<p>I’m a third year Cal Poly student, ask me anything. I’ll probably be able to better answer questions about things like housing/dining, SLO, and general academic questions, than more specific questions like about a certain major, but I’ll try my best.</p>
<p>hey… im an international student and will stay for 1 year in CalPoly…</p>
<p>1) I have 2 options of apartments: Poly Canyon Village or Cerro Vista. Which one would you pick?</p>
<p>2) How is the night life there? About party and everything? i heard that there is a zero alcohol policy even if you are over 21 (I am 22), so the parties is off campus?</p>
<p>3) International student that will spend 1 year can join a sport team? Cause I would like to join the soccer team if its possible, since I play all the time in my contry (Brazil) and dont want to stop.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Pedro</p>
<p>Do you ride a bike around campus and if so how frequently?</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-P505 using CC</p>
<p>How easy is it to get a job on campus? Is it enough to help pay off some of your student loans? Is it worth it to get a job on campus? Will I still have enough time to study or will I feel overwhelmed?</p>
<p>@Pedro: 1) Poly Canyon Village has more older students, so you may have more in common with them. However, cerro usually has more freshmen who are usually a bit more outgoing. I personally like cerro a little better since it is closer to campus, but poly canyon has food and restaurants which are nice to have close by. Either way, you will probably be placed in an apartment with other international students/transfers.
2) people under 21 still drink even though they’re not supposed to. They just have to be careful not to get caught at parties of drinking in the dorms. If you’re 22 though, you can go to the bars downtown which are popular and a big part of the nightlife here. Most parties are off campus because you can’t be too loud in on campus housing.
3) I don’t really know how trying out for sports teams works here, but there is a club soccer team which I think you can walk onto. I don’t know if everyone makes the club team, (they might, I’m not sure) but if you have experience playing, you probably would.</p>
<p>@fanatic: I don’t have a bike, but a lot of people ride their bikes to class or even off campus like to the store and stuff.</p>
<p>@kona: I’ve applied to numerous jobs on campus and have not gotten any. I think it has a lot to do with timing. With some jobs, you have to apply basically as soon as they are posted. It seems like they also tend to want people who have work study. I think most jobs on campus pay around $10/hour. I’d say it’s worth it to at least try and get an on campus job. And if you do end up getting it, that’s great. It’s convenient, you can make some money, and have something to add to your resume. I think you’ll still have time to study and do other things as well. Most on campus employers are willing to work with your schedule and limit the amount of hours you work each week.</p>
<p>NTKS17:</p>
<p>My daughter, currently a sophomore just got a job working for ASI next year. They pay $8-something an hour. She worked as a tutor for student athletes one quarter and they paid $10 an hour. Her ASI job will be 10-15 hours a week and very flexible. I hope it works out for her!</p>
<p>NTKS17:</p>
<p>My daughter, currently a sophomore just got a job working for ASI next year. She is NOT on workstudy. They pay $8-something an hour. She worked as a tutor for student athletes one quarter and they paid $10 an hour. Her ASI job will be 10-15 hours a week and very flexible. I hope it works out for her!</p>
<p>What are the highlights and lowlights of campus life? What is the general campus mentality towards academics? Greek life? How is the food and campus housing?</p>
<p>I’ll start off my answer with the topic I know least about - Greek life. I’m not involved with it, but a decent amount of people here are. Not an overwhelming amount, like at some schools, but Greek life definitely has a presence and if you want to be part of it, I think you’ll get a good Greek experience. The people I have met who are in sororities/fraternities have been pretty awesome for the most part. </p>
<p>Academics are taken pretty seriously here. The quarter system does move fast, and I’ve heard that some majors, like engineering, have “weeder” classes. These are classes usually in your first or second year that are apparently ridiculously difficult (like 50 hours a week of work for just one class). This in order to “weed” out the people who are not serious about the major I guess, but it seems a little harsh to me. Other majors, like liberal arts, still have work, but it’s not as intense imo. If you’re arch, expect to spend a lot of time in studio. The school has this 25-35 hour a week study slogan. It’s basically never been true for me (I’m liberal arts and it’s always been far less than that for me), but I think it sounds pretty accurate for engineering. Most people here are pretty committed to doing well in school, and you’ll find a lot of people who are super passionate about their majors which creates a good academic environment.</p>
<p>I’d rate the food on campus as 4/10. It’s edible, but I wouldn’t want to eat it if I could just as easily have something better. Unfortunately, freshmen living on campus are basically forced to eat it. My suggestion - use your meal plan to buy water, juice, fruit, and other pre-packaged food/snacks. Use plus dollars at campus market to buy ingredients to cook actual good food (your apartment/dorm mates will be amazed at your cooking skills and cooking is a good way to make friends :), Starbucks, Lucy’s, or basically anyplace in Poly Canyon. Sandwich Factory is an ok place to use your meal plan, but they usually have long lines and aren’t open for dinner. They turned one of the eating places (19 metro) into a buffet this year, and I think that it’s gone down in quality since they did that. VG’s is just gross. They’re supposed to be adding a Subway on campus soon as well as a yogurt place and one other new place but I forget what.</p>
<p>I’ll answer the rest later. I had more, but the wireless internet sucks and I lost my connection and I don’t feel like retyping now. I guess that can be considered a campus low - bad wireless. Or if anyone else wants to answer, feel free.</p>
<p>How good is the Ethernet connection in Cerro Vista?</p>
<p>Ethernet is fine, I like never have trouble connecting. Wireless on the other hand…</p>
<p>There’s resnet wireless in the dorm common areas. I’m in poly canyon and technically we don’t have wireless, but my apartment is surround by study lounges on three sides, so we pick it up. It’s decent, not slow, and makes it so that i don’t have to drag an ethernet cord behind me like some sort of weird tail, but sometimes you have to log back into the wireless if you get disconnected (which generally happens fairly frequently). It’s not a huge hassel, but can be annoying. </p>
<p>Then there’s mustang wireless which is the wireless on campus. I’ve had some issues not being able to log onto it like when I’m in class. I think some areas on campus pick it up better than others.</p>
<p>And that’s probably more than you wanted to know.</p>
<p>here’s the rest of my response to @i11usionist: Housing is quite nice. I’m not gonna go into too much detail here, but if you have more specific questions, just ask, I can probably answer them. Freshmen have the choice between dorms and apartments. Apartments are newer and have more privacy, but I recommend living in the dorms your freshman year cause it’s really your only chance to and if you absolutely hate it, you’ll almost definitely be able to find someone in cerro who will wanna switch with you.</p>
<p>highlights: surrounding location/scenery, friendly people, small classes usually so you get to know your teachers, get to know people in you major pretty well, lots of clubs/activities, and lots of opportunities for involvement/hands on work.</p>
<p>lowlights: it really helps to have a car to get around. the bus system is good, but i’m not saying you need a car, but i personally am much more happy with one. you’re far from big cities, can be difficult to get classes (I’ve figured out some registration tricks though, let me know if you’re interested).</p>
<p>oh! yes! Please tell me some registration tricks! I am a transfer student and need to get into certain classes when I get there. Any tricks or tips would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>ok @konaluv here’s some tips. I don’t know how obvious or original they are, but hopefully they’ll help at least a little bit.</p>
<p>1) Come up with tentative schedules, as well as backup schedules before registration begins. See what works, and what possible time conflicts there may be. Come up with alternatives to use if time conflicts arise. I personally enjoy planning and spending time doing this type of stuff, but I get that some people probably don’t.</p>
<p>2) Waitlist like crazy (especially if you are indecisive like me). You’re limited to registering (meaning actually enrolling) in 16 units during regular registration, but you can wailist as many classes as you want. Obviously only waitlist stuff you’d actually be interested in, or may need if you’re schedule changes. For example, say you want to register for 16 units so that you don’t fall behind. Your first choice, class x is full, so you waitlist it and register for class z instead. There only problem is, if you end up getting into class x, there will be a time conflict with z and one other class, so you’d be down to 12 units (is this making sense?). So to avoid this, register for class y as well. I probably made this more complicated than I should have, but waitlisting has helped me get amazing schedules on more than one occasion.</p>
<p>3) If you decide you don’t like a class (preferably one you don’t need, but like an elective or something), or you absolutely hate the teacher, you have about a week and a half after classes begin to still make changes. I have asked teachers to add their class even after a few class meetings already passed, and they’ve let me in.</p>
<p>4) Use priorities wisely. It’s common sense, but sometimes it can be tempting to use one when you don’t NEED one. Watch how classes are filling up during priority registration. Wait until the end of the priority registration period. If classes you need look like they’ll be really full by the time you register, take a priority. </p>
<p>5) If you never ask, you’ll never know. Don’t underestimate the power of asking for permission numbers. I’ve found this is best done in person, since that way the teacher can’t ignore you or forget about you like they can if you email them. Go see them during office hours before registration. Tell them you really want to take class x for whatever reason, but you have a late registration. They might give you a permission number, or they might say there’s not much they can do. Either way, you’re showing interest in their class, and hopefully that’ll make a good impression.</p>
<p>and finally, here is a reddit link to the art of crashing. Seems pretty accurate to me.</p>
<p>[Crashing</a> classes 101 : CalPoly](<a href=“http://www.reddit.com/r/CalPoly/comments/rf8mj/crashing_classes_101/]Crashing”>Reddit - Dive into anything)</p>
<p>What is the diversity like at Cal Poly. I check at Collegeboard and it says that 64% is white! Does the mean the majority of the people who apply there are white? I’m Asian and would like to apply to SLO</p>
<p>Cal poly is largely white. The school tries to get more diversity, but it has not been easy. For me, coming here was not much different, since I went to a predominately white high school, but I guess I can see how for some people it can be a bit of a shock. I think almost all students here are very accepting of diversity though. Asians are the largest minority group on campus I believe, followed by Hispanics. There are very few black students though. There are also quite a few clubs and organizations for minority students. If you really like the school and feel like it could offer you some good opportunities, don’t let the fact that there are a lot of white people stop you from applying.</p>
<p>Thank you sooo much for the registration tips NTKS17! Hopefully I will get the classes I need.</p>
<p>Do you know when the registration starts for newly transfer students for fall semester? Also because I’m a transfer student, I’m not quite clear on what classes are fulfilled through transfer courses. I’m hoping I could get some advising when I go to SOAR…</p>
<p>Yeah, they’ll probably tell you everything you need to know at soar, and if they don’t, you can ask them. I know that freshmen are blocked into classes for their first fall quarter, and open registration for them begins sometime in mid august. I don’t know how it works for transfers though.</p>