p>Bad news: They recalculate GPA, and use 9th grade to calculate it. Looks like my Cal Poly GPA will be 3.2/3.3…</p>
<p>Good News: They superscore ACT. My new superscore:
Composite: 35
English: 35
Math: 36
Reading: 34
Science: 35</p>
<p>Anyone know if I have a chance of getting in?</p>