Internship and Job Opportunities for Civil Engineering at Cal Poly SLO, Pomona and Berkeley

College Search & Selection
1

I am a sophomore in one community college and have completed about 55 transferable units with a 4.0 GPA. I want to major in Civil Engineering but I could not make up my mind on what 4 years school should I transfer to. I have listed 3 top schools that I want to go Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona and UC Berkeley. I think I can keep my GPA around 3.8 when I transfer, so I believe I have high chance to get into both Cal Poly’s.

Hand-on learning styles at both of Cal Poly’s really impresses me, however I wonder which Cal Poly has better program for Civil Engineering. I heard Cal Poly Pomona is better known for Civil Engineering and Cal Poly SLO is known for Mechanical Engineering. However, Cal Poly SLO is ranked higher on overall Engineer program.

UC Berkeley is known for its reputation in the US and also around the world. I believe it is an advantage for me if I want to work abroad. Beside its reputation, I am honestly don’t know much about this school.

Anyway, my plan is to do an internship while I am in 4 years university. I wonder which school provide me more internship opportunities and also job opportunities once I graduate. This leads me to a doubt about Cal Poly SLO which located in a isolated town from LA and San Fran. In addition, UC Berkeley curriculum bases more on theory, I wonder if it is going to affect the internship opportunity.

There are 4 main priorities for me when choosing school, but the first one is the most important. The other 3 are optional.

  1. Job and internship opportunities- I don’t want to use too much my parent’s money, so I expect to find internship while studying and getting a job after graduate.
  2. Diversity of the school- I am Asian but I am getting along with people easily. I am a bit concern about SLO since it doesn’t have a lot of diversity and I heard some racism experiences from Vlogs on youtube.
  3. Living Cost- I am from LA, so I don’t expect to spend more than I do now.
  4. Campus Environment- I love Green and planning to stay on campus but I don’t like party environment.

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate for all of your advices and suggestions.

2

as an international student it may be difficult to get internships and job offers from US companies, no matter which you attend

3

My husband’s company (heavy civil focus) recruits and hires from both Cal Poly’s and actually prefers engineering grads from these schools due to their “hands on” style of teaching. Ultimately, your decision should be based on the best fit for you. I would compare the school’s curriculum for their Civil engineering major and see if there any significant differences or courses of specific interest to you.