<p>I hope someone can give my son some advice. He was early admitted to Cal Poly SLO as a chemistry major, but he has since decided he wants to major in engineering. Advisors at SLO in admissions and at Engineering dept. say it's not too difficult to change majors and get into the Engineering school after the first quarter. Should he risk it or attend UCR where he was already admitted to the engineering school? I guess he is worried because he hasn't heard too much about Bourns College of Engineering at UCR whereas everyone knows about Cal Poly SLO's engineering school. We've been to both schools and SLO is a much nicer area, but both are about the same distance from home. UCR probably has better opportunities for research, but SLO seems to have a much solid reputation. </p>
<p>He is still waiting to hear from UCI and Cal Poly Pomona. He was declined at UCSB, UCSD, and Davis though.</p>
<p>Any advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Riverside is basically a dump. Irvine and San Luis Obispo have much better college atmosphere than Riverside. Riverside is the crappiest UC. If he can get a high GPA first year, it should not be a problem to transfer internally. I would definitely recommend Cal Poly. </p>
<p>“Should he risk it or attend UCR where he was already admitted to the engineering school?”</p>
<p>It is 100% worth the risk. </p>
<p>If he gets accepted to Irvine then he will be in a real dilemma. Cal Poly SLO and Irvine, both are very good engineering schools. You won’t be able to decide without visiting.</p>
<p>Having lived in So Cal all our lives, we are very familiar with both areas. My son is very practical and while like any normal teenager, is interested in the social scene, he first and foremost wants a job after college. He likes the research money that UCR has and the new medical school might lead to more research opportunities, which he is really interested in, BUT SLOs reputation is pretty darn good with any future employer. Tough decisions. I’m wondering if anyone has recently been successful switching majors from one school within Cal Poly to another.</p>
<p>I am currently in Cal Poly Engineering (Computer Engineering) and I can attest to the excellent qualities of the engineering education and corporate recruiting. Cal Poly is absolutely on par with the mid-tier UCs overall, and its engineering is probably nearing the level of UCLA. So you can’t go wrong with SLO engineering.</p>
<p>As for research, I always wonder whether undergraduates at UCs really get to participate that heavily in actual research. I have 3 slightly older cousins who all just graduated from UCLA engineering recently and only 1 of them actually did some basic research. They told me that the grad students are the ones who are really the lead in the projects, and the undergraduates just sweep up after (if they were even given the chance to). </p>
<p>But with all that said, SLO engineering is very hands-on, you really have to like doing engineering projects to be happy here. Almost every single engineering lecture class has a lab attached to it. So they weren’t kidding about “learn by doing”. This teaching style might not appeal to everyone.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info blind monkey. Do you know anyone who has switched into the engineering school from one of the other ones at slo? Just wondering how common and easy it is to do.</p>
<p>@Anyhope</p>
<p>I have seen several students switched from Science majors to engineering at SLO. Luckily, the science majors are actually harder than engineering academically speaking. So in a sense, you are switching to an easier major. </p>
<p>But it is critical that your son keeps up his GPA while at SLO in order to switch major. If he performs badly, all bets are off. And chemistry is not an easy major. So buyers beware!</p>