My son admitted to Engineering major (CE/EE) at CalPoly SLO, UW Madison, Rutgers, ASU and SJSU. He is California resident. Any advice on which University he should choose ?
Net price at each?
If he may change major, be sure to check the change of major requirements at each school.
At Wisconsin, be sure to check the progression requirements to stay in the major, since they include college GPA minimums substantially higher than the usual 2.0.
In state tuition for CalPoly SLO and SJSU
OOS tuition for UW Madison, Rutgers and ASU
Sure will check major change requirement at each school and also progression requirements to stay in the major at UW Madison.
Going to be hard to find someone who can compare all these colleges. I would easily pick CalPolySLO over SJSU.
Is he ready for the weather that UW Madison and Rutgers would have? Snow can be fun to visit but living in it full time is different.
College costs are more than just the cost of tuition. Board and room, whether dorm or off campus, varies widely. SLO is an expensive area but it is a very pleasant place to live.
My son went to CalPolySLO a number of years back. He was in the dorm the first year, an on campus apartment the next and shared a house with other students the rest of his time there. The house was a 12 month lease and that length is very typical. His progression in living situations was also quite typical at the time. He worked for a professor doing research those summers where he had the house, so the summer rent wasn’t wasted.
Thanks @HPuck35
My son lived in California only. So weather is something need to be taken into account. He is inclined towards CalPoly (prefer to stay in State and close to home). But is rejecting UW Madison for these reason justify ?
Not sure why you would want to pay more so that he has to compete for GPA to stay in his major (although civil and electrical are the least competitive majors, with 2.8 technical and 2.5 overall GPA needed to stay in the major).
At CPSLO and the others, keeping a 2.0 GPA and C grades is enough to stay in the major. At CPSLO for students already in the engineering division, changing to civil requires a 2.5 GPA, while changing to electrical requires a 2.0 GPA:
https://eadvise.calpoly.edu/Changing-Majors/Within-the-College-of-Engineering
“But is rejecting UW Madison for these reason justify ?” - I think so, especially if CalPoly SLO is more affordable. If he wants to settle in CA after graduation…even more reason.
Thanks @colorado_mom
Yes, he wants to settle in CA after graduation.
From my research of engineering school for my kids (years past), Cal Poly SLO is a great school. Best of luck!
My son graduated from Cal Poly (BS/MS ME) and paid out of state tuition for the privilege. A patient of mine is a Wisconsin ME grad. He helped guide my son along the way. He said my son walked out of Cal Poly far more prepared to be a practicing engineer than Wisconsin grads do. One of my son’s best friends from school has a brother that went to Georgia Tech. He said the same thing.
Thanks @eyemgh for sharing feedback. Really appreciate.
Certainly. It’s anecdotal, but I think useful. Of course I have a biased perspective too. My son went there.
Certainly Wisconsin has some advantages over Cal Poly, big time football and more cutting-edge research.
He’ll walk into his major though at Poly, with the possibility of being locked out at Wisconsin. Classes are way smaller at Poly. The calc series is capped at 35 and physics at 42. There is research at Cal Poly, some of it very interesting and applicable. It’s still a classic college experience even though the football team is usually bad.
This is the bottom line for any student. If they are involved, taking advantage of all of the opportunities in front of them and do well in class, they’ll be fine.
IMO the decision is between Wisconsin and SLO, assuming you can afford the OOS price.
My own kid had a decision between SLO, several UC’s and UMich. She chose UMich. We didn’t apply to Wisconsin. But SLO is awesome and really tough to decline.