Cal Poly SLO vs UCSB vs UCI

<p>I already accepted Cal Poly SLO for psychology, however I just heard back from the waitlist that I am accepted to both UCSB and UCI for sociology. Which school is better for my major?
I am leaning towards a UC because I would like to go to medical school after.</p>

<p>Pros of CP:
love the school/campus, farmers market, people, class size, etc... Cons of CP: a CSU- harder to get into med school</p>

<p>Pros of SB:
cousin/best friend is going there next year as a freshman too- we would look out for each other and help each other (plus share clothes), plus a UC will help me get into a college better... Cons of SB: big class sizes, wont be able to get to know my professors intimately.. </p>

<p>Pros of I:
I dont know?... Cons: lack of diversity, big class sizes, a "commuter" school</p>

<p>Please tell me what you think... money is not at all an issue, and I am within 2/3/4 hours of driving distance from them all.</p>

<p>pick UCSB</p>

<p>cal poly is not that great…it’s way overrated, especially considering all the trouble you have to go through to get classes and whatnot.</p>

<p>Go to a UC.</p>

<p>CSU’s are getting destroyed by the budget cuts
UC’s barely get dented because of their research institution–they bring in millions of dollars to further help the researching program.</p>

<p>UCSB hands down. UCI commuter school is right, does not have the feel of a college at all. UCSB is college life experience plus one. SLO does have a nice farmers market but if that’s how far you have to stretch for pros that should tell you something. No state school can compete with a UC school except in price. And you get what you pay for.</p>

<p>Cal poly will not be harder to get in to med school with. In fact, If med school is your goal then go to cal poly, you’ll need the extra money for all the schooling!</p>

<p>I picked SLO over UCSB and a few other UCs and here’s why:</p>

<p>First of all, most of the UCSB suggestions so far in this thread point to the fact that SB is a UC and Cal Poly is not. Yes it’s true, but so what? Albeit Cal Poly doesn’t have the same caliber research departments, it is one of the best recruited schools in nearly all fields. Engineering and Business are especially well recruited, and CP is top 20 in both.</p>

<p>In regards to pursuing Med School after you graduate, I think you’ve bought into a common misconception. By far the two most important aspects when applying to med schools are your GPA and MCAT score. So long as you have a good GPA, high MCAT, and a variety of ECs, the school you went to for undergrad is a secondary concern. This being said, Cal Poly is very well recognized so it’s not as though med school will look down upon it. Also, the smaller class sizes will help you get your higher GPA as you wont have to battle the UC bell curve that is so prevalent in many early year classes. </p>

<p>In the end, saying that UCSB is better SIMPLY because it’s a UC as prouducdad implied is weak and lacking as a basis on which to pick a school. Cal Poly has a very strong alumni network which donate to the school, and tuition hikes at CSUs are considerably lower than those that the UC system is suffering from. Just pretend that Cal Poly is a UC and try to make a little more unbiased of a decision.</p>

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<p>the lower tuition hikes come at a huge price for many students. less housing availability, harder to get classes, inability to take classes beyond major requirements, fewer instructors, etc etc. cal poly may be a good CSU, but it’s still a CSU school, the whole system of which is suffering from budget cuts. the same thing would be happening to the UC system if UC chose not to increase tuition they way they did…</p>

<p>so unless money is the #1 issue for OP, he should go to a UC, or somewhere that’s not bleeding services due to budget cuts</p>

<p>ALSO…why in the world would he go to a POLYTECHNIC school that emphasizes on engineering and agriculture for PSYCHOLOGY? lol :P</p>

<p>Unfortunately, CSU Budget will be cut by $200 million this year, but the UC Budget will also be given a $200 million cut. But due to UC’s endowment being graciously very high (And of course their high tuition cost) they will feel the hit less than CSU students–but regardless they will be hit.</p>

<p>Just to give you an example of comparisons of the endowment between UC vs CSU</p>

<p>UC’s Endowment (Source: Wiki)

  1. UCSC: $93.7 Million
  2. UCI: $368.7 Million
  3. UC Davis: $766 Million
  4. UCSD: $568 Million
  5. UCSB: $211.2 Million
  6. UCR: $95.1 Million
  7. UCM: $20.5 Million
    ===[The Billionaire Club]===
  8. UCSF(Graduate School): $1.11 Billion
  9. UCLA: $2.6 Billion
  10. UC Berkeley: $3.15 Billion</p>

<p>CSU’s Endowment (Source: Wiki)

  1. San Jose: $73.10 Million
  2. Chico: $43.02 Million
  3. San Diego: $135.19 Million
  4. San Francisco: $48.95 Million
  5. Cal Poly SLO: $173.42 Million
  6. Fresno: $127.29 Million
  7. Humboldt: $22.01 Million
  8. Maritime: $3.29 Million
  9. Pomona: $49.98 Million
  10. Los Angeles: $19.24 Million
  11. Sacramento: $28.92 Million
  12. Long Beach: $46.23 Million
  13. East Bay: $10.02 Million
  14. Fullerton: $32.35 Million
  15. North Ridge $68.10 Million
  16. Stanislaus: $10.52 Million
  17. Dominguez Hills: $9.05 Million
  18. Sonoma: $34.22 Million
  19. San Bernardino: $19.68 Million
  20. Bakersfield: $17.89 Million
  21. San Marcos: $17.92 Million
  22. Monterey Bay: $13.02 Million
  23. Channel Islands: $9.89 Million</p>

<p>CSU’s Budget will be reduced by $200 Million this year
UC’s Budget will be also reduced by $200 Million this year</p>

<p>CSU’s will be affected more than the UC’s; but regardless, both will be affected. Speaking through my opinion, CSU’s are getting DESTROYED. While UC’s have a little flesh wound.</p>

<p>UC-Berkeley, just itself, received more money in endowment than all the CSU’s combined. </p>

<p>Also, UCLA and UCSF, both these schools just by itself, received more money in endowment than all the CSU’s combined.</p>

<p>And I would like to add that an UCSB Alumni–now an extremely wealthy person just donated $50 Million to UCSB. A single person just donated the half-equivalent of all Cal Poly SLO donations endowment combined to UCSB.</p>

<p>^ The UC Berkeley endowment of $3.15 B works out to about $123,400 for each of its 25,500 undergraduate students. Actually, the UC and UC Berkeley endowments are not very large compared with other colleges and universities of similar and greater selectictivity. For example in Massachusetts The College of the Holy Cross (similar selectivity to UCB), a Jesuit LAC has 2,817 undergraduates and an endowment of $606M which works out to $215,200 per student. The most selective LAC, Williams College, also in Mass., has 2,182 undergraduates and an endowment of $1.78 B or $815,800 per student and Harvard, with 7,181 undergrads has an endowment of $32B which is $4,456,200 per UG student.</p>

<p>No public university in California has a large enough endowment to make a major difference to individual undergraduate students. Stanford and USC have by far the largest endowments of California universities.</p>

<p>A UC hands down, and at that UCSB is the best option. I agree Cal Poly is overrated, it i a terrific school, but it is given a bit more credit than it’ due. For example, in rankings a lot of people say that it is really high up but they overlook the fact that it is rated among the list of schools that do not offer Phd’s, which is a lot smaller and a lot less competitive. If you rate their individual undergrad majors you’ll find that UCSB and UCI are far better off in virtually any major. Even in Engineering and Business, UCSB, UCI, UCD and up beat Poly’s. Also I wan to point out that Poly’s reputations built primarily on Engineering and Business, it is ridiculous how many 2.5’s can get in in other majors. The tuition sting is felt in every public school in CA, I’ll agree even on the UC’s is very unpleasant to be in these situation, but it is true that the UC’s get much bigger donations (multi-million dollar donations) which is also an indicator that UC students are a lot more successful.</p>

<p>Little joke going around UCSB:
“How are UCSB students and Cal Poly students alike?..They both got into Cal Poly.”</p>

<p>Now the battle pf the giants UCSB vs UCI, I say UCSB. Academically these two are virtually the same, but UCSB prides itself of providing one of the most complete college experiences. People just cannot deny that UCSB is a fun school, for obvious reasons. Plus the beach and the “whats sup dude” atmosphere is just pure win. You got accepted to SB and your close friends are going there, what more of sign you want? The SIR turned in to Poly is for numbering purposes, I turned them down too after I had SIR for them, no big deal at all.</p>

<p>FROM a very happy current UCSB student</p>

<p>@Lemaitre1. Of course if you’re going to throw in other Universities into it; then yes, there obviously are Universities that receives endowments way more than the entire UC’s combined. For example, Harvard itself received $32 Billion in endowment. </p>

<p>But I’m talking about UC vs CSU–which OP has asked us which campus is better to go to out of SB, Irvine, and SLO–not USC or Stanford. The entire 23 CSU’s endowment was roughly $880 Million; while the entire 10 UC campus was $8.8 Billion. </p>

<p>Personally speaking, the budget cut for several of my CSU friends will cause their graduation date to be pushed back further due to not being able to get their required classes. While my UC friends are graduating on-time without problem even with the budget cuts.</p>

<p>As far as the OP in concerned, the reality is that the percentage of pre-meds who actually get into a medical school is very small no matter where they get their UG degree. He is currently looking at majors at both UCSB and CPSLO that offer poor employment outlooks if he does not get into medical school. He would probably be better off doing Sociology at UCSB than Psychology at CPSLO, but there is no question his prospects would be far better if he majors in Engineering or Computer Science at CPSLO, or any other CSU, than majoring in Sociology at UCSB.</p>

<p>@koolboy</p>

<p>“I wan to point out that Poly’s reputations built primarily on Engineering and Business,”</p>

<p>Is that true?</p>

<p>CPSLO has fourth ranked undergrad architecture school in the US, along with one of the top agriculture school as well, in addition to engineering and business. </p>

<p>UCI/UCSB engineering is better than CPSLO? Really ? How does that work ?</p>

<p>CPSLO engineering ranking is tied with Air Force and Naval Academies and just behind West Point. So if that is the case UCI/SB engineering would be WAY better than the academies, which most people would seriously doubt. If the academies can’t produce good technical officers, the US military is in a bad shape.</p>

<p>Lots 2.5 getting in ? Where did you get that ? Common data set? Or is that your random speculation your pulled from the air?</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.calpoly.edu/~ipa/publications_reports/cds/cds1011update071911.pdf[/url]”>http://www.calpoly.edu/~ipa/publications_reports/cds/cds1011update071911.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>63% of CPSLO student enrolled have 3.75% or higher</p>

<p>1% of CPSLO students enrolled have 2.5 to 2.99 GPA</p>

<p>Dude, do your research. Either UCSB is not teaching you this skill, or you are just a lousy lousy student.</p>

<p>@Blindmonkey. Actually, it’s true that UCI/SB Engineering rank is higher than SLO</p>

<p>US NEWS Graduate Engineering school ranking:</p>

<p>UCSB: #21
UCI: #39
SLO: ??</p>

<p>While Air Force and Naval Academy isn’t even ranked
West Point is a great school but comparing it to UC’s is Apple’s to Orange’s–in other words, they are different.</p>

<p>CSU Long Beach is rank #137
SLO isn’t even ranked.</p>

<p>

Just no. The military does not produce officers only in military schools but in all Universities all over this nation–programs like ROTC are located–and available–nationwide.</p>

<p>I know quite some people with a 2.5’s that got in, sort of a letdown when I was really considering Cal Poly, but I guess they might be 1 in 100, however the average GPA is still lower than that of UCSB and UCI.</p>

<p>OK my mistake I forgot architecture, I’ve heard amazing things of the architecture program there, too bad there aren’t many architecture jobs out there with the house market on the ground. But What I meant to say is that technically going to Cal Poly not for those majors undoes any prestige it has.</p>

<p>And no, sorry to break it up to you but cal poly’s engineering program is good, but not ass good as the UC’s. Engineering and Business/Accounting also happen to be UCSB’s specialty. Cal Poly’s Engineering is good but again it is ranked on a different list. The military academies do not offer a PHD either so they are not ranked with other schools, like say Stanford/MIT/CalTech, either. And not to be an ass but only 1 of all the military academies is actually that competitive, the naval academy in Annapolis, and as far as I know their engineering programs were not all that, I mean they are good in Annapolis but not a reference point like Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech, and Berkeley. As far as I know most of the military’s engineering inventions (for say) are not done in the military, they are bought off to use int he military, the engineers there learn how to use them. Just to give you an idea and be fair the UC’s engineering and science programs are also the ones carrying the prestige of some of the schools.</p>

<p>Oh and I also forgot to mention that the UC’s constantly break on the top 100 best universities in the world lists and they are noted for their engineering and science programs.</p>

<p>Have you ever wondered why most people outside of california do not know about Cal Poly?</p>

<p>Look I really really like cal poly, heck I almost went there. I am from San Luis Obispo County so I know of the hype, but no it really isn’t better than the middle tier UC’s academically nor is it as competitive when it comes to admissions. People that go to Cal Poly sure are successful, but UC students have proven to reach much higher levels of success.</p>

<p>Also, overall, yes, SLO is a great school; but its no where near the theoretical and research level of a UC–especially UCI and SB. UC’s spend millions upon millions of dollar researching, studying, and applying theories in many studies like engineering.</p>

<p>Also, engineering invention for military usage are done by private corporations–not the U.S. Military. </p>

<p>F-22 Raptor–made by a private corporation
Abram Tank–made by a private corporation
MRAP/Humvee/everything you can think of from weapons, ammo, supplies, vehicles, and etc; that are used by the military are made by Private Corporations.</p>

<p>@lawlking</p>

<p>The service academies and CPSLO are all ranked at the undergraduate engineering level. These schools along with Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union, Swarthmore are all undergraduate focused engineering schools. Please don’t drag the whole Phd into this. </p>

<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate)</p>

<p>And please don’t tell me HMC does not count. It is infinitely harder to get into HMC than any of the UCs, including Berkeley. </p>

<p>And you do know Forbes ranked West Point #1 in the world right? So please don’t tell me the CPSLO ranking competitively against the service academies doesn’t count munch. </p>

<p>[West</a> Point ranked high in Forbes picks for best colleges | Defense & Security News at DefenceTalk](<a href=“http://www.defencetalk.com/last-combat-troops-leave-iraq-28184/]West”>West Point ranked high in Forbes picks for best colleges | DefenceTalk)</p>

<p>Also, saying the service academies aren’t nearly as good as MIT/Stanford is just moot. Neither are the UCs or Cal Poly are anywhere close to MIT/Stanford/Caltech.</p>

<p>And it is infinitely harder to get into the service academies than any UCs.</p>

<p>And in case you don’t know, the US military service academies has to train extremely technically savvy officer in order to be effective in a high tech battle field. My older cousin is in Air Force Academy, one of the things they have to learned is how to deal with highly complex flight dynamics control systems so their planes won’t fall out of the sky. </p>

<p>So intense engineering training is not just for designers but also for the users of the technology in a life and death situation. So please don’t tell me you can have techno idiot in a F22 raptor.</p>

<p>This link ([Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate)) noticed how these schools does not have a doctoral degree. In other words, the ranking is that way because its in the lower-division category. Hence the reason why you don’t see any top-tier Universities in there. </p>

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</p>

<p>^^West Point was ranked against Universities that DOES NOT OFFER DOCTORAL DEGREES!! Read the article
The schools you ranked are ranked in categories that does not offer Doctoral Degree–completely different ranking.</p>

<p>Schools that offer Doctoral Degree’s are considered upper-division. So, I shall give you the undergraduate Engineering ranking for the upper-division Universities.</p>

<p><a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate[/url]”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>When it comes to university ranking, world research development, studies that impact, changing research–and even holding Nobel Laurete Professors (They won the Nobel Prize)–UC’s dominate when you compare it to SLO and Military Officer Academia.</p>

<p>Like I said, as much as SLO is a great school; but it is no where near the level of a UC. And the fact that you are trying to compare a Military School, which main goals are to train officers; to a UC, which main goals are to research, invent, and develop new theories–makes me question your judgement.</p>

<p>^lawlking has a solid point there :-P</p>