I was accepted to SDSU for civil engineering in mid-December and I anticipate being accepted to Cal Poly Pomona and CSULB. Ideally, I would want to attend a school that has great academics (especially in regards to engineering) and that offers the full college experience. I am also considering earning a master’s degree in civil engineering later on. I visited and toured all three campuses. From what I have heard, SDSU has a vibrant campus life and Cal Poly Pomona is an engineering-oriented school. I haven’t heard much about CSULB. Which school do you recommend for civil engineering? Which school would you say is best overall and why? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
P.S. Cal Poly SLO is my top choice amongst the CSU’s but it’s a reach.
All the campuses are ABET accredited which is important as a Civil Engineering student, so the curriculum will be the basically the same. Any of these schools will give you great education so it my come down to costs and social environment. Cal Poly Pomona has the same hands on/learn by doing philosophy as SLO but all the Cal states are geared to getting students out into the workforce.
I would look at each schools 4 year plan course requirements along with their electives to see if one school has courses of interest over the other.
https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/pubred/!mymap.disp
https://www.cpp.edu/~academic-programs/academic-advising/tools/sheets-roadmaps/2018-2019/egr.shtml
http://catalog.csulb.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=1&poid=85
Academically they are comparable. I’d lean toward SDSU due to (IMHO) a better student experience. Of the 3, it is by far the most residential/social. Even as an engineering major, you’ll have a lot more hours outside the classroom than in.
Also most students switch major at least once… so, the overall fit of the campus is probably more important than how they rank in a particular area.
Good luck with SLO - if admitted that would probably top my list.