@AjayEngineer: Yes, check the Final Status thread and use the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the thread to type in Electrical as the key word. A list of all threads with your key word will be listed.
Major: Environmental Engineering
Status: Accepted
Weighted GPA: 4.066
SAT: 1070
ACT:20
Bonus Points: Parents had no school, many AP classes, Volleyball all 4 years, NHS president
Major: Computer Engineering
Status: Accepted
Weighted GPA: 4.5+
UW GPA: 3.9+
SAT Subject Tests: Chem 800, Math II 800
ACT: 35
@Nadagon4, would you mid calculating your MCA and posting to the Final status thread linked below. It will be very helpful to future applicants.
@MomofSaxPlayer When did your son here?
Eyemgh, how would you compare university of Washington direct admission into computer Science compared to cal poly?
@2toplace they’re both good, but different. I’m not sure it would be worth leaving state for anywhere on a pure financial basis. That said, some have the money an dare looking to broaden life experience. What’s the cost difference and would you have to borrow?
@eyemgh
UW would be in state and Cal Poly would be OOS. Twin girls loved Cal Poly and are afraid UW is too big. Admitted to Cal Poly but have not heard yet from UW. We would not need to take out loans but the cost difference times two is a lot.
@Eyemgh
UW would be $28k per year and Cal Poly ariound $44k so about $16k a year more times 2! But I don’t think they would be successful in a large school with large class sizes.
@2toplace, our son didn’t go to the cheapest option or to our in state flagship. Like you though, we didn’t have to borrow (nor did he) to go to Cal Poly.
The way I looked at it was that our state flagship (Oregon State) set the baseline for the investment portion of the equation, as I’m not sure he’d make more over a career at any other school, even the likes of MIT and Stanford. Engineers get paid pretty similarly no matter where they go. Then the differential was us providing life experience as a gift.
That said, we all felt CP was a better program with the smaller classes and heavy emphasis on experiential learning. We are all pragmatic enough to know that he would have made his way in either case.
For you it’s similar, but even a bit more complicated, as you’re not certain they’ll thrive at a big school. If you can afford it, and they like it, I’d send them to Poly. It’s a great program.
Thank you. Very good perspective that I had not thought about.
The problem with UW is that your major is not guaranteed, unless you’re a direct admit, which is very rare. They made it a little better now with direct admit to engineering, but that is still not a guarantee that you’ll get into the more competitive majors. That skews the entire student experience for the ones interested in engineering/CS. I heard stories of students complaining about fierce competition and tense relationships. I heard of students transferring out since they could not get their desired majors.
@iulianc, I had read it was substantially better. Still, I’d only thought of it from the perspective of getting locked out. I never thought about how brutal it could be even if you did get your desired major. Gulp! As you can attest, the environment at Cal Poly is extremely collegial and cooperative.
@eyemgh With computer science being so challenging to get into at Cal Poly, why don’t more people apply to software engineering? They are very very similar.
@Eyemgh, Do you have an opinion about Gonzaga’s computer science program? I know they have a good reputation for engineering but not sure about computer science. My twins have been offered scholarships (including one for being siblings ) that would make Gonzaga about $15K less per year than OOS Cal Poly, but I am concerned their program is not very strong.
Does anyone know when Cal Poly will post their cost of attendance for 2019 - 2020? I am curious how much it will be for OOS since there will be the new fee.
I just noticed that they have now updated their cost of attendance for 2019 - 2020, but it does not list the new diversity fee for OOS students. I wonder if it is buried in one of the lines or will be added later.
Looks like the new diversity fee is buried in the cost because it in about two grand higher for new freshman than continuing undergrads and last year they were about the same.
@toplace, more and more are applying to SE. As for Gonzaga, don’t know much, but one of my patients goes there and likes it. Look at their placement information and see where students are getting jobs after graduation.
@2toplace My daughter applied to Computer Science to all of her other schools except Cal Poly SLO. We knew in advance that the acceptance rate was higher for Software Engineering so went that route. Her dad is in software engineering at a major technology company and looked at both curriculums. He said the Software Engineering degree more closely aligned to what they actually did in his workplace.