<p>I was accepted to both programs and I am having trouble deciding which one to choose. I know CP’s engineering program is amazing (3’rd in the nation) and I know UCI’s biology-related majors are amazing as well. There are other minor details but does anyone have an opinion about which program is better? Please explain your responses :)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>My son has been accepted to materials engineering at Cal Poly and UCI as well. We went to visit campuses in S Cal this past summer and we really liked the UCI campus. It is very modern and new looking and the layout of the campus is very easy. The area of Newport Beach is also very nice and John Wayne airport is right there. </p>
<p>I think one difference will be the students who attend UCI and Cal Poly. Look at the stats for students who attend. Since UCI is a university, the program will be larger and it will not have you jump right in to the BioMed program right away. Cal Poly will have you doing “hands-on” stuff much sooner. The campus at UCI is larger with greater diversity in the students and majors. The stats show over 50% of the students are asian and a slightly larger number of students are women. Big difference at Cal Poly where there are many more men and a higher % of white students. I am not saying one is better than the other. just a big difference. My son’s school is highly asian right now and he does very well there. there are a lot of students with $ at UCI. It is in Orange County!</p>
<p>It is a big decision. You are lucky to have a choice between two excellent schools. My son would be seriously considering UCI, except he wants to be closer to the Bay Area where we are from. Cal Poly is also the more economical school for us. His high school counselor said that Cal Poly is often harder to get into for engineering than UCI. She seemed more pleased that he got into CP!</p>
<p>Have you been to the campuses? That would really help your decision because I am sure both programs are great, but you may like the “feel” of one school over another.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and let us know what you will be doing!</p>
<p>I visited UCI last summer… haven’t visited Cal Poly yet. I’m leaning toward UCI because I’ve heard that changing your major at Cal Poly is a nightmare. If I decide down the road that I don’t want to major in biomed, then I’ll be in trouble at Cal Poly. The ethnic breakdown doesn’t really bother me unless there is a very obvious majority. The high school I currently attend is majority white (Catholic school) so the white majority at CP won’t be too different.</p>
<p>I’m also from the Bay Area so CP is closer than UCI. However, the distance isn’t a big consideration at this point. I guess I’ll just have to do my research. Thanks a lot for your help momofmv!</p>
<p>The ethnic breakdown at UCI is VERY noticeable. A massive majority of the school is asian, and would be a vast departure from your private high school. This is one of the things i hear people complain about most about UCI-its supposedly just outrageous. One of my factors for not going to UCI was this…i come from a small private as well. Not that there is anything wrong with this majority of people, but it just doesn’t sound right for me.</p>
<p>Then maybe I’ll like UCI more because I’m Indian 
Again, I’m not going to decide not to attend a school based on the ethnic breakdown.</p>
<p>You might want to search this forum on UCI. For instance, I remember a number of comments about UCI being more isolated than CP which has downtown SLO close by as well as great hiking, beaches and such. There are lots of threads on this.
The difficulty in changing majors at CP tends to be a bit overblown. Oh its a problem all right but if you have the grades and the persistence it can be done.</p>
<p>I’d like more information on this topic as well, I have the same major and was accepted to both schools too.</p>
<p>I think UCI will offer more opportunities in terms of research and internships because of its affiliation with the UC system…the OC is also a basin for engineering opportunities.</p>
<p>the best for biomedical is UCSD. just saying. haha.</p>
<p>Just really depends how you want in you’re major. If you want major research it’s a UC, if you want best in engineering and all that…then go to the top notch for engineering which is CalPoly for the big hands on work part and choose your picks on it either the CSU or UC.</p>
<p>San Luis Obispo is a nice small town and it’s got alot of things you can go around and do such that you’re never too far away from the beach (actually I grew up there), but you dont have that bigger city sorta thing like what Irvine has; and just on the note…the next biggest major city is Santa Barbara like under 1.5 hours south and then maybe Santa Cruz/Monterey an hours or 2 up north…SLO is in the middle of nowhere in somewhat idea.</p>
<p>I hate these kinds of comparisons. Which university is “better” is an impossible question to answer. Generalizations aside, you’d have to attend both universities to know! That said, I’ll give you my side of things. Biomedical is a relatively new major here. I’m not sure how Irvine structures their BMED curriculum, but ours will give you a taste of every and all engineering disciplines. Think of it as a general engineering path with a biological focus. The classes offered are diverse and it really does make for a fun major. Yet I sometimes feel that we don’t delve deep enough into any particular area (jack of all trades, master of none, so it goes) and most advisers recommend pursuing a Masters. However this seems to come with the major, no matter where you take it.</p>
<p>The biomed-specific courses here are nothing spectacular, but the professors are honest and as helpful as they come. Your options are wide open, so long as YOU have the drive. I’m sure it’s the same way anywhere else. One other factor to consider is the relatively high concentration of biomedical firms at Irvine. Of course, there are opportunities abound here as well. Then there’s the small town atmosphere and satisfaction of studying engineering at an engineering school. But that’s up to you to weigh.</p>
<p>I should point out that that the Biomedical Engineering department at Cal Poly SLO is brand new. As in, you couldn’t acctually major in BMED when I was a freshman at Cal Poly. Previously, the ‘equivalent’ of the BMED department was acctually general engineering with a biomedical engineering focus.</p>