Cal Poly CS vs Cal L&S

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

So I am trying to decide between Cal Poly CS and Cal undecided L&S. So these are the pros and cons of each school based off the research I’ve done and tons and tons of people I have talked to:

Cal Poly:
Pros:
Already into CS major
Have great job opportunities after graduation(over 90% have job before graduating for CS majors)
Median CS major starting salary is 90k
farther away from home(I live in bay area)
All engineering classes taught by professors, not TAs
Less Expensive

Cons:
Not really close to anything
Don’t love the campus

Cal:
Pros:

1 Public University in the country

More flexible degree options
Bigger Sports Scene

Cons:
Close to home
Not guaranteed into CS major
incredible workload and very hard to do well(especially for stem majors which I will be)
Huge Classes and taught by TAs
More Expensive

Not sure if this is all the pros and cons of each one, please feel free to comment on either school about the notes that I have taken and please let me know about other pros and cons for each school that I have missed. I’m just afraid that at Cal I will have no time to have fun or have a real college experience because I will always have to be studying especially since I will be a STEM major.

2

How sure are you that you want to do CS? If you’re sure, then just go CalPoly, since getting that CS degree from Cal is going to be iffy. If you’re not absolutely sure about the CS and willing to take the risk you might not get the CS degree Cal might be a better path. Good problem to have :slight_smile: Good luck.

3

You have to scratch your head as to what #1 public in the nation means if the classes are all giant and taught by TAs. I take rankings with a big grain of salt, especially in engineering since the methodology is 100% based on reputation. Schools make their reputation through their research.

4

One more thing. You will be graded on a curve at UCB (not sure about Cal Poly though). How competitive you think you’ll be at UCB?

https://eecs.berkeley.edu/resources/faculty-staff/academic-personnel/grading-guidelines-undergrad