<p>I was recently accepted into the Cal Poly materials engineering department and was wondering how the program is. any input would be great! </p>
<p>I think I can safely say that any engineering program in Cal Poly is top notch. </p>
<p>Definitely a bang for your buck. </p>
<p>My son is a recent MATE grad and has no regrets about choosing Cal Poly and the MATE major. It’s a small department and he got to know most of the professors in the department. He was active in MESS (club for MATE majors) and was able to get a summer internship with a small Engineering company after his 3rd and 4th years. He is now working for the same company and really enjoys it. It took him 4 years + 1 quarter to graduate, but he could have easily graduated in 4 years. </p>
<p>My oldest graduated from CP MATE in 2011 after 4 years + 1 summer. He loved the program and his department! He also had an engineering internship in the summer after his 3rd year and then went to work as a materials engineer for a small engineering company (different company) after graduating! He enjoys his work and thinks his education was excellent. </p>
<p>I am a MATE graduating in about a week and overall I am happy with my choice of major and school. It is a small department so you’ll get to know most of your teachers and they are (in my experience) happy to be references for internships and jobs. I don’t have exact numbers but based on word of mouth I believe 65-75% of my classmates either have jobs lined up or are pursuing a Master’s degree. That said, the job/grad school percent of many of the other engineering majors here are likely just as high, although it may be harder to stand out and earn your professor’s recommendation in a larger major. Personally, I chose MATE because it is a broad field of study that can be adapted to pursue a variety of different industries. There are people in my class going into industries such as manufacturing, aerospace, biomedical (me), metallurgy, and probably more. Also, I’d say it is one of the better majors for pursuing research experiences if you want to attend grad school because of the clean room and other equipment we have access to. </p>
<p>All that said, there will definitely be times where you feel like you aren’t really learning engineering (freshman year) or that other majors are more useful/desired by industry. Still, I think this major offers a valuable, unique education which seems to create “employable” graduates. I think one of its strengths are the tight-knit community of alumni who are willing to offer advice, funding (senior projects), and jobs. Personally, I ended up at my company through a combination of a career fair and a MESS Meeting (see 2 posts above) that led to an interview. </p>
<p>If you have more specific questions, feel free to email me at Vaialation1232 at yahoo dot com (CC doesn’t seem to like when I write it out as a web address). </p>