<p>I'm going to have an exchange term from my university in Sweden where I study Industrial Engineering and Management. </p>
<p>I have decided that my fist choice is going to be a university in the US. My problem is that I can't decide which one of the two universities. I would like a nice climate as well as a I want it to be a good merit.</p>
<p>Whats your suggestions?
Which one of the two would you choose and why?</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO or Cal Poly Ponoma?</p>
<p>It’s Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>I will assume both academic programs are equal so your decision will be based on location.
SLO-You are ideally located to take advantage of what interests you in both the Bay Area and LA, that is if you have a car and don’t mind driving.
I’m sure you have many connections now through friends for both San Francisco and Los Angeles.
If you enjoy the outdoors, you have the California coast, the Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur area and 3-4 hours drive inland you have Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park.
If you have no access to a car then you will have less freedom because transportation to and from SLO is limited.
Perhaps another poster will comment about Urbana.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>My decision is also based on the quality. If it’s a bigger merit to have been studying at one of the two the universities.</p>
<p>I would go to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign because it is a nice extra large rural campus university with one of the strongest Engineering departments in the world. Weather is decent too even though it’s not as good as Californian weather.</p>
<p>If it is only for an exchange, I would choose Cal Poly. I live in California for the moment, but I am British. I had a chance to travel around various states. Given your goal is not to earn a degree from your exchange university I would pick the one with the nicest environment/climate, friendliest people, and very strong academics reputation.</p>
<p>I have visited both Cal Poly and U of I, Cal Poly definitely has the better location and climate. But be forewarned that both schools are located in an isolated location and you need access to a car to go anywhere.</p>
<p>I prefer Cal Poly because it is located in California’s wine country region, off the Pacific coast. It is about 10 minutes from two beautiful beaches, Pismo and Availa beach (Pismo you can actually drive you car along the beach). The atmosphere is classic surfing California culture. Also, there is a nice town in San Luis Obispo with good variety of cuisines and shops. </p>
<p>The climate is very mild, sunny and warm (almost year round) with green rolling hills and small mountains on campus. The central campus is compact but the rest of the school is HUGE with vast of open space (it sort of a giant ranch). So there are lots of outdoor activities on campus like hiking, bicycling, and running. The campus itself is very nice, with lots of very nice buildings and facilities, especially for engineering. </p>
<p>Cal Poly is well known for its engineering and architecture colleges (I think it was something like #2 public undergraduate engineering school w/o phd, and #4 architecture school in the US), so you will have a very solid scholastic experience while there. Given CP is very hands on, you will have many laboratory classes along with lectures. The academic atmosphere there is quite serious, and students do take their studies seriously. Also, the engineering facilities are very nice since they just constructed an engineering building complex not long ago.</p>
<p>As for people, the student body is very relaxed and friendly, but decidedly more monochrome when it comes to races (mostly whites). But on a whole, it is a very welcoming atmosphere. There is a strong sense of student body school pride, so you see lots of pupils wearing Cal Poly clothing.</p>
<p>As for U of I, I agree with the previous post, it is a very good engineering school, one of the best in the US (on par with UC Berkeley, and CMU). If you want to pick the school with the better academics and nothing else, choose U of I. It will be a great learning experience given the caliber of the faculty and the engineering students. </p>
<p>But personally, when I visited (perhaps it is the season and the weather), it was a bit depressing because it felt to be a very isolated environment (the areas outside U of I are just endless corn fields) with a seemingly endless gray sky. It was just too rural for me. In the state of Illinois, it felt like there is nothing outside the city of Chicago. </p>
<p>But this could be just me, but I believe there is some truth to the American idea that all the states in the center of the US are consider “fly-over” states. I.e. you just fly from 1 coast of the US to the other with no need of visiting.</p>
<p>In the state of Illinois, it felt like there is nothing outside the city of Chicago. </p>
<p>That would be correct. But Chicago is pretty great outside the weather.</p>
<p>Cal Poly is a superior educational institution IMHO. As an engineer, I prize their applied orientation. Due to its gorgeous location and modest fees, it has become extremely difficult to get into and is one of the “west coast public ivys” in terms of caliber of student and faculty.</p>
<p>^Cal Poly SLO is nice and all, but calling it a “west coast public ivy” is both misleading and outlandish. It’s a nice alternative to the UC system for the money you pay for tuition. Nevertheless, the expensive location will bring up the overall cost of attendance.</p>
<p>All in all, UIUC is in another level. It’s a flagship research university with an endowment approaching the billion-dollar range because of the latest capital campaign. The resources of its highly-ranked engineering college are only paralleled by those of Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, or Georgia Tech.</p>
<p>Cal Poly at SLO is simply no match I’m afraid.</p>
<p>From Sweden eh? Cal Poly SLO for sure. Take back some great memories, have some fun, learn a lot and enjoy the experience. Fermium has outlined all the correct arguments. You will not suffer from a lack of a good education at SLO. If I were coming from Sweden, I would not go to U of I. Haven’t you had enough of hard winters in your life? Plus, California girls will welcome you…</p>
<p>UIUC is pretty far south and not as harsh in the winter as most other midwest schools. For engineering it has an international reputation while Cal Poly is maybe statewide at best.</p>
<p>For an exchange program, Cal Poly - no contest in my mind. You don’t typically study abroad for the prestige of the institution, but the entire experience. I mean, we’re not talking Harvard vs. SW Missouri State. I just think going to Cal Poly would be a better experience and more fun. UIUC is a good school, too, but is located in the middle of nowhere surrounded by miles and miles of cornfields. If we were talking about were to get a degree from, that’s a completely different question, but for just one semester, I’d choose Cal Poly.</p>
<p>This is what people in Europe see when asked what are the top universities for engineering and technology in the world:</p>
<p>[Top</a> Universities for Engineering & Technology 2010-2011](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/engineering-and-IT.html]Top”>World University Rankings 2010-11 | Times Higher Education (THE))</p>
<p>Illinois - 15th
CalPolySLO - missing from the list</p>
<p>now, the next question that should be asked:</p>
<p>Is the OP from Europe and will he return to continue with employment there?</p>
<p>Also if it’s for next Fall UIUC is very warm until October and nice enough to Thanksgiving. You’ll be home before the cold weather really hits which would be late Dec-Feb.</p>
<p>[Average</a> Weather for Urbana, IL - Temperature and Precipitation](<a href=“National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com”>National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com)</p>