<p>I was just wondering about Cal Poly SLO’s reputation among other schools and how it compares to some other schools, say, SCU and such.</p>
<p>Other than the overall reputation of the school, what’s the reputation of its architecture and architectural engineering programs? Is it a big name among the architectural society to say “I graduated from SLO with an Architecture (and/or) Architecural Engineering major”? Or is it just a “meh” school?</p>
<p>Thanks before hand!</p>
<p>Hopefully this article will answer all your questions: [Cal</a> Poly Architecture, Design Programs Earn Top Honors Again from DesignIntelligence](<a href=“http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2011/November/designintelligence.html]Cal”>http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2011/November/designintelligence.html) </p>
<p>Read the whole thing as it starts with landscape architecture and then goes on to other areas of architecture. Cal Poly is not a “meh” school. It is a powerhouse that either outranks or is considered on par with other famous programs. I know students that have turned down UC Berkeley for Cal Poly is this area of study. Just scratch the surface of what is published and you won’t need to look far for validation of what I am saying.</p>
<p>That said, rankings are fairly meaningless on the ground. You must go to each school and get a feel for each program. What you want is the best fit for you. Cal Poly for my kid was a perfect match for Mech Eng. UCLA, another school he was accepted to with a global reputation of excellence, was a total mismatch and we knew it within 15 min of stepping on campus. You need to find the best fit for you.</p>
<p>Not to hijack the thread, but since we’re on the topic of specific engineering majors…</p>
<p>Does anyone know how good the materials engineering program is at Cal Poly? I’m sure it will be great since Cal Poly has an excellent engineering department, but of course, there will be some differences among the majors. For instance, UC Berkely has a very highly ranked materials science program, which is surely superior to Cal Poly’s.</p>
<p>I know that there is more hands on learn by doing at Cal Poly, so is that why they went with materials engineering instead of materials science or materials science and engineering title? Cal Poly has a very small materials engineering programs, so it could either be excellent or sub-par compared to other more popular engineering majors.</p>
<p>I have seen on this forum that Cal Poly prepares people for industry or grad studies, but will this major also be good if I want to go on to graduate studies? I am not yet sure what I will want to pursue after undergrad.</p>
<p>I just got back from Cal Poly SLO and had the opportunity to meet with the faculty of the Architecture department. They told me Architecture@ SLO is 1st on the West Coast and I believe 3rd or 4th in the nation? The program is very prestigious and well-recognized. The thing about it is that you are working in the studio as soon as you begin, getting the hands on experience you will need. In contrast, other schools who do not go by the “learn by doing” motto do not get as much experience since they rely heavily on textbooks and theory to learn the material. I also got the chance to speak to a Architecture graduate from 2010. She told me Poly prepared her for everything! she went into the profession knowing exactly what to do! In addition, there are firms from all over the nation that visit cal poly to find possible prospective architects that they can hire. The program is highly recognized and is very prestigious. I got to tour the arch building, classes, studios, resource centers and they were all amazing. Another interesting fact is that Poly enters into competitions for Arch and always seem to place. They go up against huge universities that sometimes only offer Master’s in Architecture. Poly is well recognized across the nation as a top notch school for architecture!</p>
<p>michael2: I know a sophomore who is a Materials Engineering major at Cal Poly and he’s enjoying it a lot and doing quite well with his grades and projects. He has a paid internship this coming summer up in WA state.</p>
<p>There is definitely a presence if you say that you graduate from Cal Poly. However I feel that is limited to North California and Cen-Cal with a smudge in So-Cal.
However most people that I know in So-Cal confused Cal poly slo with cal poly pomona. It is where you want to get hired. you can check out where recent graduates worked for.</p>
<p>Since more than 30%+ of the student population came from SoCal, Cal Poly actually has very substantial presence in LA region. The other 30%+ came from Bay area, and the rest from everywhere in CA and US. Central CA students % is actually lower than both N/S Cal % at CPSLO. </p>
<p>Cal Poly[tech] gets confused with CalTech, more often than CPP. This is especially true in LA region.</p>
<p>@OP</p>
<p>Cal Poly architecture is a 5 year program that enables its graduates to shortly sit for the architectural professional license examine and practice architecture without further schooling. This is opposed to, as an example, Cal Berkeley’s program which requires its graduates to continue with graduate school prior to sitting for the license tests.</p>
<p>Cal Poly is consider one of the top architecture school in the US. In fact, arch. school is actually ranked higher on a absolute national reputational scale than CP engineering. It is very well known in the industry. I think Cal Poly has done a tremendously lousy job in not making this clear to potential arch school applicants.</p>
<p>The reason you don’t see the architectural engineering program getting high ranks like the architecture program is because very few colleges in the nation carry that major, which means most of the major publications don’t go to the trouble of ranking it.</p>
<p>It’s basically a structural engineering degree with heavy exposure to architecture. From what I’ve read, architects and structural engineerings constantly war with each other. With architectural engineering, you learn the design process that the architects do and then you learn how to make the design stand up. You become a structural engineering, but a structural engineer that can tolerate the architects intentions.</p>
<p>While their are no rankings to site (again because no publications rank architectural engineering), I can tell you that its obvious the industry loves the program. Many if not all of the ARCE department labs have been generously sponsored by industry partners, like Hilti and Simpson Strong-Tie, that appreciate the quality structural engineers that come out of the program. So, your next door neighbor who is an organic chemist at Aerojet Fine Chemicals might not know much about the program, but it definitely has prestige in the structural engineering community.</p>
<p>Again this is just my perspective as an incoming architectural engineering major who has spent far too many hours reading about the program. =)</p>
<p>jakotatio,
I’m parent of son applying to arch engineering at cal poly. Could you please tell us what your admission stats were, as I have a bit of a knot in my stomach wondering if he has a shot to get in (even though he’s a very good student). Also, how do you like the program and cal poly so far? Thank you!</p>