<p>R77R77:thanks so much for giving back! My daughter has applied ED for graphic communications, which is supposed to be a great program. Given the more engineering focus of CP, do the non-engineers generally fit in well with the engineers, or are they regarded as less worthy of CP? Also, what housing would you suggest, given the options, and should frosh bring their cars?
Thanks for your thoughts!</p>
<p>
Only 29% of the students are in the Engineering school. That of course leaves 71% majority non-Engineering. It’s more like Stanford than MIT in that regard.</p>
<p>
There are a ton of threads describing the different dorms, and I can only add one thing from experience. In my DD’s Sierra Madre dorm, about 75% of the girls in the rooms adjacent to hers joined Sororities. Compare that to about 17%-20 of the female students being active in Sororities. I infer that Sierra Madre is more of a partying dorm than others.</p>
<p>
Cars are not necessary due to the free and frequent busses into town, but are a convenience. It seems most students who own cars do bring them. I did not have a car way back when I was a freshman and it would have been better to have one. I got one as a sophomore and was very glad to have the freedom of movement it brought. If your home is near an Amtrak station, it is surprisingly easy for a student without a car to take the train home for a weekend or Holiday. The free bus between campus and the city of SLO gets a student to the Amtrak station.</p>
<p>Appleteam, it depends what you are trying to change into. Would you be switching colleges entirely? It is much easier for, say, an engineering major to switch to another major in the same college. It is harder to switch to a different college, especially if you are going from something in the Humanities or Liberal Arts to something in the Sciences. Before you start crying, go to the department you want to move into and speak with an advisor. They can look at what courses you’ve already taken and tell you what a change-of-major contract will look like.</p>
<p>My son didn’t live in the Red Bricks, but spent a lot of time in themwith friends in his classes. There is a LOT of contact between students in the bricks. Many leave their room doors open when they are at home, and there are always people in the lounge and study rooms. Most RAs are pretty good about planning dorm activities, too.</p>
<p>I don’t know that much about Yosemite, so I can’t speak to the situation there.</p>
<p>I know students who love the party atmosphere at Sierra Madre, but I also know of students who’ve had a really rough time with all the people coming in drunk, puking in the hallways, etc., and non-partiers who’ve been harassed by partiers. Students aren’t really allowed to have alcohol/drugs in their rooms, but the University must have probable cause to search private property (closets with doors closed, locked suitcases, etc.), so stuff gets smuggled in.</p>
<p>I second the recommendation of “lurking” on the Cal Poly Parent Community Group on Facebook, whether you are a parent or a student. <a href=“https://www.facebook.com/groups/calpolyparents/[/url]”>https://www.facebook.com/groups/calpolyparents/</a></p>
<p>Pretty much any question you have has been posted there at some point. It is an open group, so you can read the posts and files without being a member. It is important to remember that a lot of what is posted is parents’ responses to their kid “venting”, and may not really end up being the crisis it seems at the time.</p>
<p>Do we have to rescend applications to other schools now that we have been accepted early decision?</p>
<p>@drworm, no we don’t, but it’s advisable to, since you can give other applicants your spot. but you don’t have to withdraw the applications. you just can’t accept their offers around march-april. </p>
<p>is there any sort of a link that shows us the different types of dorms and the descriptions of them? or would anyone mind explaining the different dorms? there are way too many for me to make a choice!!! :P</p>
<p>Polydreamer: My daughter absolutely loved Yosemite. She was a freshman in the fall of 2010 when those dorms were ONLY doubles. Very spacious rooms and closets. I’m sure it would be far less cramped in the towers than the red bricks. My daughter loved having co-Ed floors. It was like she had 12 brothers on her floor. Like a big family! I had the opportunity to meet most of them a few times and they were a wonderful group of bright and fun kids.</p>
<p>tigerash----Try this link:</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to Residential Life at Cal Poly! - University Housing - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/content/res_life/home]Welcome”>Welcome to Residential Life at Cal Poly! - University Housing - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo)</p>
<p>tigerash—here’s a more specific link describing the different dorms and apts.</p>
<p>[Freshman</a> Where can I Live? - University Housing - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/content/student_housing_freshman]Freshman”>http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/content/student_housing_freshman)</p>
<p>thanks so much @2Leashes!!</p>
<ol>
<li>When do fall 2014 freshmen students register for classes</li>
<li>When should new admits send transcripts? Now and then again at the end of the high school year?</li>
</ol>
<p>Freshmen get blocked into their classes by their department their first quarter. However, they can modify this schedule once open enrollment opens which freshmen have priority for. </p>
<p>I sent my first semester final grades at around this time and my final trascript right before I graduated.</p>
<p>Rookie question, but what does “blocked into their classes” mean?</p>
<p>It means that the school selects your classes for you based on your major for your first quarter. You are given a “block schedule”. This allows the uninitiated freshman to avoid the hassle of competing with others to get the proper classes and put you on track for the scheduled “flowchart” of classes you need to graduate on time (or nearly on time!).</p>
<p>My kid just took the classes given to him and it worked out great. No hassles, keeps you on track for the first quarter and gets you enrolled where you need to be.</p>
<p>How do they compensate if a student is ahead in math? Will they place them directly in Calc III if they’ve scored appropriately on the Calc BC AP exam? Thanks!</p>
<p>How difficult would it be to switch majors? I’m fairly sure I want to major in engineering, but I’m not entirely sure which branch yet. I put MechE on my application but Materials, BME, Civil & Computer Science all sound interesting as well. This is one of my biggest qualms about Cal Poly… I want to freedom to switch if I decide to go with a different branch than MechE. </p>
<p>Also, how likely is it for an OOS student to get merit aid or financial aid? I really like Cal Poly but there is no way I can afford it without aid!</p>
<p>SLOMom, my D’s portal now says the following under her “to do” list:</p>
<p>Please send to Cal Poly your official final transcripts, to include final grades and graduation date, in an envelope sealed by your high school. </p>
<p>So we won’t be sending now since it isn’t asked for. We’ll send our transcripts at the end of the school year.</p>
<p>Congratulations, again!!</p>
<p>eyemgh: “How do they compensate if a student is ahead in math? Will they place them directly in Calc III if they’ve scored appropriately on the Calc BC AP exam? Thanks!”</p>
<p>Yes, that is correct. My freshman son at CP just took Calc III as his first math course because he had passed both the AP Calc AB and BC exams in high school.</p>
<p>ralph4, did he feel like moving right into Calc III was the right decision?</p>