<p>Please post your stories and impressions from the Open House 2013 here!! Would love to hear the feedback.</p>
<p>My family and I absolutely loved it! Everybody was incredibly friendly and polite! Also, I’ve never seen so many blondes in my life (coming from a predominantly Asian school)! I felt like I was walking into some kind of movie, but maybe I’m easily impressed.</p>
<p>When I was by myself looking at one of the maps, two Asian guys on bikes pulled me over and asked me if I needed help. Then they called their friend just so I could find the department I was looking for. So I was really impressed by how welcoming and caring the students were. The campus was so much better than I expected; San Luis Obispo is very cute, too! I enrolled immediately after.</p>
<p>Everyone was super nice and so in shape and active. I got a t-shirt and 2 tri tip sandwiches from firestone grill. I also got sunburned…</p>
<p>I was only able to be there all of Friday, but it was worth every minute. I got up early and literally was on campus the entire day until the Friday Nite Invite was over. It was truly a blast. I had already committed to Cal Poly months prior, but had I not, I would have the instant I got home. As an arch major, I checked out all there was to learn about the program and the housing and was only affirmed that THIS is where I am meant to go. The people were extremely friendly and the vibe is entirely relaxed. I did not feel the stigma of being a soon to be freshman but rather felt a great sense of welcome to be joining all of these other students and staff that already love the school so much. I visited friends at their dorms to get their take on life there and they absolutely loved it. Food was truly their only mention of a con on campus and they attribute it mostly to eating at the same place so often. Though one of my friends did mention that they got sick from Chinese Food from one of the restaurants. I’d imagine that that is just a random occurrence but it was definitely not too populated when I was going around to eat lunch. The most awkward/fun part was definitely the friday nite invite. At first, I knew no one except a friend of mine from my same high school so we met up and just cruised around trying to meet people and it went smoothly from there. Met plenty of people and of course found them in the same shoes as myself, being uncertain but excited for college. It truly was a FANTASTIC experience. To anyone who wasnt able to go and in considering it for next year, I absolutely recommend it. It is an absolutely incredible school! To anyone who is a rising senior, I highly suggest you apply because it is certainly a great option to have. Maybe its not for you, but I would hate for you to find out after application season that you wish you applied because it truly is an incredible place to get an education!</p>
<p>Great answers everyone! Keep the stories coming!!</p>
<p>We just got back and all my son’s concerns were put to rest about the school. He will be changing his major from chemistry to engineering, which was making him a little nervous. The engineering advisors were very helpful. We spent most of our time with the MatE dept. We left very impressed. Dr. Chen, the new dept chair, was very personable and approachable. She seems to be very involved with the students. I personally was so impressed with the students giving demos in the MateE labs.</p>
<p>His other concern was how quiet SLO seemed on our first visit. NOT the case this weekend. Also helped that he met up with someone from his HS track team who is a freshman there now. He is really looking forward to attending in the fall.</p>
<p>My daughter loved it. I really thought she was going to choose UCSD because her best friend goes there, but Open House really turned it around. The people were all so friendly and the campus was just the right size. We liked everything about it.</p>
<p>I am gratified that everyone seems to be having a fantastic experience! As I have mentioned many times on CC, for our family the Open House was transformational.</p>
<p>Just the fact that my mom wants to go back to college (and she hated her college experience in NY) speaks of the sheer awesomeness at Cal Poly. My mom kept telling me how she was so relieved and she couldn’t get over how polite the students were.</p>
<p>My main impression was that the students at Cal Poly are passionate about what they’re studying. I spoke with a woman who wants race horses, young ROTC men, a parks & rec major, a grower of tomatoes, a Rose Bowl float designer, swing dancers, the tour guide to the new gym, and many engineering students in Mott Gym, most of whom were involved in Roborodentia. They were all enthusiastic, involved, engaged and engaging.</p>
<p>This was my fourth (and last) Open House. I’ve enjoyed every one of them.</p>
<p>It was very awesome, and I decided to commit after attending. Meeting the clubs i was interested in and touring Orfalea was great. However, as a 28 year old transfer student that attended with my wife and daughter, I felt a little out of place. I felt like I was the only transfer student there, and I felt like the oldest admitted student there as well!</p>
<p>This was the “20 year anniversary” of Cal Poly’s Open House! We attended with my D from the Thursday night Farmers Market through Saturday afternoon. Locals and students were so friendly and helpful. Students were definitely enthusiastic about their studies and the activities they are involved in no matter what their major. The Women in Engineering hosted a morning panel discussion which really helped to confirm our D’s decision to attend Cal Poly! In particular the IME department did a fantastic job with especially with the check in, lunch, staff intros, club offerings and the student led lab tours. Kudos to them all. They also provided a wonderful lunch of BBQ chicken, tri tip, burgers for us. With the engineering portion, it was a full afternoon from lunch til 5, ending with Q&A the last hour (we skipped that part and found out only one girl showed up and had the floor for all her questions!). My D met up with her HS friend to go to the Fri nite mixer while I attended the Parent Coffee. She said it was the mixer was the BEST PART of the Open House. They really got the kids to interact and she left with 12+ new friends to connect with on FB. Parent Coffee: The Parent Program volunteers were great, helping ease some concerns for us first timers who have our first child leaving the nest! We did stay through today, Sat to visit the club booths, dorm tour and exhibits, leaving at 2 for the four drive home… It was a successful trip, confirming for my D that she (we) made the right decision with Cal Poly. She is excited to start! (she better be, we left after stopping by the University Union store buying more logo wear… In all, outfitting our family of 5 in Cal Poly gear! Go Mustangs!)</p>
<p>Oh, EVILteddie, how you have made me feel so much better. Maybe I can return the favor…</p>
<p>I am a 36-year old junior transfer from a local community college. I am also married and we have two young daughters, ages 7 & 4. I was only able to attend open house, without my family, on Friday. I was elated to meet and spend a few minutes with Professor Hamilton right away. That kind of personal attention was truly appreciated. All of the staff and student ambassadors did very well to make me feel welcome. I was also very grateful that no one asked me what my kid was majoring in! :)</p>
<p>I was born and raised on the Central Coast so I have had the natural desire to go to Cal Poly since I was a young boy. In fact, I went to Poly Royal on a 6th grade field trip in 1988! </p>
<p>I just wanted you to know that you would be at least the 2nd oldest student attending OCOB in the fall. Introduce yourself if you see me. Look for the guy with the receding hairline! :)</p>
<p>Well that makes me feel better as well. I was starting to think it would be like Billy Madison for me at Cal Poly. I’m planning on attending SOAR if at all possible, if I’m able to move into the area by then. I will definitely look out for you!</p>
<p>@NewMustang and EVILteddie – You guys should private message each other and exchange contact info. I remember when I was in grad school, I was older than most of the other students and married. I mostly hung out with other married students and our son was born before graduation. It helped a lot to have a community of others with similar experiences. Now, the age disparity will be a bit different for you guys, but I remember there was one guy in our group that was 47 and the rest of us were in our early 30’s. We all got along great. By the way, the average age in my MBA program was 26-27 years old.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if it is a good idea to go to both SOAR and WOW or is it going to be a lot of repetition? I don’t want my daughter to miss out on anything, but I don’t want her to be bored either.</p>
<p>One thing that President Armstrong said during his University Welcome speech is confusing me. Maybe I heard him wrong, but my son heard him say the same thing. He said over 48,000 applied and only 5,000 were admitted. That’s approximately a 10% admit rate. Can that be right? He also said 90% of Cal Poly students are hired after graduation in their chosen field. If that is correct, that is VERY impressive.</p>
<p>^I wasn’t there so I can’t directly address what was said, but from looking at admission statistics it sounds like he meant 48,000 applied for 5,000 openings. For example, 4,497 new students enrolled in Fall 2012 (3,701 freshmen and 796 transfers); in Fall 2011, 5,124 new students enrolled (4,316 freshmen plus 808 transfers). So 5,000 openings for Fall 2013 sounds reasonable. Keep in mind that not every admitted (aka “accepted”) student actually enrolls at Cal Poly (roughly 1 out of 3 accepted high school seniors do; 1 out of 2 transfers do), so the # admitted is considerably higher than 5,000.</p>
<p>Data is from the Fall 2012 Fact Book <a href=“IR Home - Institutional Research - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo”>IR Home - Institutional Research - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo;
<p>@smother: I didn’t go to SOAR, but I’ve heard that it can be kind of repetitive, especially if you already attended open house and are planning on doing WOW. I think that if you attended open house and feel like you have a good idea about the atmosphere in SLO, then SOAR is not necessary. However, if you did not attend open house, want to get a better idea about what SLO is like, or are planning on changing your major, then SOAR can be useful. I would definitely recommend WOW either way. It is a lot of fun and you get to meet many new people.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response. That’s what I was thinking. She is definitely going to WOW.</p>