<p>Hi, I’m a H.S junior and I was researching possible schools to apply to and this school intrigued me. I want to major in biochem and then go to podiatry school after I graduate. Is it possible to go to a med school after attending Cal Poly SLO? Also I live in Illinois, so is the tuition decent for out of staters and how is the financial aid? One last question, how is the location and night life of San Luis Obispo? Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>stuckinillinois,</p>
<p>You can go anywhere from Cal Poly. It is one of the best schools in California and is third in the nation in alumni income (behind only UC Berkley and University of Virginia) among public institutions. As for the tuition, it is very flexible. Full tuition, including room and board, is $19,125 per year. Plus $226 per unit out-of-state tuition. I talk to a lot of my friends who go to USC and UCLA and other institutions across the nation and many of them are already planning trips to visit me because the location is so great. Every Thursday, the town shuts down the "main" street in San Luis Obispo and conducts what is called Farmers Market, where you can get any kind of food and walk around any of the stores in town. Also, the night life in SLO awesome. Like any other college, you can find parties any night. It's really a great school and you should definitely visit to see what you think about the campus and the town.</p>
<p>"Also, the night life in SLO awesome. Like any other college, you can find parties any night."</p>
<p>...only if you're a business major or in the college of liberal arts and actually have time to party every night :P</p>
<p>Actually two more questions, how is the student body as a whole, is it mostly white or are there a good amount of minorities? Also, how is the science program at Cal Poly SLO?</p>
<p>Also, stuckinillinois-- there's a podiatrist in SLO that seems to be looking for student help quite often. I only know of his listing being sent to BMEDs, though. I never saw the request while I was a BIO major, so he may only be looking for engineers (or maybe it was bad timing :>)? Anyhoo. A number of my friends have gone on to med school, so it is a possibility.</p>
<p>Predominately white, hahaha. I think the breakdown is listed on calpoly.edu. That's not to say there aren't ANY minorities, but it's definitely no bay area :P</p>
<p>The science program is pretty good... It really depends on what you want to do. I was in BIO and it was pretty light as far as math goes (ie, only have to take one statistics class, a dumbed down physics series, and a dumbed down calc I & II if I recall correctly), which was the main reason why I switched out. If you have any questions about specific classes, let me know and I could try to help you out.</p>
<p>Did you switch out of the college of math and science? Why and where did you switch to?</p>
<p>I switched from biology to biomedical engineering (BMED)... partly because of the math issue I mentioned before, but also because BMED was just a better fit for my interests :P</p>
<p>Hi, I am from Illinois too! I got accepted into Cal Poly early decision for journalism. As far as tuition goes, Cal Poly is actually comparable to University of Illinois Campaign Urbana. You'd pay roughly the same amount as an out of state student there as you would as an in state student here. California has far better weather and Cal Poly is probably the best Cal state school. As far as diversity goes, all the books and websites I've looked at say that Cal Poly SLO is mainly white with about 12% Asian, 12% Hispanic, and 2% African American. Oh, and another thing about tuition. If you could establish residency somehow, you could pay in state tuition which is a pretty good deal. I'm not exactly sure how you would go about doing this, but I'm sure you could find out if you ask around. Cal Poly has a pretty good science program, but I don't know too much about it since my interests are more in English and journalism. But I'm sure that you could go there and then get into med school at a UC school maybe. You should really consider Cal Poly since it is a great school in a really beautiful location. Hope this helped!</p>
<p>Do you know if the courses are so hard that people don't do the work study or is that popular? Also how do people get around town and such, in other words, what's the transportation like in SLO?</p>
<p>The classes are manageable for the most part. You do run across weeder classes every once and a while, though. Quite frankly, if you don't study you won't be happy with your grade. (Most) Professors aren't out to fail you, but it really boils down to how much work the individual is willing to put in. </p>
<p>All professors are required to have a certain number of office hours per week, so don't worry about not getting enough help. The classes are generally small, so your professors will know your by name by the end of the quarter unless it's a cattle course (100+ lecture..GE's and intro courses, usually). You will run into professors that give dry lectures... all the bio/chem people are pretty awesome teachers, in my experience. You can really tell that they like what they're doing :) </p>
<p>As far as transportation goes, there's a number of bus lines that are free to all CalPoly students. You just swipe your ID when you get on. I used the bus to get to campus all of last year, and it was pretty reliable...it's usually a bit late on the hour because of all the kids taking it. They also go downtown as well (little trollies, lol). You don't NEED a car your first year, but it is nice if you want to go to the beach, Santa Barbara, etc.. I'd recommend having a car once you move off campus/don't have a meal plan, though. Hauling groceries around on the bus or on a bike would be a pain.</p>
<p>How is the student body? Generally cool, arrogant, or whatever major vibe you feel when you walk on the campus? Also, what are the most popular activities the students do, and are they located in walking distance from the campus? Thanks for the help</p>
<p>I think it depends on your major. I'm an architecture, so I almost never step out of my studio. I am not sure how the med people are, but the few people I met in GE classes are generally cool. SLO is considered to be N. Cal, but I see them as S. Cal population wise. Very sunny and healthy people. You see people wearing sun glasses and people sleeping right on the grass. They are generally outgoing, sunny people who like hanging out with friends, or nice, gentle people who knows how to enjoys a good book. People are cool about what you do.
A lot of the people seem to enjoy partying, but there's no pressure there and people are cool about it.
Surfing and skateboarding seem to be popular, and almost everyone's been to the ocean nearby (that one requires driving though.)
Poly Canyon is part of the campus, which means we have a giant mountain on our campus for our use.
There's rock climbing and horses to pet. (Like I say, outgoing and sunny!)
We have rec center that offers exercising classes and a craft center that offers... craft classes.
It's great if you love the outdoor. But coming from a bookworm, the library can use some improvement in terms of it's collection ;P
There's definitely some arrogant people, but I think any top college will have that.</p>