My son was fortunate to be admitted to CP this year for ME. We are thrilled with the excellent academic reputation of CP but wonder if someone could comment on the nature of the social life at the school. He is an East coast kid who is not that big into outdoor
activities. Thank you.
You’d really have to ask a more specific question. What IS he into?
He played varsity football and rec sports (basketball and soccer) but was not particularly social in high school–has a
group of friends but does not go to co-ed parties as he is shy around members of the opposite sex. Plays a lot of video games and is not particularly into the outdoors (hiking, biking, etc). We think he would benefit from being at a school that might draw him out of his shell as opposed to a school where he will have to more actively seek out a social life (UCSD?). Clearly any college experience is what you make of it and you can choose to get involved or sit on the sidelines wherever you are. Appreciate the insight.
Have him live in the living learning community for engineering. He’ll find his tribe. There are plenty of students into video games and if he has time, Cal Poly has a robust intramural program. He doesn’t have to be into parties or the outdoors to be happy and successful in SLO. He probably will experience both though before too long.
After freshman year a large % of students moved into apartments or away from campus. Cal poly is state school designed to serve kids for the local area. Not unusual for kids to leave campus on long weekends and go home. Somethings to considering you’re worried about son becoming isolated. Another question is… How will he get to school? Have you researched transportation options and costs?
We toured this past week with a couple of freshman. I’ve made mention of this on other threads. They both separately joined a “substance free” dorm, met, and became boyfriend/girlfriend. Nice new dorms, big living spaces and near much of everything on campus and the town was about a 1 mile/20 min walk.
http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/content/res_life/living_learning
These two students also mentioned that SLO just built some sophomore housing complex(es) on campus too, which is where they intend to live (Poly Canyon) next year.
http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/student-housing/continuing-student-housing
Firestone Grill was awesome!
Not that it would matter to your child, but they mentioned that they weren’t “into” the beautiful new Recreation facility, so they take occasional hikes up the big hill where there’s a big “P”. OTOH, we met some of their friends who just played video games and hung out. Their RA seemed like a totally awesome guy.
Kids do leave weekends. FYI, we’re from the Bay Area as were these two students.
From the center of campus to the center of town is 2.25 miles across highway 101. Not sure how many kids walk. I believe there’s some sort of bus.
It was an approximation. We didn’t walk center-to-center. We did walk to Firestone Grill. I’m not sure how many kids walk it, but the two students were toured with mentioned kids do it. Anyway, I always opt for exercise over driving especially on beautiful days. And we didn’t even have to dodge any cars on the freeway. ?
We walked everywhere. We saw a few students walking to town, but my guess is more either bike or take the bus; they’re probably shorter on time than we were. Beautiful areas to walk!
"Not unusual for kids to leave campus on long weekends and go home. Somethings to considering you’re worried about son becoming isolated "
This is actually very unusual. Sure a few kids leave for weekends, but they do from every school. They are rare. My son didn’t even come home for his first two Thanksgiving breaks.
As for getting around, my son has a car, and now as a masters candidate has a parking pass, as he lives far enough away to need to drive. His first 4 years though, he didn’t have a pass and would occasionally go a month or two on a tank of gas. He walked, bussed or rode his bike.
Well… Walking around SLO in winter sure beats walking around MA or upstate NY. CP SLO is not unique in CA, as most campus are set away from the “town”.