Currently a rising senior in high school (Cumulative weighted GPA 3.96, last semester it was a 4.17), 1370 SAT score (but I can get it up to about 1420 by the time I apply), varsity tennis, junior varsity lacrosse, NHS, and student council (senior year). I took mostly honors courses my freshman and sophomore years and I took AP Chemistry, AP English Language, AP Human Geography, and AP US history my junior year and I also took AP Micro and Macroeconomics my sophomore year. I will be taking Applied Calculus, AP Comparative Government, AP English Literature, General Physics, and Aerospace Engineering this upcoming year and I think (knock on wood) that I have a pretty good shot at getting into all of these universities. However, I am worried about whether or not the hefty tuition would be worth it for going out of state (I’m a CO resident). I hope to study some branch of engineering (most likely civil or mechanical) and although Boulder looks fairly cheaper on paper, would it be better to attend VT or Cal Poly due to their better prestige and better job prospects? And can anyone give me any insight on what it’s like to attend VT or Cal Poly? Thanks!
Personally I never think it’s worth it to pay OOS tuition for a public university. CU has a decent engineering school so it definitely would not be worth going OOS. it would be a different story if you were talking MIT, Stanford or CalTech…
Colorado is not a “decent” engineering school. It’s a very good engineering school. That said, the cost between the three isn’t that different. CU in state is $29k. Cal Poly OOS is $37k. VT OOS…$41k.
MIT, Caltech and Stanford have GREAT graduate programs. Their undergrad COAs are all however around $65k per year. It’s up for debate whether any of those three are good for undergrad. In fact two Caltech profs and a Stanford PhD told my son that undergraduates can get better educations elsewhere. That may be seen as heresy by some. What’s not debatable is that it would be unlikely that you could earn enough more over a career by attending one of those institutions to offset the opportunity cost of the extra $140k. There would certainly be different contact and networking opportunities and different jobs that open to grads of those schools.
Now, all that said, the three schools are very different. Cal Poly’s main advantage (discounting its idyllic location) is the small class size and deeper lab work. What you give up is any access to high level research. You have to weigh the importance of the didactics vs. what you might glean from research activity as an undergrad. This won’t be handed to you. You will have to go find it and keep your fingers crossed that they’ll take you. VT and CU also have way more developed athletic programs, if that important to you.
All in all, three great options. Visit all three. Tour the engineering facilities. Don’t overlook the surrounding areas and non-academic opportunities. Above all else, make sure you have a safety or two. This is a school you know with absolute certainty that you will get into, and that you will be able to afford.
Now, for Cal Poly, you need to disregard anything you’ve read about admission rate. Those average figures are meaningless. CP admits competitively to each individual major. Aerospace, ME, BME, and CS are extremely competitive. The median SAT for the whole college was 1430 last year, and certainly higher for those 4 majors. Do the best you can to up your SAT scores and view Cal Poly, for those majors, as a reach.
I’m not absolutely certain of this, but engineering is usually a tougher admit at most schools. It won’t hurt your chances at CU or VT to up your SAT score.
Good luck!
These are all good schools. I don’t think that any of them necessarily offer significantly better prestige or job prospects than the others, except with respect to their local markets.
If you are a CO resident, then Colorado School of Mines is an attractive choice for engineering. I’m in CA and know students who turned down Cal Poly for Mines, even though they are paying OOS tuition. According to the asee.org online profiles, the Mines engineering program attracts students with higher SAT scores than the other three engineering programs on your list.
@Corbett, according to ASEE, the SAT scores are NOT appreciably different between the schools. The following are the 75th Percentile of the Math and Critical Reading scores respectively. VT 730/660, Mines 730/690, CU 730/690, Cal Poly 740/680. There is no significant difference between any of them especially considering the score range of the SAT for each given sitting curve. Missing a single problem on the Math section can result in a score anywhere between 800 and 760.
That said, any CO resident interested in engineering should consider Mines. Mines though has a reputation as a grind. You’d certainly want to talk to current students to see if they are happy there.
There are four 2016 SAT numbers common to the four engineering schools in question: the 25% and 75% SATs for CR and M. I just added those four numbers for each school, and Mines came out the highest. If you want to argue that the Mines numbers are not “appreciably” higher, OK. The real point, which we both agree on, is that Mines is worth considering here.
I think Mines is worth looking at for a CO resident. I also think it would be crazy for a CA resident to pass over Cal Poly to go to Mines unless there was significant merit or financial needs money thrown in from Mines. OOS Mines is currently $59k. That’s $132,000 more than Cal Poly. Considering the opportunity cost of that difference at 6% and 40 years, there’s no chance a Mines grad earns $1,300,000 MORE than a Cal Poly grad over their career. Here’s the real kicker, Cal Poly OOS is cheaper than Mines in state. VT OOS is the same cost as Mines in state.
I only have second-hand info, but what I’ve heard is that CA residents can find Mines to be competitive with Cal Poly, because:
- Mines is more likely to offer admissions into certain popular majors (where Cal Poly is "impacted");
- Mines offers significant merit aid to non-residents based on their GPAs/test scores.
The second point would appear to be true, based on the “2017-2018 Non-Resident Merit Scholarship Eligibility Criteria” shown here: http://finaid.mines.edu/Scholarship-Information-Prospective-Freshmen
Cal Poly admits based on an algorithm. There’s no subjectivity, no holistic approach. Students compete major to major. A student who wants to be a ME, only competes against other ME candidates. As a result, some majors are very difficult admits (ME, Aero, CS, BME) whereas others are easy (IE). Every major at Cal Poly is impacted. The CSU definition of impaction is that they have more applicants than they have spots for.
I can’t speak to the engineering piece, but can give some insight from a CO resident considering Cal Poly and Virginia Tech. Our son is starting at VT next month for Architecture. CU’s Architecture program is at CU Denver (the only Architecture program in the state), and isn’t at the level of CP or VT, so it wasn’t really considered. Cal Poly and VT were pretty close as far as his top choice with CP slightly ahead at the beginning, although I always thought VT was a better fit for him as a person.
As stated in previous posts, CP just uses an algorithm for admissions while VT looks at the whole person. His grades were slightly lower than yours with similar SAT and he only made it to the waitlist at CP for Architecture, but add in his volunteer work, activities, life experience, etc. and he was accepted the first day of regular decision at VT. Both schools didn’t clear any of their waitlists this year so they are both highly in demand, but from our perspective Cal Poly is tougher to get into OOS than VT. Considering they are both coming in way over their desired freshman class sizes for this year (VT is 600 over), they both might be even more selective next year.
We were a bit soured on Cal Poly due to a screwup they had where they sent a postcard congratulating him on his acceptance to Cal Poly and inviting him to attend a Denver area get-together for incoming students. His status still showed as waitlisted, so we called admissions and they told us they made a mistake and nothing had changed. Not a nice thing to do to a kid who has you as their top choice. He was already accepted at VT, so this prompted him to go ahead and commit to VT (CP official rejection came weeks later). Ever since VT showed him the love and CP didn’t, he hasn’t looked back and now can’t imagine going anywhere other than VT.
As far as costs, Cal Poly is cheaper OOS on paper, but VT came up with merit scholarship money that we were not expecting which is bringing VT in about midway between CU in-state and Cal Poly. Good luck getting scholarship money out of CP…
As I said, I can’t speak for engineering, but from my overall school perspective, both are beautiful campuses with VT having a better looking campus and CP having a nicer setting. VT is near the top and CP is near the bottom for on-campus dining rankings, and we have tried both and can confirm that VT’s dining options are incredible. VT has nicer dorms, and is one of the few campuses we toured that didn’t have a section completely ripped apart for construction. We didn’t think the sports aspect was going to be a factor since he wasn’t into his high school teams, never followed college or pro sports, toured Auburn and Clemson and made fun of the fact that the whole focus of their campus tours was football, but he already bought his VT football season tickets. CP has the whole California thing with the beach nearby and nicer weather, so if you are looking for that aspect, then you can’t beat CP.
The other consideration is accessibility from Colorado, I’d classify CP as bad and VT as horrible. Both entail a flight from Denver to an airport hours away from SLO/Blacksburg, or a super expensive flight to an airport nearer to campus. CP gets the nod since the long drive is up or down the Pacific Coast, and they have the Amtrak option to get to SLO from the Bay Area or LA.
Go Hokies!
I can attest to what @mil7676 said about several things at Cal Poly. The on campus food is really bad. The dorms aren’t terrible, but aren’t spectacular by any stretch either. Merit aid is virtually non-existent. My son had stats high enough to go to multiple schools like Alabama for free, was awarded a year free at Utah and $25k/year at Case. CP gave him $2k. I’ve not heard of any student getting more. They don’t have need based deep pockets for aid either. You have to be eligible for a Pell to get anything OOS and that’s all you’ll get. That said, I can also confirm that all the positives cited are real too. A visit to both should help solidify who ranks where (if they are worth ranking at all), Plus, it’s fun!
If you are on the fence between Civil and ME at Cal Poly, Civil is an easier admit. You have to be pretty certain though, because switching majors there is not guaranteed or quick.
It’s obviously too late to make a difference for you, but as of last month, United started offering nonstop flights between Denver and San Luis Obispo.