<p>today one of my teachers praised cal poly, saying that the engineering program there will allow graduates to earn more money off the bat than at any UC </p>
<p>things i know about cal poly:
*moderately selective (low acceptance rate but average SATs and HS GPAs)
*'learn by doing'
*flagship CSU
*somewhat provincial (large majority of students come from santa barbara and SLO and return home after graduation)</p>
<p>still, how does it compare w/ UCs? what is the school like?</p>
<p>When it comes to engineering/tech aspects of course a degree from cal poly will get you farther. All I know is that Cal poly SLO is harder to get into and Im assuming better than Ponoma. But then again, I wouldn't ignore Ponoma either.</p>
<p>Ask your teacher if he's heard of Berkeley! Cal Poly is a lovely school with a good engineering program for the above average student, but it does not compete with UCB, UCLA or UCSD in engineering.</p>
<p>Cal Poly's engineering program has a nationally known reputation, check out US News and World Report rankings. That program in particular is very difficult to get into. Cal Poly as a whole has kids coming from the northern half of the state and the southern half in almost equal proportions as I recall. It is very popular and has been for years (I headed to college in early 80's and it was quite popular back then). Positive points to Cal Poly SLO is that it is a residential campus, (not nearly the commuter campus that so many in the CSU system are) and the weather and town of SLO are unbeatable. The biggest downside to the school is that there are very little internship/business opportunities in the surrounding area (Cal Poly is the largest employer in the area). </p>
<p>Cal Poly Pomona, on the other hand is more commuter populated but has LA and surrounding cities in which students can find employment. Pomona also has a lovely campus btw.</p>
<p>Prestige wise it's equivalent to UCI. But I would not immediately think UCB,ULCA, UCSD are better than Cal Polies. In the Bay Area, there are a lot Cal Poly Alumni. One firm that I work on the CEO graduated from UCB, the Technical Officer graduated from Cal Poly SLO, the VP of Engineering graduated from some City College from Brooklyn. All these people came from CISCO. It depends on what kind of student you are. Are you better at learning by doing things. At UCB you may fall through the crack and never graduate. Check out this thread.</p>
<p>what is the school like? can anyone who has taken a tour or taken classes there (like alumni) give a description</p>
<p>UCB is probably pretty awesome...but the thing i like about cal poly is it's distance...too far away to live w/ parents but close enough to allow frequent visits home</p>
<p>for me of course</p>
<p>The apparent disconnect between CPSLO' admit rate and stats comes from the disparity between students accepted into the various majors. Cal Poly requires you to apply to a specific major. The admit rate for the Humaities and Agriculture majors is higher than the admit rate for the Eng, Arch and Business. By the same token, the stats for the Humanities admit are on average lower than the stats for admits to those three majors. Am I making sense? Basically a 3.7 will get you into the easier majors but you better have closer to a 3.9 or better for the more competitive ones.</p>
<p>Compared to the UCs Cal Poly holds true to the CSU principle of preparing their students for the work world whereas UCs in general tend to be less hands on and more theoretical, praparing a student for graduate work. The extent to which this is true obviously varies from campus to campus but it is a rule of thumb. </p>
<p>I totally agree w/ your teachers' assessment. I have never met a Cal Poly grad who didn't ooze Cal Poly pride and didn't cherish their experience there.</p>
<p>It's in an amazingly beautiful area, just a few miles from a beautiful stretch of coast and inland there are rolling hills and vinyards. The weather is near perfect, I'm an hour away right now and while it's rainy today it's been sunny and 80 the past week. SLO is just a great little college town with a Thursday night farmer's market with restaurants participating that stretches for blocks and the whole town seems to go out and walk it. Just a really great place to live and go to school.</p>
<p>Siglio got to the "College Visit" section of CC on your left hand side of screen. You can see reviews of many, many schools including SLO. I toured it last summer with DD. It is a lovely campus, rolling hills, residential halls basically on one side of the school. The AG area is west of main campus. That's where all the calfs, pigs etc are. You'll definately do a lot of walking there. It's not as huge as say UC Davis. You would probably want your car to get to downtown or take the bus. Train is fairly convenient and you could take it from Santa Barbara/Goleta. Go online to their website and book a tour. I would suggest that you go when school is in session to really give you the feel of student life.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO is very difficult to get into, especially in Engineering. It's for students who want to have a practical education with lots of hands-on experience. It's not for students who want to dive deep into the theoretical aspects of their studies and aren't so interested in the practical applications. So it will attract an entirely different kind of student than Berkeley, for example. </p>
<p>It attracts very smart and focused students and its graduates are sought after. I've had hiring managers in Silicon Valley tell me they recruit exclusively at Cal Poly SLO, even though Cal, Stanford and SJSU are closer.</p>
<p>Admitted student profile for 2008:</p>
<p>Vballmom, I think you'd agree that the reason certain companies might prefer a Cal Poly grad for certain jobs has much more to do with job expectations of Cal Poly grads vs. Berkeley, Caltech or Stanford grads. As you point out, engineering grads from Caly Poly and it's peer schools are more likely to be hand on and therefore more likely to be content longer term with hands on jobs.</p>
<p>So for students who might aspire to being on teams developing new technology or quickly growing through companies into management roles, Berkeley and it's peer schools might be the better choice.</p>
<p>hmom5 I think the main reason that some companies prefer to hire Cal Poly grads is that they can come into a technical job and immediately be productive, while a grad of Berkeley or its peer schools might need additional on-the-job training.</p>
<p>I hope I didn't imply one education was more valuable than another. My main point is that they're different. I've recently experienced my older son (high school senior) go through the college search process to discover that Cal Poly is a perfect fit for him. My younger son's friends (high school juniors) - equally smart and equally interested in technology - feel that Cal Poly would be the wrong place for them and are aiming for Cal/Stanford/MIT/CalTech. The difference is an interest in practice vs theory.</p>
<p>Vballmom, with my own son who worked in engineering and is now at MIT for grad school, what I learned is that there are different job tracks within companies for engineers. Most employers don't want the MIT types for the 9-5, work out the quirks jobs. And the same companies seek out the MIT types for developer jobs, etc.</p>
<p>One thing to add, Cal Poly is talking about giving some consideration to students who are "local" in area and the OP would be in that mix so it may help his chances slightly.</p>
<p>^could you explain more? what do they mean by 'local'?</p>
<p>no one? is it time for me to research?</p>
<p>If you're in a Cal State's service area, you might get priority admission over other California students.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Under a new cost-cutting proposal, California State University may turn away eligible freshmen for the first time in its history.</p>
<p>Chancellor Charles Reed will tell the CSU's board of trustees next week that a bleak budget means that the university is no longer be able to accept everyone into next fall's freshman class. If his proposals are enacted, schools will give priority to freshmen in their "service area,'' meaning that San Jose State would first admit Santa Clara County residents. Outside students would waitlisted.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Financially</a> strapped CSU seeks to restrict student access - San Jose Mercury News</p>
<p>lol I live one county south of SLO...</p>
<p>SDSU has been doing this for years and requires a higher GPA and SAT for those outside their service area. SDSU even give the boundries on their admissions website.</p>
<p>siglio, I know you are one county south but it still might be considered local service area over someone from out of state or from a greater distance.
At this point in time, everything is changing with the UC/CSU system due to major budget issues.
Assuming you are a junior in high school now you should do a lot of homework and come up with a solid list of schools. Include Cal Poly but also consider other schools. If finances are an issue, you might consider two years at SBCC or look at schools where you would be in the top of accepted students and they may offer merit aid.
I would also pay attention to the news this year and follow what the budget issues mean for students at the UC/CSU schools.<br>
For instance: are classes overcrowded? Can you graduate in four years? What is the housing situation? Are any student services impacted?
I am not saying they will be but I would definitely be paying attention.</p>