Cal Poly vs Colorado Boulder vs Case Western

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
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Hi, I am an international student who, after receiving several acceptances, has finalized his list down to this final 4, each for different reasons. I have applied to civil engineering for all 4 universities, and also have a passion for architectural engineering which is not available in CWRU. Moreover, I am currently wait-listed at Purdue but after speaking to admissions office and providing them with my scores, and looking at their wait-list statistics I will say I have high chances of admittance, considering their low yield rate. If admitted to Purdue, I will attend there 100%. Meanwhile, I need to send my deposit to one of the other three schools and I am not sure which one. Here are my opinions on each one.

Colorado Boulder: The most expensive on the list but by far the most respected in civil engineering nationally and internationally (I have to consider international reputation as the chances of working in the US after grad is slim). They excel in civil engineering in particular, as well as Boulder located in the most beautiful college town in the US, with numerous activities to participate in daily. Also - Division 1 which is a plus because I love attending sporting games. However, not sure if the final cost of $58,000 is worth it, and I will have to take approximately $40,000-50,000 in loans over the 4 years.

CWRU: Definitely the most renowned and prestigious university overall from the four; however, is not particularly known for its engineering programs let alone civil engineering, bar Biomedical Engineering. It costs $55,000, but I estimated that after participating in the Co-op program I can reduce $10,000 from each year with the income generated. International reputation is lesser than Boulder’s and Purdue’s. However, Division 3, and I’ve heard pretty crap reviews about Cleveland and its crime and safety.

Cal Poly: The most technical of the schools above (which I love) and also the cheapest. However, my major concern with Cal Poly is that it is not recognized at all outside of the US, perhaps even so outside of the West. Yet, it is extremely recognized for its civil and architectural engineering programs, and their graduates are highly respected and sought after, and boast one of the highest starting salaries in the country (top 20 ROI and Median Salaries). So will this regional reputation affect my future if I do not work in the west coast? Another problem I am concerned with is the lack of diversity in the student body; as an international Arab student I feel I might be discriminated against and be subject of racism, and that is definitely a big no for me! Is such the case in Cal Poly. The town of San Luis Obispo is beautiful, secluded with lots of beautiful scenery and college students, and not too far off from LA, which is a bonus. It is the cheapest option, only $37,000, and Division 1, with soccer being a very popular sport there which coincidentally happens to also be my favorite sport.

Overall, I feel like Colorado and Cal Poly will offer me the greatest college experience and I will truly enjoy my time there, with Colorado having an edge in its academic reputation that I am not sure is worth the extra $20,000 and debt. On the other hand, CWRU reviews tend to describe it as a static campus with not much to do, but its academic reputation and ranking are by far the best from all 4. This is my dilemma, academics vs experience? And if experience, is Colorado worth it?

Sorry for the long post, desperately needing help! Thank you very much

PS: I am more of a party student than an academic student; don’t usually hit the books till finals, and regard the social scenes of a university as one of the biggest indicators to my decision.

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Your perception of CWRU is wrong. It is known and respected for engineering and has been for a long time. I can’t say how well it will be known internationally though. My son was accepted. Cleveland and Case both exceeded our expectations. Fair warning…it gets COLD.

My son didn’t even apply to Boulder. He didn’t feel it was worth the price. Several of his friends go (not engineers) and they like it.

He chose Poly as a ME and is very happy he did. There is some diversity, but not as much as you’d run into at the other schools. As long as you work to get involved though you won’t be marginalized at Poly.

Now, for this:

You won’t be an engineering student very long no matter where you go unless this changes. Students who have flown through high school on brute horsepower learn very quickly to dramatically change their habits or get spit out. Engineering is hard everywhere and unforgiving everywhere. It has the highest attrition rate of all majors in the US. Get ready to flip your priorities or get ready for another major.

Now that doesn’t mean you can’t party. You can. You just won’t be able to cram your way to success.

Good luck.

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Senior Mechanical Engineer here, party and school go hand and hand here for a lot of students. SLO is a smaller city and most students not from the area tend to not be creative when it comes to finding an activity to do on weekends. If you drive a couple blocks around poly on any Saturday morning, there’s usually two groups of college kids drinking and playing beer die per street.

You probably will have to find a balance though if you’re attempting to do engineering. I was able to get away with going out every weekend for the first 2.5 years before getting too busy (and bored) for the party scene.

Also, as someone who is a first generation college student, I hate having to explain what Cal Poly and SLO is to my Chinese relatives even though we also live in Southern California. You’re right in that it has no international recognition, but (no offense) frankly neither do boulder/CWRU. The only reason I knew about either of them too was when my friends and I were all applying to colleges our senior year and had to research. Nothing wrong with it of course, it’s how I ended up finding Cal Poly.
Last note, as a person of color, I can say that this university is the best choice I could have made.

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@eyemgh @NLinsanity thank you both very much. I am definitely planning to work my butt off in engineering, but I still want to find motivation to wake up in the morning, and have something to look forward to in the weekends. Nevertheless, I will definitely listen to your advises and commit to Cal Poly; does seem like the right choice for me, especially in terms of job prospects and employer reputation.

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Congrats on your committing to Cal Poly (but, is Purdue still #1 if you get off waitlist). I am commenting because I noticed your interest in architectural engineering. I believe Cal Poly excels at AE, simply because they are very well regarded for engineering and have the number #2 undergrad architecture program in the United States after Cornell (design intel rankings). If you are in for AE you will have the opportunity to do projects with Civil E, Arch, LArch, etc…