<p>Have a good evening, pacheight. Your post speaks volumes, but not about Cal Poly.</p>
<p>deborah, again look at the bios of the managing principals from Gensler to Smith Group to KMD to AC Martin, etc, etc…those bios speak volumes!</p>
<p>they represent some of the best, which is what you’re arguing…that cal poly is “best”</p>
<p>and btw, when it comes to design cal poly does not rate in the rankings</p>
<p>This thread is not about Cal Poly. But for the OP’s orignial question, I think Cal Poly, and other comparable schools, should definitely NOT be ruled out simply because it is categorized, acccording to USNWR, with an arbitrary label of “regional university”.</p>
<p>I am no expert on Cal Poly. But from what I know is that CP is undergraduate focused like many LACs (e.g. Claremont colleges, Little Ivies), I think your son/daugther will benefit from the small class size and access to professors. My sis also told me that Cal Poly SLO also has a very impressive post graduation job placement stats and some of the highest graduate salaries of all US universities. This is in addition to its top ranked engineering, arch., agriculture, biz school. Not bad for a little regional public university. </p>
<p>Hence, I would say that if you want an undergraduate focused education, regional universities like Cal Poly can be an excellent choice. </p>
<p>Both national and regional universities can be professional school centric (think Harvard business school, Harvard Law etc), and national universities does not always gurantee research opportunities. </p>
<p>@pacheight</p>
<p>“usc, mit, and princeton. And Cal. and a few more…cal poly is 2nd by a distance to those but being 2nd best is good enough for a lot of people”</p>
<p>You are comparing an undergrauate focused arch programs to graduate level ones. Lousy comparison. The ranking goes something like Cal Poly #4 in the US for undergraduate architecture this year, Cornell #1, USC ranked #10, and Cal is no where to be found. So Cal Poly is most definitely not the second best at all in the undergrad level. </p>
<p>At the graduate level, that’s when PRINCETON (GO TIGERS!), MIT, and 2 little schools in Cambridge and New Haven, etc. dominates.</p>
<p>From the original post:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think we can agree that Cal Poly should not be ruled out because it’s a “regional university”. But look at the major - the student is not looking for an architecture school, she’s looking for bioengineering. In California the clear answer is UCSD, a world-class program. It’s not Cal Poly. I say this as the mother of a very happy Cal Poly student, and I think the world of the engineering school. Since UCSD will give little to no merit aid to out of state students, it’s probably not a viable option (same is true of Cal Poly, in fact). Harvey Mudd would be the next obvious choice, but it also gives little merit aid (half tuition scholarships are the best I’ve heard of). Santa Clara merit aid is also very difficult to get.</p>
<p>If the OP’s daughter wants to study bioengineering in California, she’s going to have to come up with a lot of $$s. If that’s not possible, she’ll need to start looking at programs in different states.</p>
<p>OP, a counterargument to use on your husband for now: the first big selection criteria are going to be price, availability of major, and warm weather. And price. And did I mention price? :)</p>
<p>Really, this is too early a point IMHO to be worried about regional vs national schools. </p>
<p>One other counterargument is that you should be considering where you, the parents, would like to visit. Whenever D1 would look at a school, I’d be thinking “what’s in it for ME?” Good restaurants? Great culture? Southwest Airlines points? OK, this is a tad tongue in cheek, but it’s a nice way to get another perspective on places. San Luis Obispo is in a lovely part of California. Hearst Castle, Big Sur, and the Madonna Inn 
are nearby.</p>
<p>I suppose that OP’s H may be hung up on national vs. regional university because we don’t know where OP’s D will end up looking for work. I know that Cal Poly SLO’s engineering program is highly regarded in CA–not sure about its rep nationwide among engineers (or more importantly, hiring departments). We’ll have to hear from engineers about that.</p>
<p>Tulane in New Orleans has a biomedical program, is in a warm weather spot, and is VERY generous with merit aid, especially to those who apply early (in October)</p>
<p>If you want to be hung up by a single datum, I would choose graduation rate. Cal Poly SLO’s graduation rate is 72%, which is a little better than Colorado School of Mines and UColo-Boulder (67%).</p>
<p>
Anybody? Good grief. Talk about over generalization. All college students are provincial and don’t “wonder” far from campus. Completely untrue. Not only did I “wonder” far from campus, I also wandered far from campus.
And I’m in California, and I think UCSD’s layout is fine. So do many of my colleagues. So does ucsd-ucla dad apparently. So you’re just plain wrong. Unless you have your own defintion of “anybody.”</p>
<p>So you will let the USNWR classification dictate where your kid goes to school? Doesn’t make sense to me. So much of the rankings are arbitrary…how much is each factor weighted, etc., that they are only useful in the most general sense. On the other hand, there is just no arguing with those hung up on the brand name of a school…there are thousands of posts on this board debating the issue. </p>
<p>Your child has wonderful stats. CA is a little dicey these days due to budget woes and I don’t believe (only my opinion) that the value is there to justify OOS tuition.</p>
<p>Your H has a point when going OOS for college regarding the college’s reputation nationwide as she may not choose to stay where she was educated as that is her only tie to the area. I can understand wanting to leave the home environs and being in CO CA would easily come up on the radar. I think you need to find out more about your D’s reasons for her choice. This is good timing- she can do a lot of research on various schools before the fall applications. Either she will be more convinced her choice is right for her or she will discover better ones, and she will have a chance to convince her father her choices are good.</p>
<p>
I’ve asked my kid, who is ‘somebody’, and she was happy with UCSD as I stated earlier. Your expressions are just an opinion of an individual, you and some others, but not ‘everybody’.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’ve even spent much time on the UCSD campus or UCLA or Cal or USC for that matter but I think it’s unlikely you’ve spent a lot of time on all of them unless you have an unusual job that takes you to these campuses frequently.</p>
<p>And not everyone is looking for a college that has the big time football/bball operation which perhaps influences your opinion on some of the colleges …“pacheight”…(if that’s how you came up with your moniker - PAC-8 ??).</p>
<p>it’s pac-height, as in neighborhood.</p>
<p>I’m glad your child likes the campus! Most parents and kids say they like their school. Who says, oh I moved here or sent my kid there and we don’t like the school, it’s almost always the opposite sentiment…which is understandable, we all want good environments for our kids.</p>
<p>From an architectural and usability stand point UCSD has more problems than most universities in the country. Too much concrete, too spread out, and too much like a corporate campus, not a school. And not connected (walking distance) to any city or college type town. And the physical impact on the social qualities for the student body is well known among students, facilities, and I guess “some” parents. I listened recently to a student tour guide explaining the negative aspects of the school (which wasn’t very smart of him, yet very telling) to an admitted student/parent group and it had mainly to do with the problem of everything being so spread out, and in a round about way he indicated this affected the social life, or lack of, on campus. Community and social activities are facilitated in a big way by good planning and architecture.</p>
<p>college kids do stay close to campus, rarely venturing (except for the occasional trip) not much more than 4 blocks. this is an accepted and well studied fact in university planning and design.</p>
<p>ucla-dad: you can blindfold me and drop me anywhere on campus at night, and I’ll know exactly where I am at ucsd, usc, and cal…and generally at ucla.</p>
<p>Sniner - You & your d may have already made your decision assuming she’s a graduating senior. I found the entire college selection process so interesting. My d had such strong impressions of all the schools we decided to visit. She would walk out of one and say “NO WAY”, and then be charmed by a “safety” that she had previously looked down upon. She had the same strong stats as your d’s and had was accepted to nearly every school she applied to - (rej by one and wait listed by another.) She applied to ~ 10. Cal Poly/Eng was one she was accepted to - and she liked the campus/vibe, etc. very much. She was a bit skeptical of it before the tour, but respectful of it afterward.</p>
<p>That said, I guess I’d advise that you really discuss with your daughter which schools she felt most comfortable with and liked. Where did she “see herself.” Does she have a “first choice” and “second choice.” My d had a strong favorite, and after all the dust had settled and financials were received she wound up at USC. It is SO IMPORTANT that your child really like the school…whether it be a Regional or National. I had a few favorites my d summarily rejected…some higher “ranked.” We all could debate the benefits of one over another, but you want her to love her experience and make the choice…as much as financials, etc will allow.</p>
<p>pacheight:</p>
<p>Wrong guess on my part on the moniker. </p>
<p>I’ve walked from one end of UCSD to the other lots of times and it never seemed like a problem for me but then, I do a run/walk of 5 miles most days anyway so walking distances don’t bother me. I haven’t done the measurements but I’m not convinced UCSD is that much more spread out than, for example, UCLA. I know a lot of UCLA students complain about walking from ‘the hill’, where the dorms are, to campus since it’s segregated. The walk from the dorms at UCAL to the main library is a pretty good jaunt - longer than it typically would be at UCSD and the walk from the UCLA dorms to the engineering area is pretty far. At UCSD the res halls are integrated within the campus. Certainly UCSD isn’t a tiny campus and some of the distances can be pretty far but then neither is UCLA or lots of other large universities.</p>
<p>There may not be a ‘college town’ per se within walking distance to the campus but there are some major shopping areas within walking distance that include restaurants/bars, movie theaters, groceries, and many other kinds of shopping and a very nice beach is within walking distance as well. This is as much or more than most students on most campuses desire or would ever use in the areas adjacent to their campuses - especially the beach and beach cliffs. It’s not unusual to see someone rushing back to campus with their surfboard to get to class. There aren’t many campuses where one can do that. I’m not sure what more a typical college student would need/want. </p>
<p>I don’t know what architecture you think exists at, for example UCLA, or many other campuses that contributes so much more to the social life of the students that UCSD doesn’t have. I agree that UCLA is a ‘prettier’ campus than UCSD as are a number of other campuses but I don’t think the color of the bricks adds a whole lot IMO other than making for a pretty picture. I agree that UCSD is somewhat ‘ecclectic’ in the buildings in that there’s not a central theme to the architectural design but I don’t think it has any practical negative impact.</p>
<p>A couple of things at UCSD some students may find to negative but obviously not all of the people who’ve chosen to go there - no major football/bball and no adjacent frat houses for the big parties.</p>
<p>Comparing UCSD with Berkeley for example, I’d pick UCSD any day but then, I’d rather go to the beach any day over going into SF or the adjacent city (much of which isn’t so nice) but that’s just me. </p>
<p>Again - we have different opinions but that’s all they are - not facts except some of the ones I’ve stated here.</p>
<p>OP - Sorry for this little side discussion.</p>
<p>Thanks Doame. She is actually finishing her junior year, so we are just beginning this process. We have visited the University of Washington and are scheduled to visit Tulane. Thanks as far as we have gotten. I am beginning to think that a CA school might not work out for her.</p>
<p>I have a hs jr son too, and we are back to compiling a list a list of college prospects for him. He’s visited 2 campuses as well, and already has formed a neg opinion about one.</p>
<p>Just an FYI as you consider your d’s various options…Do not rule out an expensive possibly private “National U” purely by assuming you can’t afford it. We, too, do not qualify for any “financial need” help. (Practically the first letter we received was from FAFSA telling us we’d get nothing.) </p>
<p>Obviously, every school is different, but most of the privates offered my d some type of merit scholarship. Some very small, i.e. 6-8K - others more generous - in the $20K range. USC’s package made it doable for us. My dh and I actually did a “happy dance” around the living room after receiving notification of a few of the merit scholarships. For us, the “Acceptance Package” came first. Then the financials follwed later. We were sweating out the choice up until she received notice that she’d gotten a merit at USC. (She did not want to go across the country and opted to look at schools closer to home. I have to tell you, I am glad she did.) </p>
<p>One or two of the schools tied some scholarship opportunites to early application/action dates. Check the requirements out for schools you may be interested in. I called Admissions at a few of the Us she liked and asked many questions about scholarship opportunities…</p>
<p>OP - Even in the dark ages when my younger bro attended CalPoly SLO, getting the classes he needed was a problem. I think they had a lottery system or somehow rotated which students got first pick. So even then, students had a devil of a time graduating within four years. I shudder at the situation now, what with budget costs and all. </p>
<p>Students need to be of UC caliber to be admitted to SLO, and I think it is a great $$ value for Californians even if/when fees rise and even if it takes 4+ years to graduate. Out-of-staters should seriously crunch the numbers based on a worst case scenario of fees doubling + five years to graduate. </p>
<p>Your kid should be eligible for merit aid somewhere that will bring down the COA. California is a seriously big state, and the vibe/culture is very different in different parts of the state. Four years UG isn’t the rest of her life; graduate school may take longer. Save Cali for grad school. That is what I am telling my kid.</p>
<p>“My husband wants to rule out California Polytechnic State University-- San Luis Obispo, because it is ranked as a regional university” </p>
<p>is he really just using ONE SOURCE to rank colleges?</p>
<p>perhaps getting hubby to look at other rankings than USN&WR</p>
<p>because . . .
- nobody should trust a second rate newsmagazine as the defintitive voice in colleges
- depends who is doing the ranking </p>
<p>Wall Street Journal: Cal Poly is among the top universities in the nation in business and engineering
Kiplinger’s: #50 in the country for public colleges
Aviation Week & Space Technology: Cal Poly the best place in the nation to recruit for employees, topping Georgia Tech, Penn State, Virginia Tech and MIT
Business Week: Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business named top undergraduate business college, one of only two public universities in California to make the list
Forbes Magazine: Cal Poly at No. 27 on the list of the country’s 100 best public universities</p>
<p>hope hubby is not so much of a poser that can’t do any additional research . . . or have an open mind</p>
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<p>True. And another thing that UCSD has over other colleges that some students, if not their parents, really like is Tijuana within easy driving distance - and where the legal drinking age is 18. I’ve known of some UCSD freshman who all piled into one kid’s car and headed to Tjuana as soon as the last parent drove out of sight on drop-off day. They weren’t going for the enchiladas…</p>