I am interested in majoring in environmental engineering and love Cal Poly and their program. I have not decided on a school yet, but it is now between Cal Poly and University of Florida. I am from NJ and I am concerned I might have trouble fitting in at Cal Poly. If you are from the East Coast and attend Cal Poly SLO, can you please tell me about your experiences and how things worked out for you?
What are your concerns?
That I won’t fit in or that I will have trouble making friends since the west coast is so much different than the east coast
I wouldn’t worry too much about “fitting in.” You’ll learn that people at Cal Poly are generally nice and there are quite a good number of OOS and international students. With that many people, you are bound to find your group of friends. It’s hard not to make friends since everyone who comes in want to meet new people. You will find people who share similar interests through your major or other extracurricular activities. You’ll learn that west coast and east coast people aren’t that different. I have friends from NJ, RI, NY, TX, WA, and WY who are all settling in nicely.
In general, the west coast is much more welcoming and open than the east coast. East to west is easier than west to east. Cal Poly, like most state schools, is comprised of mostly students from the state it serves. About 15-18% are from outside of CA, but within the CENG, that number is about 35%. Students in general seem very friendly and happy. If you go into it with an open mind, ready for a new experience, I think you’ll have a great time.
Florida also has a good engineering program. The main differences are that Florida is much larger. Classes will be bigger and they will rely on TAs for labs and discussions. Classes at Poly are small and all professor taught. That doesn’t mean every prof will be awesome and every TA will be bad. Smaller classes though are the biggest benefit. Cal Poly shines in it’s use of labs. Nearly every class has a lab. Within the CENG alone there are over 80 labs. For undergrads, the facilities are great. It’s location and weather are also quite nice.
Florida has two advantages over Cal Poly. Although there are research opportunities within environmental engineering at Poly, there will be more at Florida by virtue of it’s doctoral program. Florida also has big time SEC athletics, if that’s important to you.
Both are good schools, just different. I think whether or not you fit in will be largely in your hands. There won’t be any barriers in your way.
Good luck.
If you go to Cal Poly, SLO, it’s not like you’d be moving to a different country where they speak a different language. I’ve lived on both coasts, and the differences are really pretty minor.
I can’t speak for Cal Poly, but I can share my own experiences.
When I was in college (forever ago), we had a couple of guys come to Chico State as part of an exchange program with one of the colleges in New Jersey. Since they were members of our national fraternity, they moved into our fraternity house. One of them was the most uptight, high strung guy you ever met. The other came the next year and he was the most laid back guy you have ever met. Both of them got along fine and still maintain friendships with many of us from those days. They had the advantage of a built in support system due to fraternity membership, but they made plenty of friends from all over the town. If anything, their East Coast status made them more interesting because Chico had VERY few OOS students, especially from 3,000 miles away.
I think @presence’s post is dead-on for what you can expect at most California universities unless it’s a VERY competitive campus culture. As @eyemgh said, the West Coast is pretty friendly as a general statement. In all but the biggest cities, we tend to smile at and greet people we don’t even know while just walking down the street. If you get along with people where you live, you’ll find people to hang out with in California.
I am also from New Jersey and I just committed to Cal Poly today. I am majoring in Materials Engineering. I visited Cal Poly when it had Open House. West coast people are nothing like us. They are extremely laid back, overly concerned with their health, and like doing a lot of outside activities. The biggest shock to me was the lack of African Americans. As someone who attends a public high school In New Jersey, I’m used to seeing diversity; however Cal Poly is so white (this was a bit of a turn-off for me). With that being said though, Cal Poly has great engineering programs and small class sizes. I plan on doing a 4+1 (similar to the program offered at Stevens Institute of Technolgy) and getting my MS. I’m not too worried about fitting in. I think it is probably easier for someone on the East Coast to move West because West Coast people aren’t uptight and self-centered.