Cal Poly SLO is my top school choice at the moment. It’s been my dream school for a while but my parents do not seem to think very highly of it(idk why). My major is computer science/software engineering. My parents seem to think that SJSU (5 min from my house) is a better school or just as good as Cal poly. I do not want to go to SJSU at all and if I got into SLO I’d want to go there in a heartbeat. I tried explaining that SLO is ranked higher than a lot of the UC’s, but they don’t seem to listen. They think lowly of it bc it’s a state school and they don’t like the word ‘polytechnic.’ What can I say to convince them otherwise? They care a lot about prestige and ranking.
SJSU is also a state school so this does not make sense…
Show them the average Stats for the in-coming Freshman Engineering students in comparison to some of the UC’s and they will see that it is a very competitive school.
https://admissions.calpoly.edu/prospective/profile.html
Compare this to the UC Freshman profiles:: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/index.html
Numbers do not lie.
Also show them SLO’s rankings if ranking/prestige are important to them.
@Gumbymom Yeah they know it’s a state school but I wouldn’t be paying for room and board at SJSU so it would be way cheaper. The way they see it, SJSU and CPSLO are around the same level so why pay 3x as much money for SLO.
Show them these rankings if you haven’t yet:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-west
Is part of it that they want you to live at home, which is cheaper? Can you get an adult relative or you guidance counselor to talk to them?
So is money an issue for you attending period or are they are not willing to pay for school that they do not consider prestigious or ranked highly??
Although they will be paying, they will not be the one attending the college. You need to some how come to a compromise.
SJSU is part of the CSU system, just like CalPoly is, perhaps you can clarify that to them. The top CSU school is CalPoly in terms of rankings for CS/SE, acceptance rate, prestige with employers, etc. But to me, the a very relevant piece of evidence is that SLO has a graduation rate exceeding 75% for the last data published, while SJSU 51%.
http://asd.calstate.edu/csrde/ftf.htm
You might be able to find even more convincing evidence on the CSU site:
https://www2.calstate.edu/Pages/Resource-Center.aspx
However, talk to them about other motivations they might have. It might be a lot less expensive to them for you to commute to school than to pay the expensive accomodation in SLO. See if you work out a deal with them about you paying for that with a loan. If you’re getting in and get lucky enough to get a single good internship you might be able to cover all that cost. Regardless, SJSU is not that bad of a deal.
Good luck 
@intparent @Gumbymom @iulian Money isn’t an issue, they’re willing to pay 30k or whatever the price is for UC’s (i’m in state). I just don’t wanna stay so close to home and I don’t really like SJSU’s campus and I don’t think I’d fit in too well. Thank you so much for all your advice, I really appreciate it and will talk to them soon. If you have any more advice, I’d also love to hear it. 
I see this as a very common thing with certain demographics of California parents, especially first generation immigrants (I myself am one, although in WA state ). There is a certain prestige that is attached to the name of the school and some parents tend to obsess and even agonize about that. I suffered from the same symptom myself
Tell them the most important thing a school can provide you is the probability of a good job at graduation. CalPoly is much better than SJSU or many other schools for that matter. My daughter is currently a senior in CPE at CalPoly and had two well paid internships and she currently has a job lined up with Apple for next year already. You can’t buy that kind of peace of mind at too many schools. All that for an overall cost out of state cheaper (after including the internship income) than the in state UW where she was also admitted.
I have a good friend who’s daughter went to Carnegie Mellon. He paid 3X what I paid for the schooling and while she found a good job after graduation, it took her 4.5 years to graduate (since she switched majors) and it was a lot more difficult and stressful for her to find that job.
Look them both up on Payscale. Cal Poly SLO is higher ranked both in ROI and salary. I don’t know your parents, so don’t know how well it would be received. But I would print out the various pages from the internet that show the rankings for US news, the Payscale results, the graduation rates, and other statistics. Put together a little packet for them highlighting the differences. Tell them calmly that you’ve done your research, and by all these objective measures, Cal Poly SLO is a higher ranked school and has better results for its graduates.
Then… agree to apply to both schools, but ask them to go on campus visits (accepted student days if possible and if the schools have them) with you to both if you are accepted. Once you are there, assuming your strong preference holds for Cal Poly SLO and they are still balking, tell them (if you are willing) that you are willing to take out your federal loans ($5500 freshman year, slightly more each year after) to attend SLO (but only way that if you really want to do that).
What UCs do they consider acceptable for you to attend over SJSU?
If SJSU is their first choice (over CPSLO and UCs), then it may be that the real reason is either money or control.
SJSU is not exactly bad for CS or SE, since it is extremely convenient for employers to recruit at.
Your other thread at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2021980-chance-me-for-ucs-some-privates.html includes some out-of-state public schools that are very unlikely to be within the price limit (Purdue, UIUC, Texas, Washington). Some of the private schools on your list do not have the best financial aid reputation either.
@ucbalumnus They want me to go to UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, or UCD.
Based on your other thread at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2021980-chance-me-for-ucs-some-privates.html , that list of UCs contains at least three reaches, and any that are not reaches should be considered high matches (since CS is more competitive than the schools in general). Any interest in UCSC, UCR, and UCM?
UIUC, Texas, and Washington are also reaches for CS, and likely unaffordable as well.
@brittsuder CalPoly SLO students are heavily recruited by many major companies especially engineering major. not only its the best in CSU system, but many UC admitted students would choose CalPoly over UC (UCSC, UCR, UCM) because of its reputation and high % of employment rate. The keyword “polytechnic” is actually the reason why this school is so good in focusing on hands-on technical learning environment and teaching philosophy regardless major.
I personally hope my DD’18 can be admitted there, but if not SJSU is also my top choice, because the location next to Silicon Valley. We visited CalPoly SLO but not SJSU. However, my DD’18 really wants to attended an UC (no matter which one) due to peer pressure. She believes been admitted to an UC means you were above average students in high school (top 9%). Unfortunately many students and parents are not paying attention to life after college, unlike @iulianc who focused on the benefit of internship and employment opportunities after graduation.
From a pure financial aspect, for CS or SE it’s hard to argue that any school is worth 300% more than SJSU. If you consider the opportunity cost, it’s very unlikely you’d make enough more over your career to offset the difference in price. That includes schools like MIT and Stanford, not just Cal Poly. Now, that said, it doesn’t really seem to be about cost for them. It’s sounds like it’s about the bumper sticker. They don’t think Cal Poly will resonate at cocktail parties. There’s not much you can say to change their minds if that’s where they’re at.
You should let them know this…Cal Poly is probably the longest shot on your list for admission. There’s a reason for that. People want to go there for CS making it an EXTREMELY hard admit. It’s hard to exactly match things up because all the other schools admit holistically, but CS at CP is probably harder to get into than any school in CA except Caltech and Stanford. If they knew that, I’d guess they’d be damn proud if you got in.
Here’s what I’d do. If money is no object, I’d ask them to let you have some skin in the game for your decision by sharing in the savings. If you choose SJSU, ask them if they’d split the savings with you. Get a campus job so you can invest it in a Roth IRA. Put 100% of your earnings into a Roth (it will compound and withdraw tax free) and what ever is left over into a regular investment account. Invest in a target retirement fund and never look at it again until you retire. Do the math. It will compound into a LOT of money. Food for thought!
Good luck!
UCB (EECS) and UCSD (CSE) are also extremely hard to get into, so it is not assured that CPSLO (CS) is harder to get into than these.
However, it is true that, for a large number of selective universities, getting admission in the CS major is significantly more difficult than getting admission to the university generally.
I think it is greatly irresponsible to advise any young person to begin taking out loans (starting at 5500/yr for the first year and more in each subsequent year) for a possible grand total of debt of over $25k upon graduation (that’s IF you graduate in 4 years; not so likely at the impacted state schools) to attend a state school. That is complete silliness! And if you are to just compare the room and board savings alone by attending SJSU, that is actually closer to at least $12,000 more PER year additional cost to attend one state school over another. Add interest to even the $25k loan (assuming that is all you took as opposed to $12,00/year x 4= $48k) and you are easily paying over $30k, possibly $50k, more to go to San Luis Obispo. Don’t do it. Have you really even visited the school? It is in the middle of nowhere so you’ve go to know you like that environment. The room you will pay for your freshman year will be a dump. The food is terrible. It’s not all it is cracked up to be although you will never hear that on this site (sorry but true!). Eeymgh has one of the best comments/advice posts I’ve seen in this regard. Be smart about this decision. SJSU has a great reputation. It’s in the Silicon Valley and you will still get a job. I caution you to not get caught up in a “dream school” mentality. There are many great schools and many great ones for you! Best of Luck to you! Feel free to PM me for any additional thoughts/comments!
Based on your parents’ preferences, would it be correct to assume that they prefer either what they consider “prestigious” (six of the UCs) or low cost (commute to SJSU)?
@Seashel, the food is bad at Cal Poly. Many of the dorms are over crowded. Some are indeed dumpy. Off campus housing is ridiculously expensive. Like all UC and CSU schools, they suffer from administrative bloat. All that said, my son is a senior in the college of engineering at Cal Poly who chose to attend from out of state over both cheaper and more prestigious schools. If he had to do it all over again, I’m certain he’d make the same decision and choose Cal Poly.
I’m not advising the OP not go to Cal Poly. I’m saying that simply on a financial only basis, no school, not MIT, not Cambridge, not Stanford, certainly none of the UCs can justify a 300% cost premium over SJSU for CS. Choosing a school other than SJSU, no matter what school it is, won’t likely “pencil.”
College decisions for many though aren’t purely financial. The decision is multi-factored and nuanced, especially for a student who is lucky enough to come from a family that saved for their college without incurring debt. Just because a school is more money doesn’t make it de facto a poorer decision even if career earnings will be the same.
@Seashel, it is a different thing to advise a CS major to take out loans vs a less lucrative major. A CS major can generally find a decent job right after graduation and does not need to go to grad school to do well in their career. If the OP were a sociology major, my advice would be different.
As a parent, I put my son in a similar position of choosing between Cal Poly and our local colleges, UC Davis and Sac State. He choose Cal Poly in large part because he wanted to have the “Away at college” experience. And the fact that San Luis Obispo is beautiful.
When our son was trying to decide between leaving for Cal Poly or attending Sac State while living at home (saving money) my wife and I had an epiphany. We realized after a campus tour of Sac State that even if he chose that school we would still let him live on campus. At least for a year or two. We realized that that the advantages of having a twenty minute walking commute versus a twenty minute drive were worth the cost. The advantage of being immersed in a campus’ life were worth the cost. We had prepared and budgeted for the costs of a CSU education away from home. It didn’t make sense to limit his experiences just because one school was closer to home than the other.
If your parents are open to that discussion, ask them if living on the SJSU campus is a possibility for a year or two. If they say yes, then comparing SJSU and Cal Poly becomes more of an even argument (apples to apples, per se). If they say no, then SJSU has too much of a monetary advantage to overcome.
One last note. It’s possible that your parents don’t want you to leave. I know that my wife and I miss our son and SOMETIMES wish that he were home instead. That’s normal and natural. One of the things that makes it easier for us is knowing that he can easily hop on a train (no cars for freshmen at CP) and be home in a reasonable amount of time. You have that same option. There is a daily train from San Jose to San Luis Obispo. It leaves SJ at around 10 am and gets into downtown SLO around 3 pm. Cost $30 or $40 one way. The return trip from SLO to SJ leaves at 3 pm and gets in around 8 pm. I’ve made this train trip myself from Sacramento to SLO. The seats are huge and lay almost flat for sleeping, there are dining and viewing cars, and each seat has an electrical outlet for a laptop or phone charging.