I’m a California guy who’s been accepted to Cal Poly and Carnegie Mellon. I got into both for Electrical Engineering, but I can’t seem to figure out which school to go to. I’m paying exactly the same for both because need based grant covers my tuition to CMU making both about 24K. I really enjoy the beach, but I also love the city. On top of that. I’m a talented Cross Country and Track distance runner trying to be a walk on at either school. Could somebody, alumni or student with a similar issue, please assist me in determining which might be the better fit for me? I’m also an IB student getting his diploma who also is taking AP tests, if that at all can show my work and study ethic.
Thank you!!–
Well, you’re in the CMU forum, so obviously I’m going to be biased towards CMU. It really comes down to what your priorities and plans are. Do you care about prestige? Go to Carnegie Mellon, especially since you got into ECE here (very selective). Cal Poly has a pretty good reputation in California, but is pretty unheard of everywhere else. Do you want to work your butt off surrounded by many people smarter than you? Go to Carnegie Mellon. Cal Poly is a back up school for many high-acheiving students, who often choose colleges elsewhere. Do you want the traditional partying Greek life? Go to Cal Poly. CMU has its parties, but…
Have you visited either school? I went to one of Cal Poly’s engineering camps for high schoolers, and I liked it okay, but the campus felt too relaxed/chill for me. I think I’d be bored out of my mind if I had to stay there for four years. The general vibe that I got was that Cal Poly is almost like a vocational school, training students to enter the workforce. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but I prefer more of an entrepreneurial, going-to-change-the-world atmosphere. Those are my personal preferences though.
Disclaimer: Take everything I just said with a grain of salt, because I’m an incoming student and the first paragraph was based off of what I have read from other people.
I agree with the jyinsanity for most part - I would say it comes down to the location and size of the school. My D attended Cal Poly and loved it, and I have a personal bias towards CMU, but obviously the decision is yours. Email the respective admissions and have a chat if you are not sure. Good luck.
@jyinsanity where are you from? Also, I understand the relaxed atmosphere you were talking about. Although I don’t have as much of an entrepreneurial fervor as you might, I still believe in a going-to-change-the-world ideology and I think that CMU offers that more so than SLO. You’re an incoming student, so I’m assuming you are Class of 2020 as well? What are your future goals in regards to what you will do with your degree from CMU? Also wouldn’t more research opportunities be available your graduate year more so than your UG?
@Mickswagger I’m from the Bay Area in California, so I’m probably influenced by Silicon Valley in the entrepreneurial aspect. I am indeed Class of 2020, and I’m planning to major in MechE with a focus in product design and minor in entrepreneurship. I would really love to start my own company or work for a startup, but I also plan to volunteer with Engineers Without Borders for a few years (they have a chapter at CMU). CMU also has a startup incubator-like program, and a multi-disciplinary degree program called Ideate that offers classes specifically to engineers who plan to found a start up.
I’m not particularly interested in research, but from what I’ve read, it’s not uncommon for undergrads to do research with their professors (although they have to have the initiative to seek out those opportunities). It’s also not uncommon for students as young as second-semester freshmen to be TAs for courses. I feel like CMU is a much more undergrad focused school than other equally prestigious schools.
CMU also offers Small Undergraduate Research Grants (SURG) which are grants offered to undergrads who are doing independent research. Supposedly the grants are pretty easy to get, and there’s a lot of cool projects that people have done with it.
Haha, it might seem like I’m obsessed with CMU, and maybe I am (!!), but I really did a lot of research before I decided to apply ED.