Cal Poly SLO vs UCLA

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys,

I recently got off the waitlist for UCLA, and I haven’t been so excited since. But I was placed for “undeclared engineering.” On the other hand, I was accepted to Cal Poly SLO for computer engineering and I have been considering committing to the school, but now I am not sure anymore with my recent acceptance to UCLA. I understand most of the pros and cons of both of the schools, and I need some advice from those who are able to shine more perspective to either school. Here is my current understanding.

UCLA
Pros: Location-wise, a BIG plus. The campus is nearby many other parts of LA. I can travel to the beach, San Fernando Valley, Hollywood, and downtown without much hassle. The weather at UCLA is also a plus (although Cal Poly is arguably better). UCLA no doubt has a highly diverse population; I can find myself making friends more easily within a couple of months of attending. And the last major factor of why I love UCLA so much is its academics. It has very strong engineering programs and student services. Even with an undeclared major, I can see myself declaring one that I like very quickly.

Cons: Some may argue that student life at UCLA is not all that amazing from what I heard. The large student population can make me feel cramped and unimportant. The campus size is arguably smaller than other public universities. The dorms are subpar and expensive. Parking is definitely an issue. While I don’t mind much about the cons, the only thing holding me back is my undeclared major. I won’t be able to take the same classes as other students at my age, and I might fall behind because I don’t have any priority when taking other classes I may be interested in.

Cal Poly SLO
Pros: Location is also great. The campus is a 1-hour drive away from home and right next to Pismo beach. The scenery at SLO, in my opinion, is much better than UCLA because it is suburban. The class sizes are SLO are small, so connecting with professors will be much easier than UCLA. SLO also recently added new dorms that blow others out of the water. The academics at Cal Poly are unique because of their “Learn by Doing” plan. It is the main reason why so many graduates get recruited from reputable companies like Lockheed-Martain, Siemens, Sony, General Electric, etc.

Cons: While living in a suburban area is nice, it is also far away from the nearest big city. The tuition and housing at SLO are more expensive than UCLA (and money is a big issue for our family). Cal Poly has a negative reputation for not having a diverse student population and is rumored to have many racial issues. The food is terrible, and the classes are hard to get into (although I suppose it isn’t much easier at UCLA either).

Both schools have its pros and cons and I don’t know which school to commit to, The deciding factor that will lean me towards to whichever school is its academics. I hold UCLA’s academics to a very high standard; but with an undeclared engineering major, I don’t get much priority in classes and I have certain limitations to what I can take. Cal Poly has a “Learn by Doing” plan which appeals to me, especially since I was accepted for computer engineering, but tuition is more expensive and I don’t have much trust that its programs are on par with or better than UCLA’s. If anyone can give more insight or correct any misinformation I put on this post, please comment. I highly appreciate your opinions.

2

How soon can you declare a major at UCLA? Do you need a certain GPA to get into computer engineering?
If you can declare a major after one semester, then there is not going to be a problem registering for classes versus your peers in computer engineering. The first semester of college is general requirements, so you will not fall behind at UCLA. Understand the lottery systems for class registration at Cal Poly. Each school has a system for registration and all have negatives. How much more does Cal Poly cost and can you move off campus sooner to save money on housing there? Also, don’t worry about housing as much, you are not going to spend much time inside a room, so ignore that if you can, and focus on finances, traveling to and from college and academics, especially are you guaranteed a spot in computer engineering at UCLA?

Can you finish a degree in 4 years at both? If you need five years at Cal Poly will you need a loan?

3

Also compare the size of computer engineering at UCLA, its smaller to the students majoring in computer engineering at Cal Poly, over 1000 I bet, but check. So the student population in UNDERGRAD engineering, is likely smaller in computer engineering at UCLA. Those professors mentor PhD students too, but PhD students are fun to learn from, and often more helpful than professors. With that, Cal Poly is an undergraduate focused school, with small class sizes, so you will not fall through the cracks at Cal Poly. So class size may be misleading given you are considering a large undergraduate institution to a full research university.

4

@Coloradomama I agree that class sizes depending on major is misleading. Cal Poly’s “Learn by Doing” plan pushes students to find a job after undergrad, but I plan to apply for an MBA right after. Do you think it is more appropriate to stick with UCLA for both undergrad and graduate or stick with Cal Poly’s job-oriented academics?

5

Another in a long line of pro-CPSLO threads…go to SLO, enjoy yourself it’s a very good school.

6

The COA for residence halls (assuming CA resident) is $32,450 excluding insurance at UCLA and $29,000 at Cal Poly. Both tuition and housing are less expensive at Cal Poly

7

I recently saw a YouTube video, which listed campus food as one of the “Ten Things I Hate About SLO.” First, SLO has made some improvements this past school year, but they’re also building a huge new dining complex right now.

OTOH, UCLA has a reputation for being one of the best college campuses for food.

8

I went to CPSLO (not engineering) and then later got an MBA. So, somewhat biased :slight_smile: but I’d recommend CP for the strong undergrad focus, emphasis on coop experiences, and preparing you for a job even if you want an MBA. Really, you should work for a couple years before getting an MBA. You will get so much more out of grad school with some real-life experience. Virtually everyone in my MBA program had worked first. Many discussions asked us to draw from our workplace experiences. You will be at a disadvantage if you don’t have that. OTOH, if you do feel you have to go direct to MBA for some reason, it will be even more critical that you get substantial coop experience in undergrad which, again, would point to CPSLO as the better choice.

On the difficulty getting classes – I had friends at UCLA and this was as much of an issue there as it was at CPSLO back in my day and I hear the same from parents of current students, so I wouldn’t factor that into the decision. But, be aware that in either it’s tough to graduate in 4 yrs. I just planned my coop and study abroad for when I would have the worst registration priority.

9

Not necessarily. The sticker price at CalPoly is less than UC, but in some circumstances the cost of attendance at UC can be lower.

10

My son is just finishing in engineering at Cal Poly, so take my input with a grain of salt.

If rankings matter to you, CP is #1 for Computer Engineering in USNWR for schools that do not offer PhDs. Classes are small at Cal Poly. You can look it up in their system, but the intro physics series is capped at 45 per class and the intro calc series is capped at 31. Almost every class is small and taught by instructors with terminal degrees. Since they don’t offer PhDs, they don’t have many TAs. CP has 35 in the whole college of engineering. UCLA has 850. The Learn by Doing approach is a real thing. As for location, you should check out Avila. It’s even cooler than Pismo. Montana de Oro is beautiful too.

You can’t go wrong either way, but don’t let fear of turning down a UC sway you.

11

Both are excellent schools, of course. Congratulations on your admission success!

You’ll be an undergraduate for 4-5 years, but an alum of your program forever. Are there major differences in alumni opportunities? Formal alum programs, etc. If you haven’t investigated these differences, it might be worth your while.

But really, what I would recommend is to drop everything – right now – and spend a day on both campuses, even if you’ve been there before. Look at them with “accepted” eyes. Sit in on a class. Visit a meeting of a club you might like to join. Eat the food. Talk to everyone. You may have your answer after that.

12

Back in the day students at UCLA often took longer than 4 years. I think a big part of it was the school used to be cheap and people were in no hurry to leave.

The 4 year rate at UCLA is now 80% according to https://www.apb.ucla.edu/campus-statistics/graduation-ttd An article from 2013 on the UCLA website says that in 2013 the percentage graduating with just one extra quarter was 89% so it is undoubtedly higher now. So it doesn’t appear to hard to graduate in 4 years if that is what you want.

At Cal Poly the 4-year rate is still low at around 50% according to https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/2019%20Persistence-FTF%20Final.pdf

For point of reference the UC system says that nationwide less than 40% graduate in 4 years. source: https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/_files/uc-undergraduate-college-completion.pdf

13

@mikemac Nice to see UCLA has made such an improvement. And CP has improved a lot as well.

I wonder how much the emphasis on co-ops affects the CPSLO graduation rate? Even without the difficulty getting classes, students at SLO would be missing out if they didn’t take off six months for a co-op and I had some friends who did two co-ops which did push back graduation but they were earning money and getting good experience during those breaks.

14

@mikemac . . . precisely.

Here are the graduation rates for CPSLO and UCLA – I included Harvard’s and Stanford’s just to see how both of the former compare with these latter two elites:

Graduation Rates……….CPSLO………Rate…….Cum. Rate…….UCLA…………Rate…….Cum. Rate
Final Cohort…………………3,683(2012)…………………………….5,825(2011)………………………………
C ≤ 4 Years……………1,771………48.1%…48.1%…4,345…………74.6%…74.6%
4 < C ≤ 5……………….1,075………29.2%…77.3%…843…………14.5%…89.1%
5 < C ≤ 6………………….182…………4.9%…82.2%…107……………1.8%…90.9%

Graduation Rates……….Harvard……Rate…….Cum. Rate…….Stanford.……Rate…….Cum. Rate
Final Cohort…………………1,656(2011)………………………….1,762(2012)………………………………
C ≤ 4 Years………………1,395……84.2%…84.2%…1,319…………74.9%…74.9%
4 < C ≤ 5……………………171……10.3%…94.5%…268…………15.2%…90.1%
5 < C ≤ 6…………………….31………1.9%…96.4%…76……………4.3%…94.4%

Both UCLA and Harvard are slow pokes with respect to producing their 2018-19 CDS.

One mitigating factor between these two comparative data sets would be that Stanford and CPSLO are a biy more STEM-heavy than Harvard and UCLA, respectively. UCLA’s E majors tarry with > 200 units.

15

just to add about how costs and the milieu have changed – current UCLA students would barely recognize the place from back in the day. Most of the dorms except the hi-rises had not been built so it was primarily a commuter school (the way you might think of CSUN today). The campus emptied in late afternoon and students planned their schedule around the rush hours.

According to http://www.dailycal.org/2014/12/22/history-uc-tuition-since-1868/ the UC tuition in the mid-70s was $630, rising to $1,300 by the mid-80s. There were no minimum progress requirements so you could take 12 units a quarter forever. Living at home for free or in a dingy apartment if from Northern CA, it didn’t cost much to hang out with your friends another year :wink:

16

Cal poly is not a big coop school (students typically opt for summer internships), so I doubt that is the issue. One of the issues with graduation rates at Cal Poly, particularly for engineering is that the curricula are one to two quarters longer than the typical major (psychology is 180h, computer engineering is 195h). Going even one quarter past as a “super senior” automatically counts in the statistics as an additional year. It is pretty easy to get out on time if students do four things: 1) don’t dodge times 2) don’t dodge instructors 3) don’t need to repeat classes 4) don’t change major. My son was well ahead going into his 4th year, so he just stayed for his MS. He’ll be out in 5 years with both a BS and a MS in ME. All of his friends either graduated in 4, took one extra quarter or at most two quarters. A single one took 5 full years, but I believe she changed majors. I’m sure if a student followed the guidelines above they could easily get out of UCLA in 4 years too.

17

This is an excellent point. No matter where the OP goes, and for anyone else considering engineering, doing a 5-year BS/MS is worth it.

Salaries are higher, you will be more promotable down the road, you learn things the extra year that let you get more interesting assignments your early years on the job, you’re still in student mode so your study skills are as strong as they’re ever going to be (compared to working a few years and going back), you get it over with. I have a relative in his 4th or 5th year of doing the part-time MS program thru USC (he finishes this year) and it just burns up all his free time; basically he’s at work or doing homework.

18

@eyemgh. . .

Per your quote:

It’d be nice if UCLA and the UC’s in general could do this. Chancellor Block has talked about this, but I don’t know if it’s feasible because the University would like to keep a competitive atmosphere. On the other side – the student’s – I’m sure that there are some who would rather end up in an engineering PHD program, from baccalaureate straight to PHD. The bac to masters v. bac to PHD are completely different settings; I don’t know if going for a masters somewhat ruins one’s chances of going for a PHD.

19

@firmament2x, I’m not sure I understand what this refers to “Chancellor Block has talked about this, but I don’t know if it’s feasible because the University would like to keep a competitive atmosphere.” Cal Poly students still need to take the GRE and apply. It’s not hypercompetitive to get into the 4+1 program, but it isn’t as simple as declaring that you want to do it.

As for MS/PhD, usually students self differentiate before applying. Those interested in a PhD don’t typically apply to terminal MS programs. Has my son been interested in a doctorate, he would have left Cal Poly. Those eager to get into the workforce, but seeking extra technical experience and the financial reward that comes with the MS will choose a terminal MS programs.

20

@eyemgh . . . bad phraseology on my part, my apologies and congratulations to your son. We’ll just have to see if UCLA’s able to institute a 4+1 in any field of study. It doesn’t sound like it’s in the cards because they’d like students in and out as soon as possible.