<p>Hey so I am from the east coast (around DC) which means I cant come visit very easily but I applied for fall 2010. I was wondering what the atmosphere on campus is like.
What do people do on weekends?
Weather?
Stereotype?
How helpful are professors?
How much research/ many co-ops are available to you?
Housing/food…
By atmosphere I just mean the feel of campus, if you could pick three words to describe cal poly what would you choose? </p>
<p>Thanks SOOO much! I would love any other information you could provide!</p>
<p>i’ve only taken one class through open university which is for people who aren’t enrolled in cal poly (through the regular application like u and i did for fall 2010) but im a senior right now and from what i’ve seen, there are diff types of people for everyone. as with any college i guess. in my class, (u can PM me to find out wich one), half the people were social and half weren’t. i made friends in that class but they both came from los angeles area into a small town and they kind of kept to themselves. however, we DID form study groups before the tests so if ur into that, most kids do that. the library is HUGE. there is a cafe in there and there are like 6 different floors, all of which are different. for instance, one has study rooms for groups of 3 or more. then theres a really loud floor on the 2nd level where the cafe is, and there are conference rooms for like 10 people. </p>
<p>parking is a huge pain in the butt. its very far away and theres only 2 different lots. i’d recommend getting a car if u decide to go here because san luis is really easy to get around with a car. there are buses and all that too if u cant get a car but i mean downtown has close parking spots if u have a car and its generally easier. im not sure if freshman arent allowed to get a car or not but im assuming they can. my 2 friends lived in cerro vista apartments and those are the apts. up on a hill. that a BIG pain becuz they had to go up and down the hill EVERY day, and unless ur athletic, it can be hard. </p>
<p>all i can say is: some teachers are good and some are not. i had one that was NOT good at all. i mean he was young and i was assuming he’d be a good teacher but he definitely wasnt. the way he presented the material and gave tests/quizzes made me do horrible in a class i would’ve done good in after getting A’s in the past. so bad that i had to withdraw. so choose ur teachers carefully and go to polyratings.com. it REALLY helps. if the teacher has bad reviews dont consider taking them. good luck i g2g but i can help more later if u want</p>
<p>oh weather is great. its sunny most of the time, u can either wear a light jacket or tshirt depending on if ur generally cold or warm. im usually cold so i always wear a jacket lol but yeah. weather is great. everyone here loves it. the beach is 10 miles either way…morro bay or avila beach or pismo beach. and theres also more beaches near pismo. theres basically one street to hang out on in downtown and that has not nordstrom or bloomingdales, but it has abercrombie, express, banana republic and little private stores. coverings is pretty nice if u like designer clothes. ; ] on weekends, im not sure what ppl would do here…since im not a typical college kid there. there are some clubs downtown but nothing like los angeles party type clubs. theyre basic, sit down and drink. not dirty dancing or anything. ppl probly have parties and stuff in dorms or there are quiet dorms. </p>
<p>san luis, in my opinion, is kinda like u can be someone and not be noticed beyond ur group of friends. however, u might see ppl u know around town and bump into them occasionally. when i go downtown, i see at least 2 or 3 people i know. everytime. if u like that, then u would like slo. personally i hate this town lol becuz ive lived here for 17 years. there’s more excitement in the rest of the world…big cities. its really easy to get around here (if u have a car).</p>
<p>weather= so cal weather. its sunny and warm right now. doesnt rain too much.
people do lots of stuff on the weekend. when you first show up to campus, the first week is a designated week to show you how to have fun without alcohol. but a short list is
-great hiking
-renowned mountain biking
-beach=surfing and frolicking/whatever
-downtown
-and of course, party. cal poly is a party school i dont know if you know that</p>
<p>dorms look ok, heard good stories and bad stories.
food is good…theres a chic-fil-a on campus theres tons of different restaurants
professors vary at any school
<p>Yay! Another out of stater! First of all, on weekends people usually just hang out with friends and do homework. Sometimes people will go downtown, just hang out around campus an go to a sporting event or something, have game nights, and of course a party can always be found. Or if you have a lot of homework, you may be stuck doing that, and you can always just hang out and watch TV and sleep. I’ve know some people who will go down to LA or up to San Francisco on longer weekends. The weather is amazing! I’m from the midwest where we get tons of snow and freezing temperatures. I love how it’s warm and sunny here. Occasionally it will rain, but I’ll take rain over snow any day. There isn’t really a stereotype. We’re not a big sports school, and the Greek system here isn’t huge either, but I mean you’ve got your partiers, studious kids, some kids who are into religion, but basically everyone gets along pretty well and there’s no pressure to conform to a specific stereotype really, so you can just be yourself. I’ve found professors to be quite helpful. They all have office hours and are willing to set up times to meet with you if you can’t make it to office hours. I don’t exactly know what you mean by how much research is available, but Cal Poly’s motto is learn by doing, so you get a lot more hands on experience here than at most colleges probably. The food here is ok. There’s some variety, but some of it doesn’t taste too good. But I’m sure you can find something you like. I love my housing arrangement! The cerro vista apartments were opened to freshmen this year and they are beautiful! YOu get your own bedroom, a kitchen, and two bathrooms which you share with with three other people. The other dorms are pretty nice too I think, although some people where stuck in triples this year, but they don’t seem to mind too much. Three words I would choose to describe Cal Poly would be: Gorgeous (the campus), interesting(the classes for the most part), and fun!</p>
<p>what are the office hours? is it basically like a free tutor but with ur own teacher? my teacher emphasized it more this quarter and he said a lotta ppl go. btw ill tell u what happened sometime when i have more time : ] with the stuff in ur PM</p>
<p>yep np : ] if ur lazy like me, the walk up there would be tiring lol unless u have a car, u can park near the dorms and it would be so much of an uphill journey. but im sure theyre a lot nicer than other dorms so go for it if ur lookin for luxury (maybe). lol if thats the correct word. </p>
<p>i just started my class yesterday and ppl are generally friendly here. and they usually find one or two friends in a class to study with…for instance, last quarter, i made two friends in my class of 35 or so and we went to the library to study for exams and stuff. ppl r kool like that…diff from high school. if u decide to park in a meter…each quarter is ten minutes lol kinda a rip off unless u have one class for an hour or sumthin but most of u guyz wouldnt. </p>
<p>oh yah i forgot about the activities u can do in slo, like the person said above: u can go hiking up Madonna Mountain (my favorite one). the other mountain is Bishops Peak but madonna’s nicer. if u think about gettin a dog, theres tons of parks. closest one to cal poly is Santa Rosa Park. and theres apts near there so u can keep dogs there. a friend of my dogs used to live there. </p>
<p>theres good food outside of the campus. i know that for sure. but only a FEW restaurants cuz this isnt chicago or los angeles lol it sounds like ur coming here for sure (probly on ED)? but if u do…some good places to eat:</p>
<p>nucci’s (delicious pizza)
subway
panda express
quiznos
natural cafe (downtown)
pizza solo
Taj Palace
Thai Palace
Rosa’s Italian (in pismo…ten miles away)
Windows on the Water (in morro bay…ten miles away) …its posh tho
Taco De Mexico
Jaffa Cafe</p>
<p>Speaking of food, how is it on campus? There seems to be no central cafeteria, and just a bunch of restaurants. I tend to be a healthy eater, and it seems like there are quite a bit fast foodish places on campus.
Since you were in Cerro Vista as well, what food plan did you use/recommend?</p>
<p>Here’s a decent thread with lots opinions on the food situation @ Cal Poly. Freshmen must bite into a meal plan and the best advice is to get the one with the most Plu$ dollars. We did and its worked reasonably well although its an impressive ripoff and getting worse.</p>
theres tons of different restaurants