<p>Hey y'all...:)
I've been looking at variety of CA's schools for engineering...
and my counselor told me several "good"(her definition) schools...
I want to know about some schools and what real students think, for those of you that actually went to these schools or really know what you are talking about.<br>
Such schools are:
Cal Poly SLO (especially this one becuase it's a state college and would getting an education here put a student in a disadvantage position if one's going to school after undergrad or let's say a job?)
UCSD
UCLA
UCB
UCI
UCSB (?)
and some of LAC schools like HMC...(very competitive)
looking for some quality answers
thanks in advance...</p>
<p>ask a more specific question? what are you interested in? do you want to know about social or academic? what scares you the most about college?</p>
<p>Well... I'm not sure which engineering I want to major it (I'm still looking into it) but basically my questions are:
1. the quality of education I would get in the various schools (I'm sort of worried that I might not get into the schools I want to get in... in that case I would probably go to CAL SLO, and would state school edu be much lower than those of UCs?)
2. the faculty = professors
3. the degree of recognition each school gets through it's undergrad program(engineering) by grad schools or outside world?
well= I tried to narrow down my questions so HELP!
And also the competition between students... I'm guessing very competitive in all these schools -_-</p>
<p>anyone??? :)</p>
<p>I'm in my fifth year at cal poly, and can say going to school here will put you at an advantage after graduation, rather than a disadvantage. The vast majority of professors here are interested in teaching undergrads, rather than doing personal research. The UC's are much more interested in the latter, as they are "research" universities. The students here are UC-calibre(most departments have avg. SAT's of around 1250). As for jobs, the working world seems to have a very good impression of cal poly. Most engineering majors make around $50,000 right out of CP. Computeer engineers make >$60K. Here's a link to avg. salaries:</p>
<p>The UC's are excellent choices if you don't like cal poly, but don't disregard CP just because "it's a cal state." Most of my friends, including myself, passed up UC's to come here. I hope that was quality enough for ya. :)</p>
<p>thanks a lot for the information...
Are you studying in engineering dpt? which major???
I have typical parents that prefer UC schools(mostly my dad) because CAL poly is categorized as a "state school" any facts that might turn him around??? Any other advantages of being a student in a cal state rather than other schools like UCs?
also thanks in advance</p>
<p>I chose to go here over Davis because it's undergrad-oriented, is in a beautiful area, and is A LOT cheaper than UC's. Tuition is about half that of UC's. That adds up over four or five years, and is the main reason I would recommend CP over the "middle UC's." I'm not saying come here over Berkeley or UCLA(although a few of my friends have), but give it a serious look when comparing it to any other UC. You can look at USNews if you need to see rankings. Poly has the #4 engineering dept. in the nation among those without substantial Ph.D. programs. I guess I feel like I'm selling the school a bit much, but I think I made a great decision in coming here. I've gotten a UC-calibre education for half the money. I'm a biology major, by the way.</p>
<p>i currently go to berkeley and i like it a lot more than i expected i would. as many people like to point out, nobody babies you here. if you want something, you have to go find it yourself. that said, with enough initiative, the opportunities are endless. </p>
<p>i've had some bad profs who drive me absolutely insane. just last thursday, my friends and i walked out of a class, and one of them had a temper tantrum. screamed, cursed, and kicked the walls. however, most of my professors haven't been like that because we research everything first and purposely wait for certain profs. i've loved a lot of my classes and professors, have even been 'inspired' by a few. not exaggerating here. and yeah, i know it sounds dorky.</p>
<p>outside of the classroom... lots and lots to do. tons of research opportunities for undergrads (if you go up to them and talk to them... initiative). no matter how bad a prof is in the classroom, s/he's usually wonderful in the lab. i've learned more in lab than i have in the classroom. patents, field work, machining, proposals, presentations, networking, learning what work is really like... i shot a grenade launcher! =D i'm transitioning into my second undergrad lab position right now. i'll be working with instrumentation that will directly apply to the internship positions i want this summer.</p>
<p>as for recognition, err, people generally think berkeley engineering is pretty good. there are a lot of job opportunities as long as you have a good personality. they just assume you're smart (unless you have a -really- bad gpa) and work from there. companies, big and small, pay our student societies quite a bit to recruit on campus. some recruiters have outright said stuff along the lines of... "we don't worry about berk people figuring it out and doing a good job--unlike..." they were probably biased berkeley grads, heh.</p>
<p>socially, i'm having a good time. engineering community is pretty tight and there are always events. if you don't like engineering people, you can venture to the other side of campus and meet the other 20-30k (?) undergrads. hundreds, thousands? of student organizations. something for everybody.</p>
<p>as for some of the other schools. cal poly has a really good reputation for preparing people for industry. tech companies have appeared near the campus recently, and some say it's because of cal poly. </p>
<p>if you're into bio, ucsd is a no brainer. they say the campus and people are boring, but my friends down there say you just have to find your niche. with so many people, you're bound to bump into a few interesting ones. </p>
<p>i almost went to ucla (they offered so much money!), but the campus just didn't feel good to me. unlike berkeley, ucla has an aerospace program, which was what i thought i wanted to do. i was wrong. another plus about berkeley is that all of the engineering disciplines (and most of the other sciences and even humanities) are highly ranked, so i didn't have to worry about finding myself in a crappy program.</p>
<p>why. why am i posting at 2:20am on a friday night?</p>
<p>To the OP:</p>
<p>Of the list that you provided, I believe the best engineering school on that list is Harvey Mudd. Mudd is arguably the best engineering school in the state, and perhaps in the country, for teaching undergrads. And yes, by that, I mean that it is fully competitive with the MIT's and the Caltech's in the world Mudd is basically an "elite tech LAC", if that makes sense. </p>
<p>Now I know some you are going to ask whether Mudd, because it is not famous (as none of the LAC's are), can it really get you a job and can it really get you into grad-school. Well, I'll tell you what. The average salary of all HMC grads in 2003 was $53,900, which compares very favorably with the engineering graduates of the elite schools like MIT in 2003. Let's keep in mind that that average HMC salary includes people who studied sciences, not engineering, and science majors tend to earn less than engineering majors do, and yet the average overall salary was still $53,900. If companies didn't know about Mudd, then they wouldn't be paying those kinds of salaries. </p>
<p>"Average salary upon graduation in 2003 was $53,900."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hmc.edu/highlights/%5B/url%5D">http://www.hmc.edu/highlights/</a></p>
<p>Furthermore, if you look at the percentage of graduates who go on to technical doctoral programs, you will see that Harvey Mudd compares very favorably to places like MIT and Caltech.</p>
<p>"INSTITUTION %
1. Harvey Mudd College 34.4
2. California Institute of Technology 33.7
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 17.3
4. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art 12.5 "</p>
<p>Or as Sowell puts it: "Everyone has heard of M.I.T. and Cal Tech, but most laymen would be surprised to learn that Harvey Mudd College has a higher percentage of its graduates go on to receive doctorates than either of these renowned institutions. Many would be surprised that Cooper Union comes next among engineering schools in this respect."</p>
<p>Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say that Mudd is better than Caltech or MIT. I don't know which one is better. What I am saying is that Mudd is a very good engineering school that is evidently highly successful in getting its graduates high-paying jobs and placement into technical graduate schools.</p>
<p>thanks everyone... these schools all sound great :)</p>