<p>Given I am a San Diego resident,</p>
<p>Which would be better for those majors? How easy is it to double major? Which school has a better atmosphere? Who has better resources? What's employment like? Where would I receive a better merit scholarship? Dorms? Student life? </p>
<p>I'm already in CSM; will hear back from SLO whenever they tell Regular Decision people their status.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Both offer materials engineering, but CSM has chemical engineering while Cal Poly SLO does not. Which is your primary major?</p>
<p>For list price before financial aid and scholarships, Cal Poly SLO should be a lot less expensive than CSM for a California resident. Did you receive big scholarships from CSM?</p>
<p>Both schools have career surveys. Put “career survey” in their web site search boxes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. Primary major is Chem E., as that is undoubtedly my passion, but after some research, Materials E. seems almost as fulfilling. I like most sciences where you have to think on the micro scale.</p>
<p>At first I definitely wanted CSM, but at least 6 of my other science-y friends have committed to SLO, and now I’m on the border again…</p>
<p>As far as student life goes, the schools’ common data sets give some hints:</p>
<p>Number of students:
Cal Poly SLO: 17332 undergraduates, 1028 graduates, 18360 total
Mines: 3795 undergraduates, 1298 graduates, 5093 total</p>
<p>Graduation rates for freshmen entering 2004:
Cal Poly SLO: 27% in four years, 75% in six years
Mines: 37% in four years, 65% in six years</p>
<p>Majors:
Cal Poly SLO: 24% engineering, 15% business, 12% agriculture, 7% architecture, many others each with 5% or less
Mines: 88% engineering, 7% math and statistics, 3% social sciences, 2% physical sciences</p>
<p>Gender of full time undergraduates:
Cal Poly SLO: 55% male, 45% female
Mines: 75% male, 25% female</p>
<p>Ethnic background:
Cal Poly SLO: 65% white, 12% Latino, 10% Asian, 7% unknown, 4% two or more, 1% international, 1% black, <1% Native American, <1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific islander
Mines: 71% white, 7% unknown, 7% Latino, 6% international, 5% Asian, 1% black, <1% two or more, <1% Native American, <1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific islander</p>
<p>I can’t fathom a good reason to pay OOS to go to Mines over instate to go to SLO… unless you are dead set on majoring in something that SLO doesn’t offer.</p>
<p>I took Chem 1 at a California Community college(guaranteed to transfer to SLO,UCB etc.) and Chem 2 at Mines and I felt like the Chem2 at Mines was pretty weak. Not saying that applies to the whole ChemE department, but just my thoughts.</p>