<p>Hey everyone… congratulations to all of you who have gotten in (and are yet to find out, good luck!) I am a transfer student from a California community college and got accepted for the English program at Cal Poly. I was rejected 2 years ago as a journalism major. I did not expect to get in at all… I had seen two different counselors at my CC and both told me it was very, very unlikely I would get in because, despite my 4.0 GPA, I was missing two of Cal Poly’s prerequisites. So I starting leaning towards UCLA, thinking Cal Poly was not going to be an opportunity at all for me… I live 45 minutes away from SLO, I visit SLO often and love it, and my boyfriend is also going to be going there this fall, so now going to Cal Poly is extremely appealing. My only doubt lies in the validity of their English program. I think Cal Poly and what comes to mind is Engineering, Architecture, Agriculture, etc. etc… and well English is very general… I’m wondering if a degree from Cal Poly in English would be as good as one from UCLA in English… I don’t really have too much doubt about getting into UCLA because I was invited to compete for the Regents scholarship (though I’m not 100% sure either by all means…) anyway… it’s easy to find information on the engineering program, but what about English? Any insight, advice, information would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>I think most of your decision has already been made for you. 
Cal Poly is definitely a science geared school, but I’ve heard marvelous things about the English programs at UCLA. It sucks to be deciding between such two awesome schools- but hey, you can’t really go wrong in terms of location and campus life. As for the programs, I think studying at UCLA as an English major will be much more worthwhile than at Cal Poly.</p>
<p>UCLA’s liberal arts eats Cal Poly’s for lunch any day. </p>
<p>Don’t even hesitate, go to UCLA. You would be doing yourself a disservice by passing up UCLA English. </p>
<p>I am speaking as a Cal Poly alumni for engineering.</p>
<p>Are all the liberal art’s programs considered extremly weak or is this just in comparision to the sciences there?</p>
<p>Well I wouldn’t say Cal Poly’s liberal arts programs are horrible, they are just weaker compared to more liberal arts oriented schools. I have taken a couple English classes here with great teachers, but as a liberal arts major (not English though, something else) I do feel like the liberal arts generally are not given as much attention as say engineering. The one exception I would say is graphic communications, which is in the college of liberal arts here. Cal Poly’s graphic comms major is one of the best in the country apparently. But I do think UCLA would be the better way to go. Cal Poly is definitely geared towards more technical majors. The engineering department here, as well as other more technical departments, has incredible new buildings with these awesome labs and stuff. And then you look at the rooms where the english classes are held. They look like they haven’t been updated since the 1960’s. It’s not that the English department here is bad, it’s just that UCLA’s is probably better.</p>
<p>Hi Indie, </p>
<p>I am actually a 3rd year English major at Cal Poly. I was on these forums because my little brother is anxiously waiting to hear back about his admissions status, and then I saw your post. </p>
<p>To be honest, initially, I would be hesitant to turn down UCLA for Cal Poly. I understand that UCLA has a more prestigious reputation and your degree might be “worth” more to outside parties. That being said, words cannot adequately express how much I have loved being an English major at Cal Poly. The reputation of the program might not be as high, but I turned down 6 UC acceptances to go to Cal Poly, and have never once regretted my decision. </p>
<p>These are the reasons I love the English department/Cal Poly: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Attention. Ever single professor I have had within the English department has made an effort to not only know my name, but know my interests, my passions, my life etc. I have never once had a TA teach an English class or any other class for that matter. In fact, I have never once met a TA, nor have I met anyone who has ever had a TA teach any of their classes. Professors put their students first and their research second. And if they are doing research, oftentimes students are invited to participate as part of their senior project. </p></li>
<li><p>Professors. I have loved every single one of my English professors. I am pretty sure that if you look on polyratings.com or ratemyprofessors.com or some other site like that, you will see that the English professors have incredibly high ratings. Every English professor I have had has been interesting, brilliant, passionate, dedicated and devoted to the students. I have been invited to a professor’s house for dinner/board games on more than one occasion- Which shocked me because I thought that that only happened at small liberal arts schools. </p></li>
<li><p>On that note, the Cal Poly English department is very small. Within the School of Liberal Arts and, specifically, the English department, I have felt like I am attending a small liberal arts school. I feel like I am getting the best of both worlds (no Hannah Montana pun intended). I get the large, social, (cheap!) education of a public university, but within my college and department I feel like I should be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for the education and attention I receive. </p></li>
<li><p>Small classes. I have never had an English class over 35 students. My smallest was 9. My largest class ever (Psychology GE) at Cal Poly was 350 and it was taught by 6 different professors that held twice a week discussion classes for 30 students. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope this helps. Congratulations on such awesome options. You really can’t make a bad decision. If you have any more questions feel free to message me. And best of luck.</p>
<p>Just want to mention something that one of our UCLA-educated tenure professors said: UCLA wants to model their English curricula after Cal Poly’s. </p>
<p>I also know that a student from Stanford sat in on our classes and claimed they were better than hers at the Ivy League school – in that the discussion was more in-depth, etc. </p>
<p>Don’t discount Cal Poly’s liberal arts just because it’s known for sciences. But then again, a Regent’s scholarship to UCLA? Congratulations. I don’t know which I’d have chosen.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision! :)</p>
<p>withdrawnred,</p>
<p>As an aside, Stanford is not an Ivy League school. The Ivy League consists of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Brown.</p>