<p>Open House just happens to fall on Prom weekend for me. I mean, I could go if I really wanted to, but it would be real tiring, and plus, I don’t think I could enjoy the campus that well knowing I am real limited on time. I live in San Diego by the way, so it would be around a 5 hour drive. Plus, I’d prefer not to miss school nor make my parents take off work.</p>
<p>I know I’ll be missing a really cool experience, but I guess that can be a surprise for when I actually attend. Anyway, I was planning to head up there next week with my parents. I was wondering if it would be ideal to go on the guided tour of the campus, or should we just roam on our own? How great are the tours?</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat. I have a SkillsUSA competition that weekend and I forgot to register for Polycultural Weekend. Nevertheless, I plan on visiting the school the preceding week as it is during my spring break. Maybe we could go together and stuff :D</p>
<p>Major: Computer Engineering.</p>
<p>Im on the same boat as well lol. My major is Electrical Engineering, perhaps we form a group and go next weekend?</p>
<p>We took the tour of Orfalea (School of Business), the Campus Tour, sat through the admissions talk, then went on the dorm tour. We did it all in one day which, after a 3+ hour drive down (and the prospect of a 3+ hour drive home), I don’t really recommend. </p>
<p>We were told the School of Business doesn’t hold classes on Fridays, so we didn’t really see too much in terms of students and classes in session, but we got to see the labs and classrooms. The Campus Tour was good because we had never visited before so we didn’t know the layout. The admissions talk was not really worthwhile because she was already admitted (but we had an hour to kill before the dorm tour, and we were tired of walking). The dorm tour was great. The kids were all really nice about letting us look into their rooms and answer some quick questions. I thought that was the best part of the day. </p>
<p>If we were to do it again, I’d drive down the night before and spend the night. But the campus tour is pretty good. It also depends on who you get and what you want to get out of it. Our guide was … okay. A self-guided tour (or having a friend show us around) would have worked just as well–and perhaps better, since we wouldn’t have had to hear SIX TIMES how the Cal Poly mantra is “learn by doing.” Seriously, twice is good (in case I wasn’t paying attention the first time), but it got to be a bit much.</p>
<p>thanks for the input maxillarymola, I doubt that Open House will have a good preview of classrooms and labs since its on a weekend.</p>
<p>Actually the classroom and lab tours at the Open House are excellent. Everyone stays on campus specifically for the event and all the teachers are in the labs to explain what they do and the projects they are up to. They often do demos as well. It would be great to go to the Open House, but seeing that you cannot make it, it is not the end of the World. The best thing that you can do is make sure that you attend a couple more events that will be of great assistance to you and your transition to college.</p>
<p>(1) SOAR (Student, Orientation, Advising and Registration) in summer and (2) WOW Week (Week of Welcome) the week prior to the first day of classes.</p>
<p>SOAR ( <a href=“http://studentlife.calpoly.edu/orientation/soar/index.php[/url]”>http://studentlife.calpoly.edu/orientation/soar/index.php</a> ) is fairly short and informative. They separate parents and students for the event. It was worth our time as my son really needed to feel comfortable with the transition. I suggest that you go to this event if you miss the Open House and make sure that your classes are straight. As a parent I learned a lot about how the financial aid works and had we not gone, I would have missed out on how to receive certain refunds that were very important to us.</p>
<p>WOW Week – absolutely essential ( [WOW</a> - Student Life & Leadership - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://studentlife.calpoly.edu/orientation/wow/home/index.asp]WOW”>http://studentlife.calpoly.edu/orientation/wow/home/index.asp) ). Do not miss this event for any reason. This will be your event, parents are excluded. You will get to know the campus and surrounding area. You will be put into teams and meet folks that may be friends for life. At least it will get you started in school knowing a bunch of folks. By the time classes start you will already know the lay of the land. It will be a lot of fun. My kid loved it and it really made his whole experience better.</p>
<p>These links are probably from last year as the planning for these events has not begun yet. Look for the emails and letters that you will get about them. WOW Week is far more important the SOAR. But I found SOAR extremely valuable.</p>
<p>Again, of all the events (that’s only twice maxillarymola), WOW Week is the most important event of all of them. We went to all three, but if you can’t go to some, you can’t go and you can make it up with other events.</p>
<p>@OsakaDad … HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!! =D</p>
<p>Well I just came back from visiting the campus. The tour we got was very nice, along with the housing tour.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to go to SOAR and WOW Week. When exactly is WOW Week though? Is it the week of move-in?</p>
<p>My daughter will totally agree about WOW. She made lots of great friends in her group, all from her tower. It’s well worth it! I’m also glad we were at SOAR, as well. Lots of info. And, of course, I loved Open House.</p>