<p>To matark,</p>
<p>My sister and I are both from California. When we both applied for college couple of years ago, she decided to applied to the the UCs and Cal Poly SLO, and I applied to bunch of the east coast private universities and Ivies. Through looking at my experience and my sister’s, I can say with the funding cuts in education all over the US, ALL respectable (not only the top ones) universities have gotten SUPER competitive within the past few years. I actually assume that all the top kids from public universities are now shifting over to the private universities because of additional aids.</p>
<p>So it is no surprise that the CA universities admission process have gotten to be so brutal. With that said, my sister ended up going to Cal Poly SLO for architecture and loves it there. Given the top rank Cal Poly has in architecture, she actually chose Cal Poly SLO over USC, CAL, Cornell (not enough aid) and VT. She is an excellent artist/designer, but even for her it was a nail biter during the wait for a response from the schools. </p>
<p>Through some sort of divine intervention, I luckily ended up at Princeton, and also love my choice. But it was no walk in the park getting in. I studied my tail off since 7th grade and all the way through 12th. I am REALLY glad to be here, but I would not have freaked out if I ended up at a public CA universities like a Cal Poly or Cal. </p>
<p>I have visited my sister several times at Cal Poly, and actually found to school campus and student body to be really nice, and the academics to be outstanding. Not once did I feel like I was touring a podunk “state college”. </p>
<p>I think you are a bit overly pessimistic and harsh about your upcoming experience at Cal Poly. You need to cheer up. Other people on CC might find you very condescending by your tone and comments about Cal Poly being eariler. I have visited the UCs while applying for schools, I just don’t see a big difference between CP and the mid-tier UCs like UCD, UCI, UCSB. To be frank, UCD seems dull and without the beach (like CP), and UCI is sort of boring as hell too since everyone commutes. The only UCs that are head and shoulder above CP, from campus to undergraduate programs, are really Cal and UCLA, and may be UCSD (but depends on major).</p>
<p>I think if you carry that chip on the shoulder when you start at Cal Poly, you will have a hell of a time making friends. You are likely to offend a lot of your peer without knowing. Most people that attend Cal Poly also got into a lot of UCs (most commonly, UCD, UCI, UCSB) and chose to go there by CHOICE. If you carry that imaginary shame of going to a “state college” with you around campus, you will surely be quite socially isolated and would probably be detrimental to your academics. And if you think you can’t get over this resentment, why not just attend a junior college? It will be easier to transfer to Cal or UCLA from there. Going to CPSLO for you might not be the best choice. Also, my sister studies her butt off at Cal Poly, when not studying she is in her architecture studio working her tail off until 2 am. From watching her, I know it is a very academically rigorous university. It is by no means a place where you can slack and get great grades. If you think you can just blow everyone away with your IQ at CP, I would rethink that again. </p>
<p>I actually have no pity for you, not trying to be harsh, I think you are sort of greedy given how SUPER tough it is for everyone else applying for college this year. You can read about the mental anxiety so many students on this board have to go through just to get into a okay university, and Cal Poly is WAY more than okay. In fact, it is really good. You should really appreciate what you got, instead of bemoaning it. </p>
<p>The only thing I am actually surprise by is that you didn’t get into UCSC since it is one of the easiest UCs to get into, and much easier than Cal Poly. My sister told me it is grouped with UCR, and UCM. Perhaps if your dream is to attend a UC, I would skip CPSLO and kick butt at a junior college and then transfer to Cal.</p>