<p>I am transferring from a CC to either CSU LB or Cal Poly Pomona this next Fall. I have been accepted to both schools and have toured both. But I received a more in-depth tour of Cal Poly Pomona by several ChemE seniors there. At CSU LB, I more or less just walked around the engineering building and spoke with Ted, a ChemE professor. It has come down to just which school has the better professors (friendly, present the material well, and are fair on their tests) and which university will provide more opportunities after graduating. </p>
<p>Any ChemE's out there who have gone (or are going) to either school willing to share your thoughts? How are the professors? Any other pointers or suggestions as far as studying for certain professors or how to choose between the two schools? How is the quarter system at Pomona vs the semester system at LB? What do you do for the senior project at CSU LB? Feel free to leave any other comments or thoughts. Thank you for your time!</p>
<p>Be aware that Pomona will switch to semesters in fall 2017. If you take quarters off school, the conversion may impact your course selection.</p>
<p>One obvious difference between quarters and semesters is that if you need an extra term, or graduate in fewer terms, quarters are smaller than semesters in terms of extra cost, or saved cost. E.g. one extra quarter costs less than one extra semester, but two extra quarters costs more than one extra semester (and the other way around for early graduation). You may want to plot out your schedule to graduation to see whether this is relevant to you.</p>
I ended up choosing Cal Poly Pomona. When it comes to quarter versus semester system, I have learned that it comes down to the individual’s preference. I realized that I very much prefer the quarter system and most of my friends who transferred from a semester based city college also prefer the semester system. Another thing most of my chemical engineering friends and I agree on is that we regret going to Cal Poly Pomona. Most of our professors are absolutely horrible. Based on professor online rankings alone, Long Beach has better ratings that Pomona’s. The Cal Poly Pomona junior and senior level course professors test you on material that you haven’t learned yet nor will you until a week or two after you take the quiz/exam. I would highly suggest Long Beach. They seem to care more for their students and are just overall better.