Cal Poly SLO, Santa Clara or U of Portland for structural engineering??

<p>Cal Poly: I got into the architectural engineering program, which is highly rated. The campus is in a pretty area only ten minutes from the ocean and I like SLO, but I am nervous that it is so inaccessible (as far as coming home to the Seattle area for holidays, etc.) Also, the size (18,000 undergrads) makes me nervous because I thought I wanted a small school.</p>

<p>Santa Clara: The school of engineering offers a civil engineering degree, which means I wouldn't be taking quite as specific and interesting classes as at Cal Poly. However, SCU seemed to have an atmosphere of community service and using your education to benefit others, which I found really nice. The campus was beautiful, but San Jose was not a super great town (it seemed to be mostly Indian restaurants and strip malls) but it would be easy to fly home, and being in the middle of Silicon Valley would give me internship opportunities. Also, it is quite expensive.</p>

<p>University of Portland: I would get a civil engineering degree from here, so I would have to take classes in the areas of civil that I am less interested in. Portland is a great city and very accessible. Price-wise, UP and Cal Poly are pretty comparable, with UP being slightly less expensive because of scholarships.</p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

<p>Cal Poly SLO has an impressive job placement rate in general, even for civil engineers graduating in 2009. On the other hand, architectural engineering graduates did worse pay-wise than civil engineering graduates. See Cal Poly SLO’s [career</a> survey](<a href=“http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/gradsurvey/]career”>http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/gradsurvey/).</p>