It’s midnight and I’m a current freshman desperately procrastinating in the UU. Wanted to make a post that I’m happy to answer (as best I can) any questions incoming freshmen may have.
Some background:
-I currently live in Cerro, but am involved in IHC (Inter-Housing Council) so know a lot about housing in general and the new freshman dorms for next year.
-I’m a bio major technically, but am currently in my contract to switch to microbiology by the end of this quarter.
-I was a stellar student in high school (as most poly kids were), but am definitely feeling the struggle this quarter. Feel free to ask me about how hard college really is- don’t underestimate it just because you were “the smart kid” in HS.
-I’m on track to graduate in 3 years. Yes, it’s possible. Ignore the flowchart and plan your own schedule (within reason).
-I have my car. Yes, that’s possible too. No, I did NOT get a parking exception on campus. It was fairly easy to find a spot from an upperclassman off campus. Feel free to ask me about that too because it is honestly a LIFE. SAVER.
-I’m from OOS
-I’m studying abroad this summer.
-Also feel free to ask me about the social scene/SLO in general.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone is free to ask or answer questions in this thread.
@kylieb317 Thanks for being so willing to take questions. Would you happen to know if the new freshman dorms have A/C? Did you buy or rent your textbooks? How many units are you currently taking, and will be taking each quarter, in order to graduate in 3 years? Did you have a lot of AP credits or community college course credits to jump start you at Cal Poly?
I’m not confident but I’m fairly sure the new dorms will not have AC. It’s honestly not needed- I remember coming to school thinking fans were such a big deal cause I saw so many posts on here about them. I’ve used my fan maybe 4 times since coming here, during the first few weeks/ that crazy October heat wave. Wouldn’t even worry about AC whatsoever.
I’ve either bought or forgone all my textbooks. If I buy them, I get the cheapest used ones I can from this site http://www.bigwords.com/search/get-prices/?cache=58fb985155221ecdc476193d91265ed2, which is a godsend. I’ve only bought 1 book new from the CP Bookstore cause couldn’t figure out how to get an online access code otherwise, and it was honestly such a waste. Also check course reserves at the lib for most classes; http://lib.calpoly.edu/search-and-find/course-reserves/?q=math%20161# . I bought my calc textbook but literally never use it, and opt for checking it out at the lib instead so that I don’t have to carry it around ever.
I’ve been in 16 units each quarter so far, and in the future have usually 16-17 planned, save for one quarter with like 14. That’s to graduate in 3 years- plus 8 units over this summer from studying abroad. I came in with about 65 AP/CC (dual enrollment) credits, most of which will go unused, but still helps. Basically I came in with credit actually used for 5 GEs, 1 major-class, and my required 8 (minimum) units “free electives” for my major.
There are two secrets to getting out on time, in addition to choosing multiple paths through the flowchart, that I think @kylieb317 will concur with. By all means, use Poly Ratings and pick times that you like the best, but never dodge a professor or a time slot if your only other alternative is not taking the class and not having a full schedule. My son is a senior, but he’ll have most of his masters coursework done by the end of next quarter and his curriculum (ME) has zero free electives. As a result, he couldn’t use all of his AP credit.
Thank you for posting this!!
I am also OOS and Cal Poly is my top choice, however a huge draw back is OOS costs. Did u receive much financial aid? Do you know how to qualify for in state tuition after the first year? Right now Cal Poly costs as much as many private school I’ve been accepted to, but those schools offer more scholarship money to upper classmen. I know Cal Poly is a Cal State but do you have any advice for paying OOS?
Thank you for posting this!!
I am also OOS and Cal Poly is my top choice, however a huge draw back is OOS costs. Did u receive much financial aid? Do you know how to qualify for in state tuition after the first year? Right now Cal Poly costs as much as many private school I’ve been accepted to, but those schools offer more scholarship money to upper classmen. I know Cal Poly is a Cal State but do you have any advice for paying OOS?
As an OOS, you will not receive financial aid from California. You may qualify for an academic scholarship at Cal Poly, but it will not be anywhere near the extra cost of OOS tuition. You most likely cannot establish residency in California while living here as a student.
Sorry for all the bad news. There is just about ZERO political interest amongst Californians in financially helping out of state students. If anything, California wants them here only so that they can pay the FULL price, especially the UC’s. Only a handful of CSU’s even participate in the WUE. Unfortunately, Cal Poly is not one of them.
@eyemgh has a lot more specific information about the subject. He may very well have some good news for you.
I have good news and bad news. The good news is that even at full price OOS, Cal Poly is roughly $100,000 less than typical privates. I looked up WPI as it’s pretty representative. It’s 4 year COA is $260,000. CP is $160,000. So, in order to break even, you need $100k in aid from the private school.
The bad news, as @AMCdad said, don’t count on any merit aid from CP. My son was awarded $2k per year. I believe that scholarship has since dropped to $1k. You will never be able to establish residency. CA has a thousand hoops, but intent rules all. Even if you move there, licence your car, etc. your original intent was to move there for school. Once you do this, you can never, for the purpose of tuition, be granted residency as an undergrad.
That said, my son didn’t choose the cheapest or the most expensive option. Among many good options, several that had him conflicted until two days before the deadline, he chose the what he thought was the best fit. He didn’t apply anywhere that we thought we couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for.
You need to decide what is best for you given the major you’ve chosen and your personal financial situation. My only caution, no school, not even Stanford or MIT, is worth crippling debt. Success is based on what you do with your opportunity FAR more than it is related to where you go. A high GPA student, involved meaningfully in research or a club beats out an uninvolved Stanford C student any day.
@tidepods as others have stated, you cannot receive any financial aid as an OOS student. I receive a $1000 (recurring each year) “scholarship” from CP and that’s it. However, I spent my senior year of HS applying to DOZENS UPON DOZENS of outside scholarships, and were awarded enough to make the cost of attending CP this year even less than in-state schools were offering me + merit aid. Of course, this is only for this year. The cost is the sole reason I’m trying to graduate in 3 years too (also, becoming an RA is a great option if you think you’d fit/get accepted to become one)! It’s a bit late in the game for HS scholarships but still, applying for outside ones is my only real advice. OOS f*cking sucks in that regard, and they are definitely not friendly towards us (look up the “equal opportunity grant” CP is considering right now- it’s absolute BS).
To be fair to the public schools in all states, it’s important to remember that they are PUBLIC schools. That is, they are subsidized by long-term taxpayer dollars to make education more affordable for the citizens (and their children) of that PARTICULAR state. Programs like WUE can help take the edge off by reducing the cost for out of state students whose states participate in the exchange, but few relatively California schools participate. Certainly none of the most popular ones.
California is a popular education destination that barely has room in its universities for the qualified students we produce in state. OOS prices are really then just a reflection of supply and demand economics. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. I wish that there was a better, more equitable system, but that’s for greater business minds than mine to figure out.
@kylieb317 when did you receive your CP scholarship notification? My son was admitted to mechanical engineering and he has great stats…I know SLO doesn’t give out much on merit. We received the financial aid package of loans but no scholarships today. Just trying to figure out if that is it or if scholarships from CP may trickle out later.
Thanks
@whaaa2022 sorry, I really can’t remember. But Poly really doesn’t give out merit aid; it’s hard enough to get in. Not sure if it’s any different for in-state, but OOS definitely doesn’t get any. The scholarship I got from Poly is basically what’s given to all/almost all OOS students, really just for being OOS.
@whaaa2022, not to be dismissive of your son’s accomplishments, but all students who get into ME have great stats. Merit scholarships are rare at Poly. OOS students have already been notified of the Green and Gold $1000 scholarship (formerly opportunity). If you want to be absolutely certain, call financial aid. They are friendly and helpful.
Thanks for the feedback on scholarships and will call financial aid this week…was looking for timing as many of the responses from other college financial aid offices have been “wait as they are still being decided.”
@kylieb317 So today my son was invited for Honors which seems to add a lot of coursework to his engineering track, no scholarship $s but the benefit of early class registration and some idea of housing. Do you know anyone in Honors who absolutely loves it or have a perspective on it from your POV?
@whaaa2022, typically honors at this time is an invitation to APPLY and not a direct offer in. It typically requires an essay. For engineers, it isn’t usually a good idea because it makes an already long curriculum longer. He might get an invite directly into honors math later, depending on his AP scores. That is very useful.
First year students did not have a choice of dining plans last year. There was one plan for the apartments and another plan for the dorms. There may be more options this year with the opening of the new dorms.
My son is currently a student in the dorms. I thought that his meal plan was excessive ($5,000+), but he is on pace to spend it all. However, he has grown weary of the food on campus and SLO has multiple delicious options off campus. Not having a car freshman year limits the food runs he can make, but he manages to get downtown often enough. I’m sure that he would like to have less on-campus money, but the overall same amount of buying power so that he could experience more variety.
Long story short, he wishes that had had $5,000 for food, but that only $3,000 HAD to be spent on campus. If you have meal options for next year, take that into consideration.