San Jose State vs. Cal Poly Pomona

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, at the moment I’m trying to decide between SJSU and Cal Poly Pomona (leaning towards SJSU). I’m a business administration major with an emphasis in human resource management for both schools. Personality wise, I’m more of an introvert but I don’t mind large events once in a while. I also like having good food/entertainment nearby and overall enjoy the urban area more than a quiet town.

Questions for San Jose State:

  1. How is the student body in general at SJSU/Pomona? Racial diversity, social, personality, open-mindedness, work ethic etc. I know this is subjective to each person’s experience but I just want to know in terms of observation.
  1. (For SJSU) Which dorm should I live in. The CV2 dorms look really appealing right sound since I'm more of an introvert and wouldn't really mind a cleaner new dorm room. But is it really worth that much money?
  2. How hard is it to find a job/get into a decent graduate school after graduating?
  3. (For SJSU) Is it really true that it's difficult to graduate within 4 years at SJSU?
  4. Is meal plan worth or should I just spend my money buying food near the campus?
  5. Is it easy to make friends? (lmao this is a sad question but I'm genuinely terrified of having to make new friends after five years of staying with the same group of people). I'm interested in joining clubs but I don't know if they're a big thing at state schools.
  6. How did you manage to push aside people's snarky comments about you going to a state school. Personally, I don't mind going to SJSU/Pomona since I'm saving money and looking forward to finding the benefits of going to a state. However, I'm still somewhat concerned about having to go through months of relatives (koreans have no chill)/peers pitying me for being a UC reject/other presumptions they might make.
  7. How difficult is it to change your major/emphasis? I have no idea why I applied with an emphasis in human resources and I don't even know what the hell that emphasis even does. I also have more of an interest in creative work than constant data/logistics work so I wondering if there's a way for me to combine that interest with a major related to business.
2

For #4, check if the business major at SJSU has a four year graduation pledge program. Even if it does not, following the roadmap should get you finished in four years: http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/documents/roadmaps_2016_2017/business_roadmap/Human%20Resource%20Management%20Roadmap_1617.pdf . If you have applicable AP credit, then you start out ahead of the game. CPP has a four year pledge program described at https://www.cpp.edu/~academic-programs/graduation-pledge/ .

For #8, you may want to check the web sites of the potential other majors or ask the departments directly.

http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/ can let you know which majors at SJSU are most impacted, although the thresholds for frosh and transfer admission may not necessarily be applicable to enrolled students changing majors.

Be aware that if you change majors late, you may have to catch up on prerequisites that you did not previously take, which can delay graduation.