My son has been admitted to Cal Poly and is seriously considering the school (he would be a math/stat major). However, he is not at all interested in the party scene - or at least in parties that involve drinking - and is not interested in living with people who are drunk regularly. We’ve read mixed reviews of the school for these kinds of students, especially for guys.
Are there enough non-partying kids who still like to have fun other ways that he’ll have a choice of who he is friends with?
He should definitely be able to find others who aren’t into the whole get drunk and party scene. It might require a little more time and effort, but that’s only because the type of people he would probably hang out with might be a little quieter and keep to themselves a little bit more. He’ll probably find some similar people in his major (I knew a couple math majors who were great guys and definitely not partiers), and engineers are required to take quite a few math classes, and not to stereotype but a decent amount of them tend to stay away from the party scene as well, so he’ll probably be able to meet some people through his classes.
As far as who he lives with, if you go with random freshmen roommates, it’s kind of hit or miss. He could always request someone to live with, in which case it’s more guaranteed they both won’t be drinking/partying. I know some people use Facebook groups to find roommates to try and match with someone they have a lot in common with.
I was not into drinking or partying either in college. I didn’t drink until I was 21, and even then I rarely did cause I just didn’t like to. There are people at Cal Poly who are into that, but it’s a pretty big school, so there are plenty of people who aren’t as well. And if he’s interested in running and outdoorsy things, there’s tons of opportunities for that around SLO, and a lot of people are into being active.
Are there certain dorms that would be better if you wanted to avoid the alcohol as a freshman? Seems like the red bricks might be the best because I think those are the ones that are more grouped by major, but I could be wrong about that.
Yosemite and Sierra Mardre dorms are known for the parties since they are closest to the edge of campus. You will always find students not into the party scene and it should not be a problem to find them. I believe that Muir (red bricks) houses the majors from the College of Science and Mathematics, so he may want to request this dorm.
This has all be really helpful. Another related question… How about after freshman year — are there housing options off campus that tend to be quieter? Are there issues around town with safety because of drunk driving and the like?
Drunk driving is not too prevalent. Most people tend to be pretty responsible when the drink and have a designated driver, and slo is a small town, so if you are driving, it’s usually not very far. I never lived off campus while at Cal Poly, so I don’t know much about the off campus housing situation. I think the apartments that ar a little farther away from campus are probably more quiet than the ones right next to campus, but it also depends a lot on who you end up living near. Slo is big on giving out noise violations though for off campus house parties, so if things get too loud or out of control, there’s a decent chance the police will knock on the door and give either a warning or violation to whoever is hosting.
Yeah, it used to be that as long as you registered on time, second years and above were pretty much guaranteed a spot in Poly Canyon Village (pcv). However, now that they have turned at least one pcv building into freshmen housing, I’m not sure if this is the case. A lot of people like to move off campus after a year or two though, so your chances are probably still pretty good. I personally liked livng on campus for the convenience, but I know not everyone feels the same.