<p>I’m currently a third year English major with a history minor at Cal Poly. If any recently admitted students have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them :)</p>
<p>Are there any single rooms in the dorms, i.e. other than Cerro Vista?</p>
<p>Generally no. Unless you are an RA, the only way you can end up with a single in any of the dorms other than cerro or poly canyon is if your roommate gets kicked out or leaves school. Even then you may end up getting a new roommate.</p>
<p>what’s your opinion on the dorms? i’m leaning towards sierra madre / yosemite because im worried the engineering red brick will be too quiet with not enough of the social aspect of school. i don’t really consider myself the typical engineer personality… not to stereotype anybody but that’s what i’ve heard in the past.
have you heard anything about the engineering red bricks before?</p>
<p>Well not all the engineers at poly fall into that engineer stereotype. I mean, some do, but there are a lot who don’t so don’t let that deter you from the redbricks. I lived in cerro my freshman year, so I don’t know exactly how things were in the dorms, but I’m pretty sure any dorm (including the engineering redbrick Santa Lucia) is louder than cerro was when I lived there. Yosemite and Sierra Madre are definitely known as being the really social dorms though.</p>
<p>How loud was it in Cerro? Did you ever have to wear ear-plugs when you slept? Is there a lot of partying? Also, I am fairly shy, so how difficult will it be for me to meet people if I go to Cerro?</p>
<p>Are there few engineering majors in the Cerro Vista apartments? Are there any generalizations you can make about the type of people who live in Cerro?</p>
<p>Cerro was definitely not very loud at all. I never had to wear ear plugs, and I think it’s generally pretty quiet at night throughout all of cerro. As for meeting people, it’s probably quite different from the dorms. It’s possible to go the entire year without even seeing your neighbors. If you make a good effort to reach out to people, you should be able to make some friends. However, if you’re fairly shy (like me), I would not recommend living in cerro your freshman year. Living in a dorm and sharing a room with someone may not seem like the ideal living arrangement, but I think there are very few people who regret choosing to live in the dorms. There are definitely times where I wish I had chosen to live in a dorm instead of cerro my first year. I don’t know exactly how many engineering majors live in cerro, but you’re practically guaranteed to run into at least a few. In fact, now that I think about it, probably half the people I met in cerro were engineers. The stereotype of cerro kids is that they’re antisocial. This of course isn’t true. Sure, some of them are, but the large majority are not.</p>
<p>are the decisions rolling or come out one day </p>
<p>when do they typically start giving out dcisions?</p>
<p>It’s kind of rolling, I think. Everyone finds out around the same time, but usually not the exact same day. I’ve heard that the decisions are announced by department.</p>
<p>Do you know anyone that was deferred during EA and then accepted regular?</p>
<p>I don’t remember talking to many people about whether they were admitted EA or regular, so I don’t know anyone who was deferred EA and then accepted regular, but that doesn’t mean it has never happened to anyone.</p>
<p>I have a friend going there now and she says the liberal arts college is the second easiest college to get into for certain majors because it’s so large. Is that true?</p>
<p>Also, what type of financial assistance programs at Cal Poly SLO are there? I’m commuting a half hour and my friend told me the parking permits cost $150 per quarter.</p>
<p>Also, what other type of programs are their for financially strained commuter students?</p>
<p>Majors in the college of liberal arts vary difficulty of getting accepted into them, but I’d say they are easier to get into than like engineering. I’m not sure if it’s cause the college of liberal is large though, I’ve never heard that before. Parking permits cost $165 per quarter if you live on campus. If you’re a commuter (you live off campus) it’s cheaper ( I think around $115/quarter). I don’t know much about what type of financial aid/scholarships are available. There are some scholarships available through individual departments I think, and some stuff through the school as well.</p>
<p>Do you know anyone who has appealed for SLO and ended up being accepted? Also, if I applied for early decision and am rolled into the regular decision pool, when would be an appropriate time to appeal?</p>
<p>And Jakotatio, my friend last year was deferred for early decision and accepted for regular.</p>
<p>I go to a school that offers few AP courses and I was thinking about self-studying to take some of the exams. I am a senior. Last year I took physics and calculus. The calculus class was not AP, but it was intended to prepare for the AB AP test, which I passed with a four. I have been accepted early decision into materials engineering at Cal Poly.</p>
<p>This year I am taking statistics. Some of the AP tests I have considered preparing for are Calculus BC, Statistics, and Physics C. When I consulted my former physics/calculus teacher who also was an engineer he suggested that I take the Calculus BC exam, but not physics C. I mentioned to him that the four year graduation rates were low at Cal Poly, and I thought that more APs would make it more likely that I could graduate in time.</p>
<p>He told me that the math is the main reason engineering majors don’t graduate in time and that if I am taking more advanced maths I will understand the physics better, but not the other way around. He said that physics C is quite challenging and that I would be better off going with the regular physics sequence. As for statistics, he thinks I’ll have to retake it anyway, but from what I’ve read I’m not sure about that.</p>
<p>Do you agree or disagree with this idea? What is the best course of action for me to take?</p>
<p>the one thing i would make SURE to do is check the AP scores that are accepted for each test and maybe call cal poly and ask if they satisfy requirements for your major. You wouldn’t want to put all that work in and not get the credit you want!!!</p>
<p>Right now I am deciding on housing. I know for at least the first two years I will be living on campus. I want to meet a lot of new ppl. I am social, but I also like to have a little privacy (ie-studying). Right now all of he dorms are open options for me. I really do like the idea of living in the Cerro Vista apartments my first year b/c of the fact I would have my own room, it has a full kitchen, and I only have to share a bathroom w/ two other ppl. But I’ve heard it’s really hard to meet ppl in Cerro Vista. Did you meet most of your friends in the dorms you lived in or classes? I want to meet a lot a ppl, but if you don’t really hangout with other ppl in the same hall as you, Cerro Vista would be my first choice. My other question is where did you study most often? In your dorm? Library? Common room? B/c if you study mostly outside your dorm it seems to me it would be pointless to live in Cerro Vista and just study with study groups. But if you do study in your dorm, sometimes you might get paired up with a bad roommate. I am a very organized person and i know if i get a roommate that is messy, that might just drive me nuts! (but hey, thats college :)) Hopefully this isn’t too much load for you. I just want to make sure I’m making the right choice. Thanks, I appreciate the time you’re giving up to answer these questions.</p>
<p>I didn’t really meet that many people living in cerro, but I’m not exactly the most outgoing person…I mostly studied/study in my room/apartment, but occasionally in the library. Cerro has a common area. It’s a separate building where like the front desk and mailboxes are. It’s not huge, but there’s also a piano and some game tables and stuff and that’s where a lot of the programs are held. I think that even if you are super outgoing, you probably won’t meet as many people if you live in cerro than if you live in the dorms, just mostly because of the living set up.</p>
<p>You mentioned game tables; is there a ping-pong table in the Cerro common area?</p>