<p>So I'm applying to colleges and have decided to apply to either Cal Poly SLO or UCDavis. Not both. I'm having trouble deciding which one I should apply to. I'm planning on a major in Computer Science. I'm an out of state student too.</p>
<p>Pros for UCDavis:
-Probably better location (I want to go to the Silicon Valley and Davis is closer. How much of an advantage would this be in terms of career opportunities ie internships, etc?)
-UC School so probably a bit more prestigious
-I'm applying to UCBerkeley as well so I essentially have the application done for Davis
Cons for UCDavis:
-UC School so probably more expensive
-Bigger</p>
<p>Pros for Cal Poly:
-Smaller
-Less expensive (probably)
-Possibly a better college town (I honestly don't know which town would be considered "better")
Cons for Cal Poly:
-Might not be as prestigious
-Pretty far from where I want to go</p>
<p>Also here's the thing: I haven't sent my SAT scores to Cal Poly but I have to Davis. Can I send my scores/can they receive them after the application deadline? </p>
<p>I shouldn't have a problem finishing the Cal Poly application otherwise, since there's no essays.</p>
<p>Also the deadline for both schools is Friday, so I need to make a decision quick.</p>
<p>Why not apply to both and decide later if you get into both?</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO is much less expensive at list price, but don’t expect financial aid for out-of-state. Prestige-wise, it is probably regarded as similar to the midlevel UCs for engineering and CS.</p>
<p>^I don’t know, it’s expensive to apply to both and my parents would prefer I only apply to one. I guess I could apply to both, but I would rather apply to just one as well.</p>
<p>Also I don’t know how much aid I’d get at Davis but I’m assuming not much so even though I probably wouldn’t get aid at Cal Poly it would still likely be less expensive than Davis.</p>
<p>I would just apply to both. The application fee is minuscule compared to the tuition rate and I guess you don’t really know how much financial aid you can receive.</p>
<p>You can run the financial aid estimator at UC Davis’ web site to see what aid it may give. But UCs won’t cover the $22,000 additional out-of-state tuition with aid.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO should have a net price calculator also. Don’t expect much, if anything for aid.</p>
<p>The cost of the application fee is small compared to the potential net price differences.</p>
<p>If the app fee is giving you pause, time to cross the CA schools off your list. They don’t give very good aid to in-state kids, and theyre certainly not looking to hand out lots of money to OOS ones.</p>
<p>Mikemac and the others are right. California public schools are in a financial bind, and are actually accepting lots of int’l students to make up the deficit. If you can’t pay for the app fee, how can you afford to go to a Ca. school?</p>
<p>Why did you have them on your list in the first place? If you’re really interested in them, you should know where you want to apply.</p>
<p>They both can offer you what you need. The real question is why are you only looking at Cali schools if they are out of state and you’re concerned about application fees? The cost of getting to and from campus each time will be like 10 application fees. In addition, you’ll want to visit schools before you enroll so an application fee should be the least of your concerns.</p>
<p>(If you look at Cal Poly, ask them about the average 4 year grad rate for your program then compare it to your other schools)</p>
<p>Cal Poly’s 4-year graduation rate is low, but you probably want to ask on the Cal Poly forum if it is voluntary (e.g. taking quarters off for co-op jobs, or taking light course loads) or not (e.g. courses not offered when needed).</p>
<p>I know a little bit about anecdotal reasons for Cal Poly’s low graduation rate in CS and it seems mainly due to lack of prior experience in programming, plus lack of preparation in math and physics. If students fail or drop a course or two in the sequence early on, it can be difficult to catch up fast enough to be able to graduate in 4 years. Some courses might not be offered the following quarter and so the student might have to wait another year to retake. </p>
<p>Cal Poly would be around $15K less than UC Davis for out of state. You can save a lot of money living off campus after your first year.</p>
<p>Silicon Valley companies routinely recruit at Cal Poly, and graduates in industry return to campus looking for interns and proposing ideas which become Capstone projects.</p>
<p>My son will be graduating in 4 years as a CPE major. He had to figure out the waitlist and priority registration games, plus plead with a couple of professors to get into their classes, but it all worked out in the end.</p>