I’m guessing a few people here are in the same boat? Their kid got into SLO and also some UCs. I’m curious how you are deciding. It seems SLO is very different than a UC, more like a small liberal arts style education (small classes, engaged teachers, hands on learning). Any insights on this hard decision would be appreciated.
My D22 was deciding between Cal Poly, UCDavis and UCSB last year. We toured all and at the end of the day she loved the smaller class sizes of Cal Poly, actually having a processor as opposed to a TA, everyone seemed to be so happy on campus and the smaller size in general of the campus compared to the other 2. My oldest D19 is a senior at ucla and while I know she has received an excellent education, we have been super frustrated over the years with some of her classes and lack of access to professors and a ton of TAs for her teachers. We also have not been happy with access to academic advisors at ucla. My D19 was just registering for her last quarter a couple weeks ago and had some very important questions regarding classes needed to graduate while she was registering. It was a 2 week wait to speak to an advisor so she ended up doing a ton of research on her own and kind of figuring out what she needed to do. This caused a lot of unnecessary anxiety for her in which should be an exciting time! My D22 at Cal poly has had great access to advisors anytime she needs it through the Mustang success center. The longest wait she has ever had this year was 5 minutes to speak to someone about classes. Unbelievable the difference to me! I know all are excellent schools but to me Cal Poly is truly a gem in the mix! Another thing to note…I belong to several parent Facebook pages including ucla, ucsb, UCDavis and Cal Poly. Cal poly parent page has 27k members compared to the others with 5-6k members. That also tells me a lot! We could not be happier with Cal Poly this past year and the experience my D22 has had! Good luck on your decisions!!
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Thank you so much for this perspective! It was really valuable for our family as we try and help our son process the different choices, including Cal Poly SLO. What is your daughter’s major?
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My D22 at Cal Poly is Environmental Management & Protection. My D19 at ucla is Marine Biology
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My son had high enough stats to be competitive at any school. The only public he applied to in CA was Cal Poly based on all that @aliwalsh76 mentioned. His counselor told him that she was getting feedback that UCB was “like going to school at the DMV.” It turned out great for him. It’s a unique school.
BTW, BS/MS ME.
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Thanks all of what you say is what we got from the tools as well.
I know the biggest challenge she faces in going to Cal Poly is what if she went to change her major from nutrition to say business or public health which are in different schools?
It seems that this is quite challenging. And if you look at the stats the average kid changes major with almost certainty.
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Changing majors into different schools can be challenging but is also done all the time! As long as it isn’t an impacted major it can absolutely be done. Very easy to switch majors within a college.
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Glad to see your post. It looks like my son will be choosing between Cal Poly and UCLA. My husband and I both went to Cal Poly (so we’re obviously biased). We’re letting my son make the decision, but we’re trying to help him with his pro/con list. He’s visiting UCLA today and we’re visiting Cal Poly next week. I agree that the smaller class sizes, learn by doing approach, and location can’t be beat. Plus the fact that you’re taught by professors and go to the professor’s office hours instead of meeting with TAs is huge. My son loved EPIC last year at Cal Poly. I think the big draw to UCLA is the sports/school spirit, and obviously the prestige. But for my son’s major (engineering), I think Cal Poly is the better fit, and fit is way more important than prestige.
If you have any more cons for UCLA (or UCs in general), please pass them along.
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My son is right now choosing between Cal Poly and Davis. We’ll see if UCSB ends up in the mix. My D17 went to slo, so she’s obviously lobbying hard for her alma mater.
I think my son is leaning toward Davis right now. He’s impressed with the applied physics program and the idea of being at a big research university. The changing majors thing is a bit of a concern. My daughter was able to change her major at poly, but it’s a process. My son is coming into college with his associates degree and I want him to have the freedom to explore his interests and possibly change majors if he’d like.
He’s pretty excited about Davis’ 3 + 2 BS applied physics/MS electrical engineering pathway right now. We’ll see how he feels after visits. If he gets into UCSB next week this decision will get more complicated as they have a pretty stellar physics department too.
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Everyone says that so what does it mean in practice? Does it mean that if a kid really wants to change then they can’t change no matter what or does it mean that they have to really want to change to be able to change? The letter I think is a good idea because it means the kids don’t just change flippantly
My daughter applied to change majors after her first quarter. She had applied to slo as a statistics major. She could only change majors to something less competitive, not more competitive if she would not have qualified to be admitted to that major in the first place. She ended up changing into something under the sociology department and is very happy with her education and career outcome. I think it took her two quarters to complete the major change, so it did hold her back a bit, but with AP and dual credit she still finished in four years. Students are very restricted on which departments they can change into. My son in majoring in applied physics… what if he wanted to change into something in engineering? May not be possible, but hard to know for sure.
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My D got into Cal Poly for business and UCLA undecided Arts and Letters. She isn’t 100% sure of major (she likes psych or comm, but feels business would be useful) She applied bus at CP because it would be easier to move to A & S from business than the other way around and also she cold take clases in both depts. She applied undeclared A & S bec UCLA doesn’t have bus major, but does have a huge variety options for major AND by not requiring students to declare a major they are encouraged to take time to explore and determine their true passion w/o committing to one field, which could be helpful.
Both are on the quarter system which is a big negative, if one would be on the semester system that would have been the one chosen.
The big pro for Cal Poly is its reputation for experiential hands on learning,fewer lecture classes than UCLA
The big pro for UCLA is guaranteed housing for 4 years (at CP after freshman or sophomore year kids have to find off campus housing, so there might be less of a college community feel.
So the big question is which would be a healthier environment mentally - because my D does not handle stress very well (and does not do well under pressure)
Both have great locations (SLO is a great college town, and Westwood is a very safe and fun area with lots of great cafes)
Does anyone have any experience or guidance on which school would allow for a more balanced and less stressful life?
When I was in the tour they mentioned something like that. Namely they look back at your original application and ask would you have been granted entry to the new major.
But how do you know what the less or more competitive majors are? What happens if you gained entry into one of the least competitive majors? Does that mean you can’t ever change!
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You do not know what majors you’d make the cut for! They’re looking at the presumed MCA score (or some other iteration of their scoring system) and comparing it to cutoffs for your requested major. You could well be denied for anything you might want to major in.
I can’t speak to the UCs because I do not have a kid there, but my daughter is a senior at Cal Poly who will graduate in June. She was deciding between SDSU (35K students) and Cal Poly (22K students) - she thought she wanted the bigger school, but ultimately chose Poly and realizes now that the “smaller” 22K student campus is just right. She has really benefited from the small class sizes and access to her professors (who know her by name and with whom she actually speaks), which I don’t think she would have received from the UCs - where I understand (and aliwalsh76 above confirms) you have very large classes with professors and then break out sessions with grad students/TAs. She will graduate in 4 years. Cal Poly guarantees housing for freshman and requires it for some second years (depending on the college their major is in) - which, given the severe housing shortage in many CA colleges, is a huge plus. The housing =when they move off campus can be pricey - but I think it is about the same in all of the CA college communities. As a parent, SLO is an awesome place to visit your kid 
Our son was just accepted here as well and we are thrilled to have another 4 or 5 years to visit. And yes, the Cal Poly parent FB page is AMAZING - its a really helpful community of folks, where we all help each other out and you can find answers to everything you ever wanted or needed to know about the school and the surrounding area. (and the page Admins and Moderators are remarkable). Good luck on your family’s big decision!
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Is he visiting UCLA alone today and Cal Poly with you next week? Will you be visiting UCLA at all? I think you should. When you go, make sure you/he take the engineering tour. I’m not sure if they offer tours on weekends.
This made me laugh. You’re letting him decide but are asking for more cons for UCLA. 
I’m teasing you. We all have our preferences/biases.
I don’t know if this matters or not but SLO is scheduled to change to the semester system in 3 years.
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Wow that’s a gigantic con for SLO it essentially means you can never change majors
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SLO is pretty up front about the fact that it is difficult to change majors. If your daughter is unsure, or changed her mind, she might want to look at another school.
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Don’t they have walk in advising spots at UCLA? My kid is at UC Davis and those are available. They are short time slots, but they can help in a pinch.