<p>To all of the parents and students who are attending Open House this weekend…have fun!</p>
<p>For those of you who can’t make it…be ready for lots of posts from those of us who are going. We will try to share the information we get and tell you what we thought!</p>
<p>just got to slo :). staying at the embassy suites it’s really nice</p>
<p>Just arrived–at Embassy Suites–looking forward to visiting SLO tomorrow with my daughter who was admitted to the college of architecture and environmental design for a major in city and regional planning–love is all things environmental. At the check in desk, Jessica at E/S said, “cool, that’s my major too…” and she immediately started giving great local info, as did two other desk clerks. Nice greetings.
We’ve never been to SLO, or to the school, so this will be a fun couple of days.
All the best to the rest of you.</p>
<p>Yeah I went to SLO last weekend because I couldn’t make it this weekend. It was a great experience and I loved going there. Fell in love with the environment and everything about the school. Hope you guys have fun and tell us all about the experience!!!</p>
<p>Whoa. What a long day at the Open House. The College of Architecture and Environmental Design is very impressive, and my daughter and I were particularly taken by her department (CPR) within that college. Her older siblings both attended fairly elite (i.e., expensive) private schools (UofChicago and Lewis & Clark) and I don’t recall the personal attention and outreach of the departments heads and professors that we saw exhibited here today. AND, it was very clear that these profs know and love their areas of expertese, and will willingly and ably teach and mentor their new students. AND, everywhere we went on campus, we met friendly and helpful students and staff welcoming us to SLO. We come back tomorrow for a bit more visiting, looking at the club sports and various activities, and to view a few more dorms.<br>
The “red bricks” were not very impressive. Time to bulldoze those buildings and start anew. (That’s my view, not my daughter’s, who would consider Sequoia because it is a “learning” dorm.) I liked Sierra Madre better. And, the “apartment” style dorms up the hill sure look more inviting. Need to check out those other dorms tomorrow.<br>
My D hasn’t made a final decision where she will accept–a few too many choices. Thus far, I’d choose here…</p>
<p>Thanks for your impressions. When S and I visited a couple of months ago the students on campus spoke with us (unsolicited) about how much they liked it there. When we walked through the cafeteria, students eating were saying, “come here, its great”. Very different from other campuses we visited. I agree with you about the red bricks, but I have seen worse at more “expensive, prestigious” universities. S disagrees, I honestly think kids can live anywhere if they are with happy, like-kind.</p>
<p>BTW, my son chose cal poly over many other more expensive schools–which were also ranked very high for engineering. At first I sort of furrowed my brow, but now am so relieved on many different levels–the tuition gods are smiling on us. :)</p>
<p>We just returned from Open House. It was a GREAT experience. I was really impressed how with the excellent organization for the event. This was especially impressive since it is run by the students. Friday was a long day, but well worth the time. The most impressive to me was meeting with the Dean of the EE Dept. and the rest of the EE teaching and administrative staff. During the lunchenon, the Dean sat at our table. He is a really approachable guy. I was surprised to learn that the target class for freshman EE is only around 135 students, if I remember correctly. So the professors should get to know the students fairly well by graduation. And, the professors really love teaching and truly have an open door policy. If you had to miss Open House, you should stop by the department for your major. They all seem to love thier job and encouraged students to stop by. I was really impressed by how complimentary and respectful the faculty is of the students. We also toured the labs and there were many students working side by side with professors. My son is now 100% sold on Cal Poly. He enjoyed the Friday Night Invite as well and met many, many students, exchanged phone numbers, etc. While he was socializing with the students, the parents met for coffee and were introduced to faculty and students. We were free to ask any questions. I asked a student about issues with drinking and driving–always a concern with young college students. She said, not so much at Cal Poly because students do not drive to parties. They generally walk. Another student said there is also an active student Christian group that routinely gives rides home from parties. Everyone seems to really care for each other. I am very confident my son has made the right choice with Cal Poly. What a relief!!!</p>
<p>S and I just got back from Open House. We stayed at the Embassy Suites, too. </p>
<p>First of all, I was wondering how organized this event would be considering the large number of people they were dealing with. It seemed to go very well. There was an error in the program which sent people to the wrong room for their department orientations but it wasn’t too inconvenient for us. We showed up to the graphic comm dept early and spoke with some students. We asked them if they were graduating in 4 yrs and how difficult was it to get classes. Where did most of the students in Gr. Comm live on campus, etc. It was nice to hear that most of them were graduating on time. The others were taking a quarter longer because they changed majors. The dept is small so I feel S will have the opportunity to work closely with the faculty. </p>
<p>S decided that Cerro Vista was where he wanted to be when we went on the tour. The distance isn’t that much farther than the red bricks and a bike would be handy since he isn’t bringing his car. </p>
<p>On the way home, S was telling his friend, who rode home with us, that he liked that CP feels like a small community even though it’s a large school. I felt that way, too. He’s ready to go!</p>
<p>student’s perspective really quick…</p>
<p>It was a fun weekend all of the students were nice and welcoming and every one of them seemed to love it there. the friday night social was kind of awkward at first but ended up being really fun and all of the current students made the experience fun by encouraging games and other activities. overall it was a great weekend and I’m excited to be going there next year :)</p>
<p>Son and I had a great time at Open House and he is more excited than ever to be going to CP! I am so impressed by the students who organized the Open House weekend and I felt so proud that my son will be going there. His department program was the most impressive for us. Everyone was fun and welcoming and informative. We were able to see a lot of cool projects and see how happy the students are with Materials engineering. We loved hearing from people in the indusrty who graduated from CP and are working in so many different places.<br>
The Parents Coffee was a lot of fun for me. I really liked meeting 2Leashes and
CalMom05. I thought that they did a great program for us and I liked hearing from parents who already have students at CP. They had great advice and seemed to be so happy with the school. I was impressed with all of the activiites that students are involved in. seeing all of the booths on Saturday was great and even the parade was fun.
Such a great time and I really loved spending it with my son. He has made an excellent choice in schools! If you are a student going to CP, so have you!</p>
<p>Even though my daughter had a prior school choir commitment for the weekend, it sure didn’t stop *me *from having a fantastic time at Open House!</p>
<p>I was so impressed with the faculty and director of Kinesiology. I learned a lot about the department. There were several current students who talked with us, as well as demonstrated some of the laboratory machines. I think my daughter is going to really enjoy it, once she gets past all the science courses she has to take. ;)</p>
<p>The Parents’ Coffeehouse event was outstanding. A full house of prospective, incoming and current parents and students. I really liked how each parent got up on the stage and gave us one tip of advice. And, we met each student in the WOW group who helped coordinate this event. What a great bunch of kids. I really enjoyed meeting momofmv and CalMom05. And, I also happened to meet up with a mom who I met on a cruise last year. That was a pleasant surprise!</p>
<p>I spent the night and drove back up for the Open House today. I was there from 10:30 AM until almost 5 PM! Believe me, my FEET and knees HURT! Lots of walking. But, it was well worth it. I was so impressed with all the club and activities booths. Every student I met was friendly and went above and beyond to answer my questions. I stayed to watch the a cappella group called Take it SLO sing for 40 minutes. I’m so glad I saw them. My daughter is interested in auditioning in the fall. I bought their CD—only $5.00. I listened to it on the way home. Awesome voices!</p>
<p>All in all, I was very pleased with Open House weekend. I just wish my daughter and her friend had been able to be there.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed meeting momofmv and 2Leashes too. I also enjoyed meeting some other parents–you know who you are–who read these posts but never join in the discussions. </p>
<p>I have a reflective thought to share. I had to think about how Cal Poly gets such an amazing and involved student body when extra curricular activities are not weighted too much in the application process. I have come to the conclusion that it must be that most of the kids that chose Cal Poly are looking for a similar college experience at a supportive place. Because believe me-most of these kids have a lot of amazing college choices!</p>
<p>We weren’t able to come so I’m enjoying this thread. I’d love to hear some of the best “tips” given at the Parent Coffee by current CP parents. How about the dorms? Did anyone change their minds after touring them? Wish we could have been there; it sounds like it was great.</p>
<p>Tips that I remember hearing:
<p>I have one more comment for the day, and then I will stop, I promise. If any potential students or parents of potential students are worried about making friends, please don’t. This campus had the friendliest group of students of all of the campuses we visited. My son met many people and already has a few new friends. The kids are really happy with thier school. And, everyone seems really accepting of others. The other thing I noticed is that the campus and town are very clean. I am very adverse to litter!</p>
<p>Excellent comments CalMom5! Glad your son had a great time! My son did as well and we also felt that people were friendly and welcoming. The school and town are very clean and nice! Some of the dorm rooms…not so much! Lol</p>
<p>We toured the campus and the Business School over Spring Break. We were all so impressed. S was in quarter midterms this week, so we could not make it to open house. Last night was my LAST school gala. 
All of the teachers that came were so happy that S was going to Cal Poly and that he should be proud that he was accepted as it is so tough to get into. S goes to a very high performing public school in San Diego. so I was glad to hear that. Only 60% of applicants from his school were accepted to CP.</p>
<p>Another friend whose daughter is a current Freshman told me that it was like winning the lottery. Very reasonable tuition for a fabulous education and D was very happy. She turned down Wellsley to attend CP. I told my S that getting rejected from his dream school of USC was a blessing.</p>
<p>As a mom of an older son, I will share with you to book your rooms NOW for the day before move-in (September 12) if you are coming up ahead of time and for Parent’s weekend in October. (weekend of 23 and 24) I have already booked for the Holiday Inn Express right outside the main gate so we can walk to the activities and not have to worry about parking.</p>
<p>I am also going to have a send off party in the summer so S can meet other kids from the surrounding communities. I did this for my older son and CU sent all sorts of goodies and S got to meet kids that went to private schools that he would not have met otherwise. You can arrange this through the Parent Foundation. </p>
<p>I would love to meet you all too. I am werty1992’s mom and I feel like I know calmom05 and 2leashes from posting on CC.</p>
<p>I spoke with parents of business school kids who live in the red bricks and they have all encouraged S to live in the business dorm. (Tenaya) They said it is great to study and work on projects together. They are studying the same material and get to know each other well. He is afraid of getting a triple though.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I missed meeting you at the parents social. I got there late and the presentations/speeches had already begun. At the Emb Suites where we stayed, I looked at parents wondering if they were cc’ers that I’d been chatting with. </p>
<p>Hopefully, we can meet on move in day. I would like to be there on Sunday to get an early start on Monday.</p>
<p>Great post SDMom56!</p>
<p>I will need to look into the send off party. Can you tell us more about it? Sounds like fun!</p>
<p>I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed Open House and all of the great comments about your son choosing Cal Poly. We always hear similar comments from people when my son says he is going there. Everyone seems to love CP and we hear so many comments about it being a topnotch education. We love to hear about parents who attended and then their kids are going too. That says a lot!</p>
<p>I hope to meet you sometime. I sat with CalMom05 and 2Leashes at the Parent Coffee. It was so great to meet them and it was fun for my son to meet CalMom05’s son. It seems that CP is full of nice students and parents too!</p>