<p>alright so i know there are a ton of “Cal Poly vs. other college” threads already, but oh well. here it goes.</p>
<p>any advice? i’m a mechanical engineering major and i know cal poly has great undergrad engineering, and UCLA is more research based. </p>
<p>both are great in engineering, but i also want to consider the school as a whole. school pride, quality of life, how much is there to do in westwood/downtown SLO, etc. </p>
<p>it seems like UCLA is more more exciting than cal poly, but cal poly engineering is probably better and i’m wondering if anyone could give me some advice?</p>
<p>personally I would pick SLO because its cheaper and I am a better learner by having hands-on experience. But I would go to UCLA for graduate school over SLO. Also if you got into UCSD you should consider UCSD also because it is a better engineering school than UCLA. But then again UCSD is rumored to be "socially dead"</p>
<p>if prestige is your thing i would go to UCLA.</p>
<p>when i said UCSD is better than UCLA its only by a small margin, it wont make a huge difference. You have to also consider what major you applied because for UCSD's Aerospace Program it focuses on Mechanical Engineer too but UCLA is mainly Aerospace Engineer.</p>
<p>yeah i did get into UCSD, but when i visited, i just got a negative vibe and i have heard from a lot of people that it is antisocial and boring there.</p>
<p>my sister goes to cal poly and loves it. i also have a bunch of friends that love UCLA. so i dunno.</p>
<p>i will definitely visit both schools and again for a better feel</p>
<p>SLO is a college town. You will have an amazing social life.</p>
<p>Sure UCLA pours a lot of cash into their sports, but Cal Poly athletics are very competitive. Ive been to several games for both these schools and you just cant compare the experiences.</p>
<p>My opinion: go for the cal poly undergrad, then head to ucla for a top notch grad school regardless of the masters you choose</p>
<p>wfcp has some good points but I think that your choice will depend more on the type of person you are. I am a current Cal Poly student and while I like it here, (The education is top notch and a good bargain) I'm not a huge fan of the area in general. SLO is a nice little town but a lot of activities involve the outdoors. I'm not someone who loves activities involving the outdoors (other than going to the Beach) and I personally miss all the things you can do in a big city. Also for sports, student participation is getting better and games are still pretty fun to go to, but I just cannot compare it to Pac-10 sports. I've been to plenty USC football games and think that its a lot more fun to be with 80 to 90 thousand screaming fans. I'm guessing UCLA games would be similar. </p>
<p>Ultimately its your choice though. I have friends who loves the small-town atmosphere and maybe you will too. If you do then Poly's a great place to study for four years and you'll be in less debt than if you went to UCLA.</p>
<p>im at poly and LOVE it there, but slo and la are to totally different places. there are many, different things to do in both.</p>
<p>you also have to consider the cost of going to school(cal poly hella cheaper) and living in the area (both pretty expensive as they are nice places, but i think poly is cheaper)</p>