One of our friends sons is finishing up the 4+1 Master's in Aero. He interned in COLO for Boeing. Loved it!
Look at College Scorecard to see average salaries for different colleges and fields of study. SLO is higher than COLO.
Boulder is a big time drinking school and colder than SLO. And there is drinking at SLO - more in the business dorms than engineering dorms (sure son).
I don't know about chatting w an advisor before acceptance. I would call the Engineering department to see who she can chat with. She should be able to call and talk to the dean of aero. We had a great conversation last year with the dean of electrical eng. at open house.
We met with the new Eng. Dept. Dean, Dr. Amy Fleischer, last year when she was down in San Diego to meet with parents. She is very low key but very much into helping girls succeed in Engineering! She is a big time plus to the department!
I am sorry Open house in a couple of weeks is not happening as it is such a great time for the kids (and parents).
And OHHHH - If she wants to talk to my niece, who has her BS ME from SLO and a MS Engineering Management from UC - Boulder - we could hook them up! Let me know!
@ElenaParent FWIW, my son is a current freshman at Cal Poly majoring in CS. He also got a 5 in Calc BC along with an 800 on the SAT for Math, and 143 was HARDlast quarter for him. The school is excellent - one of his professors, in his mind is a genius (which is an unheard of statement from him). They have open office hours and the students would meet with one of his profs at Starbuck then move the the open grass. area for a Q&A. He loves Cal Poly and, as you know with your other kids, Freshman year is such a big adjustment that it’s not just about school and studying anymore, it’s about them envisioning themselves as these young adults on their own. and all the bumps and leaps that come with self-motivation, discovering who they are and what they stand for. Huge congrats to her - she has some wonderful choices. My personal opinion is that she shouldn’t go to SLO (or anywhere else) if USC is allowed to stay on the table as she will always have one foot mentally out the door. She needs to research everything she can about every major, pick a school, be proud of her choice and stick through it for for the long haul (at least through sophomore year. when the roller-coaster of self discovery slows down slightly).
My daughter got into all the UCs (except Cal) and picked SLO for ME (started in BMED) and will graduate in four years. She’s had an internship 3 summers and already has a job offer in the Bay Area. It’s not just about rank. She just felt so safe and accepted right away - she made it her home from day one.
@elenaparent the facebook page is Cal Poly SLO Mustangs Parents. If she has her heart set on USC as you are an alum, then she should focus on that route. She needs to really think about what she truly wants to do as a career.
@ucgraddad yes. If they retake those courses, they are not considered for credit and if they only sign up for say 14 units including 141 or 142, then they will fall below full time student. My son enjoyed his Math 143 professor (taught calc IV also). He studied a great deal and pulled out an A-. He had a study group on his floor taking the same class, different profs, which helped.
@NightHawkIV Thank-you for the feedback. We have heard that other students that have skipped 141 & 142 have had trouble in 143. Not sure if they were relatively weak in calc (i.e., got a 3 on the AP test maybe) or if their high school calc class did not cover one or more concepts needed in 143 (and were taught in 141 and/or 142). Hmmmmm…
Are you suggesting she forgets USC? They didn’t accept her, they gave her the TTP - Trojan Transfer Plan - a special thing of practically guaranteed transfer after one year, if she takes right courses and gets 3.6-3.7 GPA. So, the idea is to choose a school (and a major), go there, and see how she feels by the end of January. If she loves the place she is at (SLO, Colorado, UCSD), she forgets USC. If she still dreams USC - she applies for transfer via TTP, and transfers.
Hopefully, the courses USC wants her to have in possible preparation for transfer will not interfere with her progress towards the degree at whatever place she is at. So the decision fork can be made in January. She either will love the university she is at, or will “go for it” with USC.
Like I already explained here, USC is possible only as a transfer on a practically guaranteed transfer plan (TTP), after one year at any 2- or 4-year college. Whether it happens, whether she wants it a year from now - who knows. But meanwhile she has to study at a school that she would be happy with. Be it SLO, Colorado or UCSD.
I am a student you gotta chose the major based on what you do as a hobby or what you consider fun (even if you aren’t good at it). Cause if you are good at something, but do not like it, you just gonna switch majors eventually and waste money on more school
@thadiplomat22
Can’t find that post of yours, but it used to say this:
“I think its pretty funny that you are telling me, a community college student, what community college is about. Community college has a wide array of classes to take such as architecture and engineering. A lot of people who have never been to community college just assume that there is nothing except GE courses. If she has so many AP classes then she won’t have to take GE classes because the exam scores give credit for those classes.”
I did teach at Universities, and I have PhD from UCS. My youngest son has credit for 4 classes taken at Community College (Multivariable Calculus, Ordinary Differential Equations, College Writing 101, and C++ Programming), which I helped him to find, because he was 11, 12 and 13 years old when he was taking those. And for that I studied the way to enroll and to study at Community College, and looked through all the courses it had to offer.
And btw, between my jobs as a “Software Engineering Lead” at a startup and as a “Researcher” at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, I did take a class in TCP-IP at the same community college (yes, after already having my PhD). I do know what Community College is, and that’s why I wrote what I wrote. I am sorry if I offended you. That was not my intention.
Different Students have different needs and different ways to satisfy those. Community College is great for some, at some point in their learning life, and not good for some others.
Honestly, I am not trying to offend anyone. I have this Community College discussion here and there periodically. Some people outright insist that everyone should go to community college first. And I disagree. Some kids want to be on college campus, experience life, live in the dorm, etc. Some kids, especially in our area (Virginia-Maryland-DC) come out of high school with 13 AP tests and 9 college courses taken, and they jump into Junior year of college right after thy are accepted into a 4-year university. Some come out with 2.5 GPA, but eager to learn, and learn from the best professors and get their hands on research right away and SLO allows for that! Why would these kids go to community college? And then there are people like me, who, with all degrees you can possibly have, want to go to community college to have some fun, or to have an organized class in their profession that they were not exposed to during their main college years.
People are different. Not everyone should go to community college.
If a student is a Cal Poly Scholar and is later accepted into the Honors Program, do they get to choose either Cal Poly Scholars or Honors Program Learning Community housing? If given a choice, which would you recommend - pros & cons?
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