B.S for engineering takes 5 years at slo?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1

<p>Many of my friends and even family members have told me that because of the budget crisis and insufficient funding for CSUs, it takes 5 years to graduate if we are planning on doing an engineering major. How true is this? Can any current slo students, specifically those in engineering, or those with information tell me what all this is about? BTW, I was accepted into Electrical Engineering.</p>

2

<p>I’m not a student there yet, but I read that instead, Cal Poly will be working extra hard to actually graduate students on time.</p>

3

<p>The school is really working on this. If you have AP classes from high school, you will get credit for those classes and it really helps move you along. The school is on a push to have students graduate in 4 years with a very strong diploma.</p>

4

<p>momomom is right. The experience of current students will probably not be the same as new students. There is a big push to increase the 4-year graduation rate including new registration programs, course access priorities, major change rules and accademic performance rules to push the 2014 class to graduate in 4 years. Graduating students in 4 years saves the college a lot of money. The budget issues have helped to bring focus on this issue and are enhancing the likelyhood that you will be able to graduate in 4 years. Unfortunately, it is probably too late to help those who are already in the 5th or 6th years. </p>

<p>Lance</p>

5

<p>momomom is correct. Combine your AP credit with taking a solid load each qtr and, if possible, some GEs during the summer and 4 years is doable. At least, I hope so.</p>

6

<p>This begs the question of whether admissions at Cal Poly was more disposed to accept students who would be bringing lots of AP classes when they enroll. It would certainly bring down the number of kids finishing in 4.</p>

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<p>Don’t you mean it might bring upthe # graduating in 4? Anyway, what matters is whether or not the AP tests are passed with a 3 or better and they don’t know that until after admission decisions are made.</p>

8

<p>riverrunner brought up a good point. Many applicants took AP since Junior, even Sophomore year and reported the AP score on the application if they chose. Only the senior year AP tests not available before the decision.</p>

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<p>I have a 3rd year Engineering Student who is on track to graduate in 4 years. He had AP credit for 3 courses on his degree plan (flowchart). He has had a few low grades (D & F) and had to re-take 4 courses. So the AP credits allowed him to re-take those classes and stay on track. He’s actually currently 1 course behind the flowchart for his major, but plans to take 1 GE class this summer to catch up. Now that he is taking upper division courses for his major, only certain classes are offered each quarter. Some of his friends for his major are still working on the pre-req’s (support) and missed out on the “Junior series” for their major which put them a full year behind when it comes to graduation. </p>

<p>If you take the full load (16-17 credits) every quarter and pass everything on the first try, you would definately graduate in 4 years. AP’s allow you a few "re-do"s while staying on schedule. The two main reasons that Cal Poly Engineering has only an 8.2% 4 year graduation rate are: </p>

<ol>
<li> Students take less than the recommended number of credits each quarter</li>
<li> Students don’t pass every class on the first try.</li>
</ol>

<p>The school is now pushing very hard to eliminate reason #1.</p>

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<p>gotpeter, yes, I wrote the opposite of what I intended to say…sorry for the confusion.</p>

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<p>hey i just visited this past weekend and on the tour they said that it does take a lot of the engineers 5 years to graduate, but that is because they either took a quarter off and were doing internships, or were involved in research and a lot of the clubs there. I got a flow chart for my major, biomedical engineering, and it had me taking between 16 and 21 or so credits per quarter (the minimum is 12), which I probably will not take… I think it really depends on who you are as a student and if you can handle taking that many credits…</p>

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<p>Here are the flowcharts for all the engineering majors. Click on the 2009-2011 flowchart for the major you are interested in to see how many units you would be expected to pass each quarter. AP’s and GE’s at CC really help reduce the heavy load required for the engineers.</p>

<p>[College</a> of Engineering Advising Center - Majors](<a href=“http://eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/]College”>http://eadvise.calpoly.edu/dept/)</p>

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<p>Thanks for posting that link Ralph4; very helpful.</p>

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<p>ralph4, </p>

<p>He has had to retake 4 freaking courses? Another brilliant admission decision by SLO!</p>

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<p>@Fisher, The 4,5, and 6 year graduation rates for Cal Poly Engineering are 8.2%, 48.5%, and 64.7% respectively according to the Office of Institutional Planning and Analysis at Cal Poly. That means more than a third of the engineering admits NEVER make it through CP’s engineering curriculum. My son, while having had to re-do a few courses, is on track to graduate with a Cal Poly Engineering degree in just 4 years (a pretty rare feat). </p>

<p>"Re-do"s are more common than you would think in Cal Poly’s rigorous Engineering departments. There are several classes with pass rates in the 27-35% range. Why do you think so few graduate in 4 years?</p>

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<p>Then maybe they should have accepted those kids with the higher GPAs and test scores who seem to be getting rejected here in favor for those with lower stats. I’m just saying…</p>

<p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ralph4 wrote:</p>

<p>@Fisher, The 4,5, and 6 year graduation rates for Cal Poly Engineering are 8.2%, 48.5%, and 64.7% respectively according to the Office of Institutional Planning and Analysis at Cal Poly. That means more than a third of the engineering admits NEVER make it through CP’s engineering curriculum. My son, while having had to re-do a few courses, is on track to graduate with a Cal Poly Engineering degree in just 4 years (a pretty rare feat). </p>

<p>"Re-do"s are more common than you would think in Cal Poly’s rigorous Engineering departments. There are several classes with pass rates in the 27-35% range. Why do you think so few graduate in 4 years?</p>

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<p>@2leashes, I may be mistaken, but I thought those who were accepted WERE the ones with higher test scores and grades. My son who had the "re-do"s had an SAT of 1420/1600 (97th percentile) and a GPA of about 3.5. I was under the impression he was accepted (for Fall 2007) because he WAS one of the ones with the higher stats.</p>

<p>Perhaps if he had applied for Fall 2010 (like many on this board now) he wouldn’t have made the cut. The competition has gotten extremely fierce with the current budget cuts.</p>

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<p>I was mostly just referring to a couple of posts here which said their not-admitted or waitlisted kids had *higher *stats than some of their friends or siblings with *lower *stats who got in. They were just confused why. I’m talking more like 4.0 and above with equally high SAT scores and in majors like ME, as well as other engineering programs.

ralph4 replied:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;@2leashes, I may be mistaken, but I thought those who were accepted WERE the ones with higher test scores and grades. My son who had the "re-do"s had an SAT of 1420/1600 (97th percentile) and a GPA of about 3.5. I was under the impression he was accepted (for Fall 2007) because he WAS one of the ones with the higher stats.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Perhaps if he had applied for Fall 2010 (like many on this board now) he wouldn't have made the cut. The competition has gotten extremely fierce with the current budget cuts.&lt;/p&gt;
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<p>GPAs do not tell the whole story. Some students have had up through calculus BC or beyond, while some may just have had up to Algebra II. Rigor is important.</p>

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<p>“GPAs do not tell the whole story. Some students have had up through calculus BC or beyond, while some may just have had up to Algebra II. Rigor is important.”</p>

<p>You can say that again. Especially higher math is important. Extra semesters of high math count for 5 times as many bonus points as extra semesters of a foreign language or performing arts, and more than twice as many as extra English and Science. Extra semesters of History don’t give any bonus points.</p>