So I got into my top 2 choices for college, Cal Poly and SDSU. I love them both and I am getting really nervous about making my decision. I just want to hear thoughts on both of the schools, not necessarily which one is better because they are both good schools. I am just curious about the experiences that people have had with these schools.
Both are really excellent. I’d suggest you pick the one where you feel most at home. That’s where you will excel and develop the best relationship.
SDSU is much larger and SD is a much bigger metro area than SLO. Spend some time (half day or more) on both campuses and talk to some students - then follow your heart. If you are honest with yourself - one will feel like home.
Make your choice knowing that there’s no wrong answer… and move on with your life.
Congrats and good luck!
This is according to my son who is in the middle of his Freshman year at Cal Poly:
There is a lot to do in SLO, but it’s hard your first year without a car (no cars for Freshmen).
Great places to shop, but it’s expensive.
Lots and lots of good food for not too much money.
Really nice weather.
Really nice geography.
Very nice people.
Not a lot of diversity.
But plenty of people like “you” since it’s a big campus.
The party culture is present. It is easy to avoid if you want, but it is also easy to get lost in it.
As a parent, I can also say that San Luis Obispo is kind of isolated, but it’s very fun to visit. My wife, daughter, and I have visited together or in combinations many times over the last year and we always have fun. Thursday Night Markets are really enjoyable. Very community oriented. It’s not a drunkfest like some college town street markets.
Much of this is probably true of San Diego (food, climate, etc.). Like @NCalRent says, VISIT if you can. You’ll know. If you can’t visit, try checking out some sites using Google Street View. It really can give you the beginning of a street-level feel for places.
@AMCdad thank you, that gives me some good insight. Does your son ever feel isolated in SLO? I’m curious because I’m an out-of-state student so I wouldn’t see my family a lot.
@kidwonder, yes he did feel isolated at times, but not BECAUSE of Cal Poly. We live about five hours away and he doesn’t have a car. Additionally, none of his friends went with him to Cal Poly. His girlfriend attends SF State and it’s not very easy to get to San Francisco from San Luis Obispo.
All of that being said, he knows that’s just what happens when you go away for college. It would have happened anywhere. It might even have happened, friend-wise, had he stayed home. None of his good friends stayed local, so he would have still felt socially isolated until he made new friends at school.
The ironic thing is that the kids who love the party life-style of college often find lots of friends really fast. They also tend to find managing the academic load more difficult as a result. He has a hundred stories of kids in the dorms who have lots of friends and very low grades. Social versus academic is a balancing act.
He adjusted pretty well after a couple of months. He got a good roommate. He checked out clubs that interested him. He met kids in classes. He started hiking with people all over the SLO area. He got OUT of his dorm room and things started to get better. By December he was talking to us about his roommate situation for housing in 2018-2019. He had a group of five that wanted to rent a house together. That fell through and he and his current roommate put together another group of four for an apartment. He made friends and he has options. It just takes a bit of time. That’s true anywhere.
Oh yeah: FACETIME. We use it a lot.
One more thing I forgot to mention about Cal Poly: Week of Welcome! Cal Poly has their freshmen show up a week in advance of school starting and puts them in groups with older students as leaders. They take the newbies around the campus, town, and local area to acclimate them to all of that SLO has to offer. My son was kept VERY busy for the week and made contacts within the group. You get out of it as much as you put in it. It was a good experience for him and a positive community building set of activities.
I didn’t catch that your were from another state. As an OOS student, you need to understand that there will be zero financial aid - so, you will be paying full OOS tuition - somewhere north of $35k. at either school.
SLO has commercial air service so, you can get in and out by air. Of course, flights in and out of San Diego are much more frequent and thanks to Southwest, usually pretty cheap. Not sure of your home state but, SLO is a longer drive than it looks like from just about anywhere.
The city of SLO isn’t so small that you’d feel cut off from civilization. There’s no shortage of retail, movie theaters, live music, lots of great food, good hiking and biking opportunities, 18000 students, clubs, frats, football games, coursework … and then there’s the beach a short drive away. Campus is right on the edge of town so, even if you are in the dorm, it is a short walk to just about anything. With a full student load, you’d have to work pretty hard to be bored.
Also be aware that SLO plans to increase OOS tuition. The information is here: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/2055709-proposed-fee-increase-notice-for-oos-applicants-to-cal-poly-slo.html