Hello. I’m currently a Junior in high school and I’m thinking about attending Cal Poly SLO. It would be really helpful if some current students or alumni could answer some of my questions:
What was hard about adjusting to campus life?
Which program(s) did you enjoy the most?
What regrets, if any, do you have about attending and what would you have done instead?
@kat100, I’m neither a student or an alum, but I can give you my son’s perspective. He’s a current student.
I’m sure he would say SOAR was fun, but optional and do not miss WOW.
As for regrets, I don’t think he has any or would do anything different, but he does have a couple of complaints, ones he really knew would be an issue going in. The campus food isn’t good. Registering for classes, and administrative stuff in general is far more complicated than it needs to be. With that said, he’s never had trouble getting classes.
All in all, he’s very happy there.
As a parent, I’ll add a few things that I know have made his life easier. Choose the living learning community for your major. Do all the summer online tutorials regarding the registration system. Meet with your advisor(s) early and get a handle on your degree path early. Don’t be afraid to go “out of order.” It’s sometimes easier to get classes if you don’t follow the flow chart exactly.
Good luck!
Like @eyemgh I am neither an alumni nor a student/graduate, my daughter is finishing her freshman year in CPE.
I would second what @eyemgh said. My daughter is happy and successful, and I think it is because she is very independent, likes her major and does well academically, was very comfortable taking charge of planning her path (WOW helped tremendously here by putting her in that mindset) and she has integrated well into the community. She was eager to leave home (we’re out of state), did get socially involved in all sorts of things offered to her, including an engineering sorority, horse riding, etc. She misses home, but did not have a problem adapting.
She has never had any problem getting into classes so far (even when was last in rotation), but I think it helped that she had a ton of relevant AP credit, so she gets to be eligible for some classes one quarter before her peers do, so she is now 40% in academic progress at the end of her freshman year.
She is complaining at times that it is hard and stressful with many mid terms/exams, etc, but I suspect it has to do with her load (between 16 and 20 units per quarter, with relatively few GEDs), yet she is doing well academically.
She does not have any regrets, she turned down more “prestigious” schools to go to CalPoly (UCSD, UW, UIUC, Rose-Hulman, etc).
I am seeing some vocal complaints in Facebook parent groups about difficulty to get classes or getting housing, but I get a feeling it comes from students that expect parents to be more involved, have fewer APs or changed majors and thus are somewhat behind.
Good luck!
Class of 2013 EE graduate here…
What was hard about adjusting to campus life?
I transferred from a UC, so campus life is almost the same. You look after yourself. You are responsible for your own actions. Besides that, it’s all about learning how to be independent. I have seen student’s parents visit them every weekend and drop off food, laundry, and etc (spoiled, I know).
Which program(s) did you enjoy the most?
SOAR was useful because you get to plan your fall quarter schedule with an advisor, instead of doing it on your own. WOW week is meh, only attend if you want to meet more people and get to know around the campus.
What regrets, if any, do you have about attending and what would you have done instead?
I would’ve and should’ve spent more time exploring the vicinity instead of rushing to graduate two years after transferring. If I could do it all over again, I’d stay one year behind just to do that. I totally regret I looked at the Poly P everyday, but I have yet to hike up there once =(