A question on Cal Poly and the Calif system

<p>I have twin sons who are looking at entering school in the fall of 07. Both are considering engineering majors and Cal Poly has come up. In fact we are going to visit Poly this summer along with the University of the Pacific. Grades and Test score are good so I am not too worried about acceptance. They have a 3.95 GPA on a 4.0 scale and Act test scores are 32 and a 33 with both getting a 35 in math.</p>

<p>We are from out of state and while they thought about Berkely there are just too many horror stories on students taking 7 years to graduate due to class overload and required classes filling up early. Is this a problem at Cal Poly as well? How is the class size and ability to graduate in 4 - 5 years. One knock I hear on Poly is that there is not enough Student housing and the Dorms are packed in like sardines. Any truth to those rumors?</p>

<p>Thaks for the help.</p>

<p>Steve</p>

<p>There is not enough student housing, however, people aren't packed like sardines (as in the UC system). People are forced to live off campus, but easily within walking distance.</p>

<p>Cal Poly is probably the premier showcase of the "can't graduate in 4-5 years" school. As a Mechanical Engineering major, it's expected to average 17 units a quarter for 12 quarters. This is not easy, our class registration system only allows to register for 16 units on the first pass. On the second round there are hardly any classes left (at least with good teachers). However, I will say that most of the "super seniors" often took a lower unit load and failed multiple classes. If someone takes a full load every quarter and doesn't fail any classes they should easily get out by the end of their 5th year. It seems like most students will get out in 5+ years. Very rarely does someone graduate in 12 quarters.</p>

<p>The class size is extremely good. I've had maybe 4-5 classes with more than 50 people (over 7 quarters, ~ 28 classes). Several of these were nonsense GEs with no relevance. Cal Poly does well to have all Math and Physics classes capped at 35 people, and virtually all Engineering classes are capped at this level as well.</p>

<p>I just graduated a few days ago from cal poly and my experience has been that most people take 4+ years. It's pretty unusual to go into the 6th year here. 4 and 2/3 or 5 is pretty average I'd say.</p>

<p>Well I know there is limited housing for Cal Poly, that's why you should apply for housing in April. The dorms themselves I heard are really nice. </p>

<p>I have heard that it coul possibly take up to 5 or 6 years if you take 12 or 14 credits a semester. However, my brother took 16 a semester and graduated in 4 years, although he said it was quite a bit of work. most people take 4 to 5 years he said.</p>

<p>Apply for housing before you know if your student has been accepted.</p>

<p>I teach at Cal Poly, and most of the engineering students take 5 years to graduate--I agree with Giants8307.</p>

<p>Also, Cal Poly is on the quarter system, so the units are valued differently from the semester system.</p>

<p>i don't think you can apply for housing untill April.</p>

<p>yeap...it'll probably take me at least 4.5 years to graduate...it's a bit faster if u take the advantage of taking classes in the summers though. my friends are doing that. i was gonna take some classes too, but i dropped them because my stupid community college over here doesn't offer many transferrable units to cp.</p>

<p>...And on the side of the UC system, it is more than feasible to graduate in four years for an engineering major. The flagship school, Berkeley, even has a program where in five years you can get a Masters in engineering.</p>

<p>Poly has a 4+1 program as well.</p>