<p>The real question you are facing is: “Does the UC Irvine diploma vs Cal Poly Pomona diploma worth the extra money I’ll be paying?”. My answer (now biased because I’m a CPP student) is:</p>
<p>NO, and this because UCI (or any other mid-tier UC) is certainly not worth twice as much as Cal Poly Pomona in computer science.</p>
<p>I was facing a similar dilemma with UC Davis vs UC Irvine vs Cal Poly Pomona for civil engineering. Since I qualified for the UC application fee waiver, I applied to four UC campuses: Berkeley (rejected), UCLA (rejected), UC Irvine (accepted), and UC Davis (accepted). UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara do not offer civil engineering, so I didn’t apply there. First, we have to recognize that the UC system is pretty much three-tiered. We have:</p>
<p>*Berkeley and UCLA as two undisputed world-class universities. (a.k.a. the “god-tier” of the UC system)</p>
<p>*UCSD, UCD, UCSB, and UCI as four extremely good universities in the Top 50 of U.S. News–some people think UCSD is in its own tier behind Berkeley and UCLA. (I call this the “mid tier”)</p>
<p>*UCSC, UCR, and UCM as three very good universities that are the “Rodney Dangerfield of the UC” because “they get no respect”… make no mistake, they would still beat the living crap out of some flagship state universities, and that tells you the absolute FANTASTIC offering the state of California has to its populance in higher ed. (a.k.a. “the lower-tier”)</p>
<p>Having established the “rules of engagement” in the UC, we now have to look at the other “Rodney Dangerfield” of higher ed in California: the CSU system. This too is a multi-tiered system. My opinion is that the two Cal Poly Universities are the best alongside CSU Long Beach and San Diego State. </p>
<p>*Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is clearly at the top and, in general, it’s considered and unofficial “mid-tier” UC. Furthermore, for fields like engineering or architecture, some consider it to be as good as “god-tier” UCs.</p>
<p>*Cal Poly Pomona, in general, is often considered an unofficial “lower-tier” UC. Furthermore, for fields like engineering it’s considered to be as good as a “mid-tier” UC. Its architecture program could still be considered “god-tier” UC because it’s ridiculously hard to get in, and literally only one of four public architecture programs in the state along with Berkeley, UCLA, and Cal Poly SLO. Hospitality management is also very reputable, but an outlier since not many California public colleges have that major.</p>
<p>My claim that Cal Poly Pomona engineering is as good as a mid-tier UC is backed-up by admissions data:</p>
<p>[Cal</a> Poly Pomona College of Engineering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Cal Poly Pomona College of Engineering - Wikipedia”>Cal Poly Pomona College of Engineering - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>SAT scores at the Cal Poly Pomona engineering program (reading and math only) have gone up 133 points since 2006 and they are now 1,168. (Fall 2012)</p>
<p>[University</a> of California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“University of California - Wikipedia”>University of California - Wikipedia)
[University</a> of California, Irvine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“University of California, Irvine - Wikipedia”>University of California, Irvine - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>For UC Irvine SAT scores (reading and math only) have largely become stagnated (in 2006 they were 1,240) an are now 1,233. (Fall 2012)</p>
<p>GPA cannot be compared one-to-one because Cal Poly Pomona publishes unweighted GPA (less than 4.0) whereas UC GPA calculation is weighted (GPA can be higher than 4.0). However the GPA at CPP has also increased faster that at UC Irvine (I do realize they start at very different values but statistically the trends are self-evident).</p>
<p>I think it’s important to evaluate the trends in the time-frame after the economy imploded (Dec. 2007) because people started to become a lot more price-conscious and more selective on the fields of studies to choose from. Both these factors disproportionately benefited Cal Poly Pomona because it’s a lot cheaper than a UC ($6,624 vs $14,046)</p>
<p>[Cost</a> and Resources | Future Students | Cal Poly Pomona](<a href=“http://cpp4me.csupomona.edu/cost-resources/]Cost”>http://cpp4me.csupomona.edu/cost-resources/)</p>
<p>and because Cal Poly Pomona is such as STEM-oriented university.</p>
<p>Now, I have been mostly talking about engineering, but we have to realize that computer science at both CPP and UCI are ABET-accredited:</p>
<p>[Accredited</a> Programs details](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=5756]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=5756)
[Accredited</a> Programs details](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=5764]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=5764)</p>
<p>As far as employers go, my understanding is that the “learn by doing” philosophy that we share with CPSLO makes CPP graduates extremely coveted because it prepares them well for work. UCs are far more theoretical, so if your goal is research or grad school, UCI has an advantage.</p>
<p>In conclusion, I restate my claim: UCI is not worth twice as much as Cal Poly Pomona in either computer science or engineering. I’m sure you are student who works hard and mere fact that you are asking this question is a testimony that CPP is attracting more qualified students and increasing it “academic pedigree”. Even my professors at CPP have told me so and have noticed that the academic quality of newer students has increased tremendously in the last years. My advice to you is one and one only: approach this conundrum as a business decision. Good luck.</p>
<p>TL;DR If I were you I’d go to Cal Poly Pomona over UC Irvine</p>