<p>I'm a Junior at a Magnet High School in Nevada and I'm new here on College Confidential. I'm dead set on majoring in Civil Engineering. I got six universities picked out from Cali:</p>
<p>Sac State
Cal Poly SLO
Cal Poly Pomona
San Diego State
San Jose State
UC Irvine</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything that stands out about the engineering programs at these schools? Any information at all would be great. Thanks!</p>
<p>These are good schools and all you need right now is maintaining high GPA, getting high scores of SAT/ACT and obtaining recommendation from your teachers. Oh, dont forget to have some idea for your essay for admission.</p>
<p>I went to UC Irvine as a Mechanical Engineer. I don’t know too much about the civil engineering program but what I really liked about the school was that we got to do a year-long project that allowed us to apply our theoretical knowledge into a real-life problem. A lot of people know that UCs are based more on theory rather than hands-on, which is what Cal States focus on. But I liked that we were able to apply that theory into a project.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO has always had a great overall engineering program, and they have a very “learn by doing” kind of attitude </p>
<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using CC</p>
<p>Thanks Guys!</p>
<p>Sure Thing Jan! Taking my real SAT in March. I have an entry on the Chances forum that would explain my situation. If you could look into my case and give me feedback it would be great :)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1445953-chance-me-new-here-junior-high-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1445953-chance-me-new-here-junior-high-school.html</a></p>
<p>Chickenboi, out of those six, UC Irvine is my dream school! I’m glad I’m hearing good things about it so far. Facilities and Academics both look top notch, Thanks!</p>
<p>Phantom, Cal Poly SLO engineering is one of the best also! They even have that rare Architectural Engineering major that sounds appealing to me. My magnet high school is very hands on so I guess that benefits me x) Only downside to SLO is the somewhat secluded location, Thanks!</p>
<p>Any more input from anyone?</p>
<p>My son went to Cal Poly SLO. Very nice area to live. Most kids I know that went there loved the area. Tough school to get into these days.</p>
<p>There are only two schools in the CA system that offer Architectural Engineering, Cal Berkley and SLO. Very hard program to get into. it requires SAT scores and GPA much higher than the average for SLO.</p>
<p>Thanks HPuck!</p>
<p>SLO does sound like a quaint town in Central Cali. Cal Poly SLO is a very residential campus also which is great in terms of campus vibe. Many of the other cal states are virtually all commuter where an out-of-stater like me won’t fit in well. The only issue is that my family is in Las Vegas and its going to be a bit hard getting in and out of SLO for the breaks and summer. Doesn’t help that on my chance entry (link above^) the only reply is saying SLO is a reach in terms of my stats =/ I could always dream and try though!</p>
<p>I looked at your stats and it would be quite a reach to get into SLO.</p>
<p>Is somewhat easy to get in and out of though. First year my son was there, we didn’t let him have a car (as most schools would recommend). Amtrak goes thru SLO and through our town, so was easy for him to go back and forth. You could take the train to Union Station in LA and then on to LV.</p>
<p>Rough ranking by strength in engineering:
Cal Poly SLO/UC Irvine
Cal Poly Pomona
San Jose State
San Diego State
Sac State</p>
<p>Civil engineering was one of the hardest majors to get into at SJSU for fall 2012:
[SJSU</a> Admission](<a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-916.html]SJSU”>http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-916.html)</p>
<p>Your CSU eligibility index based on your approximate UC/CSU GPA of 3.4 and projected SAT CR+M of 1170 would be 3.4 * 800 + 1170 = 3890, which would not have resulted in admission to SJSU civil engineering that needed a 4100 for fall 2012. (Of course, the threshold can change for fall 2013 and fall 2014.)</p>
<p>Note that all CSUs require a minimum CSU eligibility index of 3502 for out-of-state applicance. UCs require a minimum GPA of 3.4 for out-of-state applicants.</p>
<p>UCs are also significantly more expensive than CSUs. Be sure to run the net price calculator at each school’s web site well before you finalize your application list.</p>
<p>It would be a good idea to take one each of the SAT and ACT this year, then consider whether to retake the better one if necessary based on your application list. (Note that CSUs super-score, while UCs want to see all scores in their holistic reviews.)</p>
<p>HPuck, based on my stats, SLO does looks like a far dream (heck UC Irvine’s admit rate is 10% better than SLO) but thanks for that travel suggestion! The idea of taking a train between college and home sounds pretty cool. Hopefully the high speed connection between Vegas and LA is realized soon.</p>
<p>CollegiateDreams, thanks for your input! Sounds fair that SLO and Irvine have the best engineering programs. I do know that SJSU has one of the better engineering programs in terms of Cal State. I’m looking into Sac State due to the WUE and their engineering seems up to par (I hope) Don’t know much about SDSU’s though.</p>
<p>UCBalm, I did see that SJSU Impaction Page before. It REALLY bums me out. =\ Calculating my UC GPA is pretty confusing because being out of state I don’t know what counts and what doesn’t, My UC GPA could actually be 3.3, it might even be 3.5 at the most. My school’s weighted GPA is standing at 3.97 so I would have loved using that one instead. I really do hope as the economy gets better that all of the impacted cal states broaden their threshold so I have better chances for Fall 2014. I’m not expecting getting into all six of these schools but I hope I’m not rejected from ALL of them. That would just kill me. I REALLY need to ace the real SAT’s in March and retake it in June if I’m not satisfied. Thank You!</p>
<p>Does anyone know which SAT Subject Tests would look great in terms of engineering?</p>
<p>Try this for calculating UC and CSU GPA (the difference is that CSU considers senior year grades if available, but they won’t be available if you apply as a high school senior, so the GPAs should be the same):
[CSUMentor</a> - Plan for College - High School Students - GPA Calculator](<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>http://www.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp)</p>
<p>If your high school is not in <a href=“http://doorways.ucop.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://doorways.ucop.edu</a> , count only AP, IB, or college courses for honors points.</p>
<p>According to <a href=“http://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf[/url]”>http://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf</a> , CSU Sacramento does not list engineering as being major impacted, but Pomona, SD, SJ, and SLO do. However, Sacramento is campus impacted.</p>
<p>More here: [Impaction</a> | Student Academic Support | CSU](<a href=“http://www.calstate.edu/sas/impactioninfo.shtml]Impaction”>http://www.calstate.edu/sas/impactioninfo.shtml)</p>
<p>For SAT subject tests, it does not look like any of the CSUs use them for admissions. UCI engineering recommends but does not require Math Level 2. Some other universities also want a science for engineering applicants; check the admissions web sites of all schools you are considering.</p>
<p>I’ve read through the UC “A-G” courses over and over again but I’m still puzzled on what they will look at when weighing GPA</p>
<p>I DO know that:</p>
<p>-PE never counts
-Math, Science, English, Social Studies and Foreign Language count
-That only AP counts for extra weight out-of-state</p>
<p>I DON’T know:
-If my program area classes like marketing and hospitality management count
-If electives like psychology count
-If Graphic Design or Photography count for the Art Credit (my school doesn’t have music)</p>
<p>It’s very unclear for an out-of-stater like me, pretty frustrating… =</p>
<p>With the budget cuts and tuition going up every year, I would strongly consider adding ASU to your list of schools if it is not too late to apply. Plus the degree will get you any job in California.</p>
<p>Collegiate Dreams did a pretty accurate ranking of the schools you listed though.</p>
<p>Thanks Lookin4Ward, I do have ASU in the back of my mind since Phoenix is notnfar of a drive from Vegas but Civil Engineering isn’t included in the WUE or Western Undergraduate Exchange =\ Only General Engineering is showing up as eligible. I wonder if there’s a way around that. At least ASU isn’t too hard when it comes to admission haha x) Since you agree with Collegiate’s ranking, is there anything necessarily wrong with Sac State’s engineering program?</p>
<p>If the non-available WUE discount is necessary for you to be able to attend ASU, then UCI is probably too expensive also.</p>
<p>Both UNR and UNLV have ABET-accredited civil engineering degree programs.</p>
<p>I agree UCI is very expensive unfortunately, i don’t know, I’m just going to try my luck and go for it and see if I strike any large financial aid discount or maybe a lot of scholarship opportunities, UC Irvine seems too irresistible for me to pass up. I have a relatively high desire to go out of state, I have 10 out of state schools and two in state set up already on my college list. Just hoping. In the mean time, I’m going to consider more and more options that might work for me financially, including UNLV then transfer.</p>
<p>Does anyone know any other California schools (4 year) with good engineering programs?</p>
<p>Depends on if you are worried about cost or selectivity. </p>
<p>USC gives out a lot of scholarship money that can make it worthwhile to attend.
Cal State Long Beach, and Los Angeles would be a good option as well. </p>
<p>In regards to Sac State, I’m in SoCal and I’m not familiar with the program. SLO, Irvine, Pomona, LA and Long Beach are next. But out of the Cal State engineering schools I have researched, probably only Fullerton has a bad rap. You can get a job out of any of them and they are all ABET accredited. </p>
<p>Here are the California State’s with an engineering program matrix:
[List</a> of engineering programs in the California State University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_engineering_programs_in_the_California_State_University]List”>List of engineering programs in the California State University - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I’m applying to transfer to University of New Mexico (UNM) and I know they are a WEU school. I’m an EE though and ex military so it’s a good fit for me; I don’t know anything about Civil there.
[Undergraduate</a> Scholarships :: | The University of New Mexico](<a href=“http://scholarships.unm.edu/scholarships/index.html]Undergraduate”>http://scholarships.unm.edu/scholarships/index.html)
<a href=“http://civil.unm.edu/[/url]”>http://civil.unm.edu/</a></p>
<p>But I’m trying to get out of California lol. Here is a list of WEU schools, check the majors for each school that apply to see if you can save some money.
[WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all)</p>