CalPoly SLO Engineering vs UCs and USC

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
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Hello Everyone! I’ve just been admitted to CalPoly SLO for Electrical Engineering and I look forward to attending. I’ve also been admitted to UC San Diego and UC Davis, and hopefully maybe even UCLA, though it’s very unlikely.

My question is, how is the CalPoly SLO program for Engineering? Where would you rank it amongst the UCs? I plan on doing a Master, preferably at CalPoly SLO itself if I attend. Money really isn’t an issue at the moment.

I’ve been told my friends and even workers in the tech industry that CalPoly SLO grads are often compared with UCLA students, and they’re highly desired because of the schools
‘work by doing’ motto. I just wanted to clarify and hear your guys thought about this. Thank you!

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for me, the smaller campus and class size + the learn by doing and location really favor CPSLO.

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how did u get into ucsd alreadY???

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@johnbob Decisions came out 3 days ago!

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@iamdaone for ucsd fall 2020 transfer??? for what major???

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I would equate CP SLO to UCSD. It’s not especially well known compared to UCSD and UCLA.

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@penguin2 typo?

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@bean01262020 No, just bad communication. I’m saying Cal Poly SLO isn’t as well known outside immediate Silicon Valley compared to UCSD and UCLA. If you factor in the difficulty of getting courses, competition, and SLO’s learn by doing, SLO about matches up to UCSD.

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CSUs are all known for their “learn by doing” motto. UCs are more research oriented so a lot of the stuff they do is more theoretical but if you’re planning on pursuing grad school I would recommend going to a school in the UC system. If you want hands on experience in the field, Cal Poly would be a great choice but I generally think that after undergrad, CSU students are set to go on and work instead of doing more studying just because they’ve gotten that experience at school. UC students usually get this experience through internships which is valuable for resumes.

I’m also an EE major (transfer student though) and UCLA is a great school for EE, as well s UCSD given that the campus is right next to Qualcomm HQ.

Hope this helps you make your decision