<p>I would like to know why would you attend the school or not? how’s the student life for a freshman living on campus? are the classes hard to get? is the faculty/administration just not good at all? tell me everything about what you like and what you don’t. and i would like to know a little more about the civil engineering program there. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Cal Poly Pomona is not only good… it’s a GREAT school. It carries the stigma that is not the “real” Cal Poly which is, according to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials, in San Luis Obipo, California. Aside form that fact, I can account that the two schools are fundamentally the same. Core classes will probably not be hard to get into since you will be in the Civil Engineering deparment. General-ed classes are slightly harder and tricky to fit in your schedule, but if you are a student who stays on top of things and makes sure you don’t have any holds prior to registration, you will have no problems enrolling. You will meet awesome professors who will go the extra mile to make sure you truly understand the material, who stay after hours, and who come during furlough days. However, you will also find the typical bureaucRAT-style “teacher” who provides absolutely no educational asset and who only cares about his or her paycheck. In my experience, those professors are abundant in the Business and CLASS “Colleges”. Engineering professors (in average) hold much higher standards, but as in all universities, there are a few exceptions. I like the fact that my department (Chem. Eng.) is so small (~200) that I get a small college experience and faculty members know me by name. I love my peers too, they’re awesome. We have access to engineering buildings 24/7 all year-round and during mid-terms and finals we camp-out in classrooms and lounges overnight to study our butt off. Some of the things I don’t like is that you really do need a car to get everywhere because the school is not within walking distance to a downtown area or transportation hub. There’s only one place where you can buy beer on campus (Hey! after a major mid-term I enjoy the occassional glass of port =D). I don’t like the fact that our athletic teams are Div. II and there’s no college football program.</p>
<p>Thank you CalPoly Engineer. May I ask about student life in general? I mean, all I heard about Cal Poly Pomona is that the campus is somewhat dead. I noticed that this year, all freshman(?) would be required to live on campus, is that right? what happen in campus, like daily? what do people do during the weekends?</p>
<p>I hope what you say about civil engineering is right! i am still undecided on where to go for college but cal poly pomona is one option.</p>
<p>We dug out the notes my son made last year from last year’s open house…
- every CE student gets an advisor who is a faculty CE member (FYI: CSULB has a retention department and I hear it got wacked from budget cuts)
- CE profs have tons of industry experience and its rare that the prof positions are not filled rapidly, when there is a turnover (FYI: Fullerton has had the same two listed for over a year) I think this shows people like to work there.
- there are over 12,000 CEs employed in the LA-LB-Santa Ana; big need = big internship potential. Plus, you’d be able to drive there from school - can’t do that from CPSLO, where they employ 350. (FYI: Frisco-Oakland-Fremont employs 7,250 and SJ-Sunnyv-SC employs 1,240). This is important to know in this lousy economy.
- you will eventually pick a general, geospatial or environmental option (huge need for hydro right now). If you do geo you’ll be well qualified to take the surveyor’s exam; it’s a special license and if you pass it early enough you can do that for a summer job.
- great labs with lots of new equipment, in a brand new eng building
- They didn’t say what their statistics are for CE students passing the FE, but they did say they offer prep courses, so I imagine its good.
- something was said about traffic, but can’t remember if that’s a specialty or not</p>
<p>I also wrote down that even if you scored a 5 on AP calc you should start off in their Calc - AP Calc students get lost due to the pace of calc II in their quarter system</p>
<p>Did you know it was an ag school? Not sure if you visited slo or davis…that doesn’t work for all types of people. This appealed to my son, but some really like campuses like UCI with its more “corporate feel.”</p>
<p>well i know that cal poly pomona is “hands-on”. i don’t know if its good for me or not. i like to actually work on something, in the lab but i can’t stand lectures. i usually learn by reading and visualization (like pictures and graphs in the book) so I don’t know if i should go to a UC or CSU.</p>
<p>Do they have an option for “transportation”? that’s what i wanted to. i really don’t like hydraulic… i took a class and it really bore me.</p>
<p>thanks otc2010 for the infos!</p>
<p>@ CalPolyEngineer , how fast is the quarter sys. i fancy it being like summer classes for us semester folks.</p>
<p>@fennec</p>
<p>My previous college (a CCC) went by semesters. Bottom line is that as a student of engineering you do not have the luxury to procrastinate… AT ALL. 10 weeks fly bye and you need to be on top of every assignment as soon as it’s given to you. In reality, it’s essentially the same. For example, at Berkeley my brother took two semesters of Organic Chemistry whereas I completed three quarters. They break it out so that you get the same.</p>
<p>anyone could give me information on the residence halls? which one is better? thankss</p>
<p>Suites Phase II are opening fall of 2010.<br>
Slideshow: [Suites</a> Gallery](<a href=“http://dsa.csupomona.edu/uhs/suites_gallery/index.html]Suites”>http://dsa.csupomona.edu/uhs/suites_gallery/index.html)
A top choiced, no doubt.</p>
<p>I think the next big question is what next, i.e. off-campus housing after the first year. </p>
<p>Also, <a href=“http://www.gradecalpoly.com%5B/url%5D”>www.gradecalpoly.com</a> has reviews on the teachers</p>
<p>@otc2010, is your son going to live in the suites? i thought freshman could only live in the old red bricks, am i right? i rather live in those suites but …</p>
<p>@naixn92 - We hadn’t heard about that requirement. He’s still waiting to hear from UCD and UCI - CSULB is the leader so far. He read up on the college ******* web site and was not to excited about what was said about Pomona. He’ll have to see how he feels after the tour.</p>
<p>oh i see. well i applied to those 3 schools as well and i rather go to UCD. CSULB is so crowded, that its hard to get the classes you need. UCI’s engineering isn’t that well ranked… but its still a UC. UCD is well ranked and Civil Engineering is a very popular major there. I rather go to Cal Poly P, even if i get in UCI or CSULB. For UCD… i don’t know.</p>
<p>Yes, it is hard to get classes. We are planning for summer term options to help with this situation. (Note: I just learned that CPSLO changed their summer term; it’s now specifically for this purpose, but it will not be state funded. Sort of reduces the sting of the rejection.) I’ve been looking at the 6 yr graduation rates which CSUs are required to formally publish. For full-time, regularly admitted (those that were exempt in math and english) freshman csulb actually beats CPP at 45% vs. 54%. In my current thinking, which may not be totally informed, it seems like you need to take the full load of 16, not the average load of 13 and NOT repeat/drop classes to make it out of there in a reasonable amount of time. Bottomline: It’s not just about not getting classes.</p>
<p>oh really? argh. how about san jose state? is it easier there?
wait, what do you mean by cal poly slo and their summer program? can we actually attend even if you’re not accepted? i’m a little confused. sorry.</p>
<p>My son did not apply to SJSU, so I don’t know what their 6-yr grad it, but you can find it on their web site. They have to report 1 yr retention and 5 yr graduation rates. Yes, anyone can take summer classes at CPSLO; you can stay in their campus housing, too. You would need to check to make sure the class transfers to your university. Many kids here, come home for the summer and take a class or two at the local CC. I’m pretty sure with most CA universities it has to be GE classes and not classes in your major. You can check that all out with the university you choose.</p>
<p>oh wow, that’s interesting! thanks! i would love to do that actually! hope i can though. since you said it wasn’t state funded, do you believe it is expensive?</p>
<p>@oct2010
If your son is not so excited about what he read about Cal Poly Pomona on the internet or because of what other people say is because that content typically portrays Cal Poly Pomona as poor, ghetto institution which is clearly merely a branch of the “so-called” REAL Cal Poly which is allegedly in San Luis Obispo. </p>
<p>FACT#1, we are Cal Poly
[California</a> State Polytechnic University, Pomona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“California State Polytechnic University, Pomona - Wikipedia”>California State Polytechnic University, Pomona - Wikipedia) </p>
<p>FACT #2 We get more federal AND state funding than SLO does.
<a href=“http://www.csupomona.edu/~irap/dataset/docs/cds2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.csupomona.edu/~irap/dataset/docs/cds2009.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://www.calpoly.edu/~inststdy/cds/cds0809Original.pdf[/url]”>http://www.calpoly.edu/~inststdy/cds/cds0809Original.pdf</a></p>
<p>FACT#3 Cal Poly Pomona has a comparable faculty ratio as SLO’s. (20:1) vs (19:1).
[FAQ</a> - freshmen](<a href=“http://dsa.csupomona.edu/admissions/faq_freshmen.asp]FAQ”>http://dsa.csupomona.edu/admissions/faq_freshmen.asp)
[Cal</a> Poly News - Quick Facts about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo](<a href=“Press Releases | University Communications and Marketing”>Press Releases | University Communications and Marketing)</p>
<p>FACT#4 We are not the Hitler-Jugend… Cal Poly Pomona encourages and PRIDES itself for the fact that it is ethnically diverse. </p>
<p>FACT#5 We attract almost four and a half times as many high-caliber and high-achieving international students as SLOs. (5.3% to 1.2%… who’d want to go to Himmler’s summer camp anyway?)</p>
<p>FACT#6 Cal Poly Pomona is NOT in the ghetto. It sits on a hilly area and it neighbors very high income cities and neighborhoods such as Walnut, Diamond Bar and Phillips Ranch (all with median family incomes of over $100,000). But let’s actually analyze the median family income of the city of Pomona. According to
[Pomona</a>, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Pomona, California - Wikipedia”>Pomona, California - Wikipedia)
It has a mere $40,021… so SLO’s income should be pretty high… right???
[San</a> Luis Obispo, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“San Luis Obispo, California - Wikipedia”>San Luis Obispo, California - Wikipedia)
Ha! It’s $31,926… pretty modest for so-called elitists don’t you think? It probably doesn’t help that one of the driving forces of SLO’s economy in previous years was the housing bubble. YIKES!</p>
<p>FACT#7 Want to do summer undergraduate research at JPL, Caltech or Harvey Mudd? the Cal Poly Foundation could fund it. Want to intern at one of the thousands of factories or Fortune 500 corporations that are based throughout the Greater Los Angeles area? I go to symposiums at USC or Occidental College and can drive back to my lab in the evening.
Where’s the closest doctoral research institution at Cal Poly SLO… UC Santa Barbara at a mere 100 mile one-way drive!</p>
<p>FACT#8 I’m a 30 minute drive from the beach and go snowboarding and hiking to Big Bear lake… and still have time to drive back and study.</p>
<p>I’ll post more facts later on.</p>
<p>@CalPolyEngineer - No need to post more later on my account. Saturday will be our fourth visit to CPP and I can find my own way to wikis, common data sets, etc. And, frankly I don’t find your views unbiased. In fact, it seems like you’re a little more than miffed when it comes to CPSLO - wake up, the people you’re talking here got rejected from there and their considering CPP - stop turning them off.</p>
<p>@naixn92 - The cost of attending CPSLO summer term is currently quoted at $259 PER UNIT. They say for every dollar a CA university gets the state funds another two. So, figure summer term at the college you enroll in would be more like $80 (guessing on that!). So, what I was trying to say in my earlier response was that I’m relieved that my son got rejected from CPSLO on a cost-wise basis. Even if it’s tough to get classes at CPP, SJSU, CSULB, etc. and you have to go to summer term, each class would cost you about $1500 less.</p>
<p>@otc2010, i see. thanks for clarifying it! well, i hope your son will get into the UCs! good luck!</p>