CPSLO Graduating Senior Here to Answer Any Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1

Hi all,

I’m currently in the last week of my stint at Cal Poly and I’m here to answer any questions people might have.

Quick Briefing on me and about the things that I can answer:

  1. Mechanical Engineering Super Senior
  2. Interned at Apple
  3. Elected twice to student government
  4. Started a club
  5. Won an international engineering design competition
  6. Currently deciding whether to attend Duke or Columbia for graduate school
  7. Came in on 1st Gen student scholarship and graded for the engineering department
  8. Believe it or not, partied aggressively most weekends for 3.5 years of college
2

Let me be the first to say CONGRATULATIONS!

What made you change your mind on the work force and decide to go to graduate school? What area of research do you wasn’t to do?

3
  1. How difficult is it to fit in if you are a student of color? I noticed that Cal Poly in comparison to other public CA universities is not very diverse.
  2. There is a heavy emphasis on STEM at Cal Poly, and the university seems to tout and publicize the high salaries of their graduates. Would it be safe to say that this in part because of the starting salaries of the engineering students? How do non-engineers fare in the job market?
  3. DS has been admitted to the business school. What is the reputation of the business school? What are employment opportunities like for graduates.
  4. Career Services - How active do you need to be to acquire an internship and/or job?
  5. What services are available to students if they start to struggle academically? For instance, some universities have drop in tutoring centers. Does this exist at Cal Poly?
  6. The 4 year graduation rate is very low. Browsing through CC, many have stated that it is difficult to be admitted to certain classes. Is this specific to engineering and computer science, or are there GE classes and other majors that are affected as well.
4

Can confirm @NLinsanity is a local campus celebrity. :wink: All your questions are in good hands on this thread.

5

@sleeplessmom1, I had the same question (#2) about my son choosing to pursue an English major at a highly regarded engineering school. The Cal Poly website had a page that referenced the issue pointing out that C.P. has ranked in the top 10 nationally for Return on Investment (R.O.I.) for English and Humanities majors. That made me feel better.

http://english.calpoly.edu/news/CP-inthenews

I would love to read what NLinsanity has to offer on the topic. Lots of schools are good at self-promotion, so it’s great to hear what the people actually living the experience have to say on the subject.

6

Thanks for answering our questions!

1 - What other colleges of similar caliber did you turn down to come to SLO and why did you pick SLO? My son got into Davis so we are trying to decide between those two. He is an electrical engineering major.

2 - What was your largest class size? What do you think of the quality of instruction at SLO overall?

3 - Have you enjoyed the social scene at SLO?

4 - Is a super senior a 5th year? Is getting your classes to be able to graduate in 4 years as hard as I’ve read?

5 - How easy was it to get your internship? Do most kids do internships/co-ops? Does the school help you find them? Do you intern in the summers only?

6 - Since you are going to grad school, are your fellow seniors that want to go into the workplace finding jobs?

Thanks again!

7

@ocmom1000, as a graduating electrical engineer as well I’ll take a shot a the questions…

1 - What other colleges of similar caliber did you turn down to come to SLO and why did you pick SLO? My son got into Davis so we are trying to decide between those two. He is an electrical engineering major.

UCLA, UCSD, UCR, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State San Bernardino. It came down to UCLA and SLO. After visiting both, the atmospheres were night and day compared to each other. Expect much more competition at any UC school - I know we are all accustomed to believing competition is good, but when it comes to your education that isn’t the case. Not many willing to help you learn the material because it will “bring the curve down.” Everyone keeps to themselves, just watching people going between classes at UCLA most of them walked with their heads down and avoided interaction. Not so at Cal Poly.

2 - What was your largest class size? What do you think of the quality of instruction at SLO overall?
The EE department certainly has its problems, I won’t hide that. There are a few professors which both students and faculty agree should probably not be teaching. But even so, they’re light years ahead of UC professors who are there for research and limit their undergrad student interaction. The good professors, however, truly make the program. They will MAKE time to help the students. There’s one professor who will sit in the EE lobby answering questions all day unless she is in class.

3 - Have you enjoyed the social scene at SLO?
I went downtown quite a bit to the bar scene, but did not hit any of the parties because I’m too old for that. The social scene is vibrant everywhere, though. I just particularly enjoyed the downtown vibe.

4 - Is a super senior a 5th year? Is getting your classes to be able to graduate in 4 years as hard as I’ve read?
Super senior = 5th year, yes. Speaking for the EE department, getting classes can be difficult at times… but if you are willing to take one of the aforementioned professors who everyone wants to avoid, you should be able to get the classes you need when you need them. It’s also setup such that they prioritize students following the course outline for the EE program - if you get “off quarter” you will have more hoops to jump through to get your classes. So stick to the flowchart.

5 - How easy was it to get your internship? Do most kids do internships/co-ops? Does the school help you find them? Do you intern in the summers only?
The first internship is always the hardest; the summer after your freshman year will probably the hardest time to get one. From sophomore year onward, it will be easier. I never went a summer without an internship, and everyone I’ve met in EE has had an internship/co-op. The school hosts an incredible career fair which you should definitely attend. Beyond that, the EE department connects students with employers who are looking specifically for EEs. I only interned in the summer, but I know people who have done co-ops over Fall or Winter quarters, and multiple times.

6 - Since you are going to grad school, are your fellow seniors that want to go into the workplace finding jobs?
I’m personally doing both; I’m going for my MSEE through a distance program and jumping into my career. Most people I’ve met are going into the work place because the job offers tend to be way too good to pass up. With the salaries offered to Cal Poly graduates, it is likely more financially sound to just start your career right away. I haven’t heard of anyone getting an offer below $75k in EE, and I know many students who have accepted offers above $100k. Grad school really becomes a personal choice, rather than a pursuit for a higher salary.

8

@NLinsanity. My son,a junior, is interested in ME but I hear that it’s one of the harder engineering majors to apply to compared to Civil, GENE, Industrial, etc. His ACT superscore is 34.5 (36 math, 33 English) and so far, he has maintained all As. From what I am seeing on the forum, you need at least a 34 act and Mca of 4800 to get in. If he were to apply to Civil or GENE, how hard is it to transfer to ME? Any guarantees he will be able to transfer as long as he maintains the min. gpa after the first quarter? Or is it also based on space available? Not sure if he should chance not getting accepted to ME and instead, apply to GENE and try transferring into ME after the first quarter? I hear mixed information that it’s very difficult to transfer. His act composite is 31 and not sure if that is enough for ME at Ucla, UCsd, ucd. Plus he doesnt have a lot of ECs which UCs look more heavily on compared to SLO. SLO is definitely one of his top choices. Any advice is appreciated!

9

What concentration did you pick and why? Or are there more job opportunities for some ME concentrations versus another?

10

@totallyME925 ME is broader and less specialized so I assume there are more job opps. He’s not exactly sure what he wants to do hence ME seems more like a logical choice. He knows he doesn’t like EE, CS, Aero and Chemical.

11

Sorry for the late reply, caught up by finals

J O B S :
Why Grad School:
I’d say I’m not the norm and probably leaning towards Columbia so I can go to New York and chase stand up comedy a bit further. While I hope to make a career of telling strangers jokes about my weiner, after Apple, I realized you could be promoted much faster by having a masters degree. Research < career climbing for me, a masters is essentially required to get above a certain level of management and I just wanted something to buttress in case comedy flops.

STEM importance:
Weak opportunity for non-STEM, but that’s comparable to most universities. Anything outside of engineering and business usually requires at least a masters degree to make +60k/yr. The school has a 9X% job placement rate, but that’s hugely biased by the STEM departments.

Business:

1 Party Major on Campus. The jerks who make fun of me for having Friday classes. 98% Orfalea Job placement. When I was at Apple, large population of finance majors from Poly as well (CFO of Apple is an alum). Tough to break into wall street/top consulting firms because public west coast uni with no national reputation.

Getting Internships:
I had no prior internship to Apple if that gives you an idea, but the first one is usually the hardest to get. Multiple companies (Google, Apple, Boeing, Deloitte, etc) especially for business and STEM hold yearly “workshops” that are essentially recruitment sessions outside of the quarterly career fair. Tesla literally held a career fair in the gym for just themselves about two weeks ago.

Job Placement:
I don’t know anyone in my circle still looking for job. My last friend just landed a spot in Stanford for grad school last month (not the first I know of from CP). But people make decisions all the time to not follow money or career, like I walked away from 150k/yr at Apple if I had gone back as a full-time engineer.

@eyemgh

@sleeplessmom1
@ocmom1000
@Jedimom
@totallyME925 :

12

A C A D E M I C S :

Academic help:
Every college has an individual drop in advising center. Free tutoring for intro 100 level classes held by the departments. Of course there’s also scumbag private tutors as well if that’s what your child is interested in. There’s a dude in town who literally calls his business “badazz tutors” like that’s somehow good advertising.

Concentration Picking:
I chose general concentration because I have commitment issues. HVAC always has the most job openings, but no one except the losers doing it for the money like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air, conditioning). Manufacturing gets many of the top companies because its such a practical industry.

Why Cal Poly:
I legit had never heard of poly before applying to colleges. Realistically, if I had gotten in to LA/Berkeley I would have picked those in a heartbeat because I was a name whore in high school. I turned down every other same level UC(SD, Davis, Irvine, SB) because the math works out that I’d make the same out of CP, but pay more at a UC. CP, however, gets every major tech company and is more practical (except compared to UCB) so better for industry (i.e. like the 80 labs on campus). The UCs are much better for getting into grad school because of research opportunities but have literally 2 labs they experience throughout college; fairly evident when I was at the west coast regionals for the engineering competition at their lack of practical engineering - except against UCB.

Low 4 year graduation rate:
4 year grad rate is low because most engineers graduate in 4 + 1 quarter. That gets counted as 5 year in the statistics. Nobody really pays too much attention because its cheap. Getting classes is difficult for small majors (nonME, nonEE, etc) because certain classes are only available one quarter per year. If you fail or don’t get in, then you have to wait another year for it to get around (especially if its a perquisite for other classes)

Largest Class and Education Caliber:
250 in the business silo, but it was only once and for a class that essentially every engineer has to take. I averaged 25 a class. Amazing practical education, but you don’t get as good of a network as at a private ivy.

Super Senior:
No, I just took time off to intern at Apple. Cal Poly heavily emphasizes getting practical job experience so I had no issues with leaving during the school year either. I was one of 300 students that my manager had interviewed for Apple, most companies will be easier. Yes, most get internships before graduating, the school helps a lot by holding fairs. Look up at the answer I have for getting internships.

Transferring Majors:
It’s really easy for engineering to go to different engineering. Hard to transfer from outside of the college of engineering.

S O C I A L:
As a student of color:
Depends on your student. As an asian student I felt comfortable, but acknowledge a large percentage of the minority population at Cal Poly gets uncomfortable. The way I heard it described is “SLO is the best place to live in the world, but once or twice a year, some idiots go and do something really racist.” Dating is weird because I have to find the balance between fetishizers and people completely against it.

Social Scene:
It’s gone a bit downhill since I was a freshman because of stronger noise violation/etc laws. Heavy school spirit and 16% Greek Life. I would go out to parties every weekend from Freshman year until I had to get my stuff together my Senior Year. Now I mostly hang out at bars telling jokes to strangers

13

@NLinsanity Thanks for answering our questions. We live in a large metropolitan city. Do you think that it is difficult for students who are used to the big city life to transition to SLO?

How is crime on campus and around SLO? Do you feel safe walking from the library to your dorm late in the evening?

14

@sleeplessmom1
The transition will be difficult for some. From what I’ve seen, STEM/Architecture/and other work intensive majors will be too busy to notice that SLO doesn’t offer much as a city.

Crime feels non-existent compared to a major city. However, once or twice a year, the school sends out a warning about students that were attacked by strangers. So as a male student, I’m probably not the best person to answer whether or not SLO feels safe because it’s not something I have to think twice about.

15

SLO is ranked as the #7 happiest city in America. Do you think it’s one of the happiest campuses?

Also, do you feel the student body is more collaborative as opposed to competitive?

16

Happiest Campus:
On average, yes. Usually the people with complaints have a preference for major cities or are uncomfortable with the lack of diversity in town. Most of us in engineering are too busy to notice what SLO doesn’t have to offer.

Collaborative:
Yeah, there’s pretty weak competition among students because the class sizes are small and there’s usually plenty of internships and access to professors.

17

@NLinsanity hey, what’s the party scene like if you’re not a part of greek life? And I know you’re Mech E, but how much free time do you have on average as an engineering major? (I’m CS)

18

@MarmaladeSky I can’t speak for the OP but greek life is only necessary for partying if you’re a guy. I’m a guy at Cal Poly that’s not in a fraternity and I’ll admit that my partying options are definitely more limited than someone in a fraternity. There are still a ton of house parties and parties through clubs and organizations that you join. So its not impossible to party if you’re a guy not in greek life, but it does make it harder. If you’re a girl, being in greek life has literally no effect on your ability to party/get into frat parties.

19

Party:

Easier if you’re Greek, but still accessible as some are held by interest groups/clubs like ski club, student govt, and even the Chinese Student Association. If you’re in enough groups/know enough frat guys, parties are always going to be available.

Most people just go to the bars after 21 because freshman are terrible.

Freetime:

Eh. Most people will say they never have enough time. Most people also don’t know how to manage their time. I managed to make enough friends to win a couple of student elections and rage face every weekend from year 1 to beginning year 4. I definitely got a lot busier near the end, but doable if you see all the hats I got to wear in college on top of engineering.

20

How gay friendly/unfriendly did you find the students/campus to be? We were there for open house this past weekend and some prospective students’ parents put on quite a show of intolerance and insensitivity outside the Pride Center office in the UU. The fathers of the prospective students put on pins that The Pride Center was giving away to support the LGBT community. The wives of said fathers took pictures and proceeded to post them on various social media sites all the while laughing and cackling about how funny it was. My blood started to boil because there were several students sitting in the area who were waiting for the Pride Center office to open. We all had to witness this kind of humiliation from the PARENTS of students.
What’s your take ?