<p>So my situation is that I’ve been accepted to both schools, but I can’t decide where to attend !! My dilemma is that I’ve always wanted to work in the tech industry, but I don’t know which school will help me reach it the best. My argument for sjsu is that it’s located right in silicon valley, I assume that I’ll be able to get internships and pick up a job from there, but cal poly (from what i read) has a really good reputation. I am OOS so I don’t know any major tech companies elsewhere other than silicon valley ( I know I’m sad). My major is computer engineering at cal poly slo and electrical engineering (I will try to change to computer engineering/science if I do attend sjsu) </p>
<p>I assume both will be around the same price and I have a bunch of ap credit so I assume I won’t be forced to graduate late due to sjsu administration problems. </p>
<p>Cal Poly has very strong industry ties and regularly has numerous well known Silicon Valley companies recruiting on campus (Google, Apple, Facebook, Cisco, etc.). One of the pillar of a Cal Poly education is its co-op program where students work in the industry for 6 months to gain practical experience.</p>
<p>Your dilemma is in fact not really a dilemma. Cal Poly is substantially ahead in terms of reputation (we are on par with mid-tier UCs), employment opportunities, post graduation salary (we have the highest post-graduation salary after Cal and UCSD, campus life, and quality of the student body and facilities when compared to SJSU. </p>
<p>You should visit both campuses to find out for yourself. Cal Poly is a residential campus, and SJSU is a commuter campus, and thus you will get a very different college experience.</p>
<p>It may seem like SJSU students would have more opportunities for internships and jobs due to being in Silicon Valley. However, those students are competing against students from Stanford, Berkeley and Santa Clara. Yes there are more opportunities, but they are spread out among many more people. </p>
<p>The administration headaches are at both schools. I know several current students at each campus and registration is a pain for all of them. They are CSUs and not private schools. </p>
<p>The setting of each school is very different. SLO is an attractive campus in the hills with a cute downtown, 15-20minutes from the beach with a more residential student body. Has a brand new recreation center and a state of the art science building.</p>
<p>SJSU is downtown, and it is not cute. No one has ever described the campus or its surroundings as beautiful. It is definitely more urban. You can be at Santa Cruz beach or San Francisco in about an hour with a car, or a little longer by train (SF) or bus (beach). So there is a lot to do in the area. Some find Cal Poly to be in a sleepy suburban town if they are used to life in a big city. Some also find CalPoly to be less diverse politically, racially and economically if that matters to you.</p>
<p>I recommend Cal Poly unless you want to travel back home for holidays and breaks and you need to fly. SJSU is ten minutes from a major airport. Due to expense and a dinky little airport, most who live in the central coast of California drive the three hours to SJ or LA to catch a flight anywhere. </p>
<p>Otherwise, go to Cal Poly. Its programs and reputation and setting can’t be beat for a CSU. I don’t think you will regret it. </p>
<p>Recommend you go to Admitted Student’s Day for both universities. Even if you’ve already toured both campuses, on Admitted Student’s Day, you get a chance to be with your major, tour the department, find out what classes you’ll be taking (specifically how soon will you be taking computer engineering or programming classes, but you can also find that out online) and ask your questions. You can visit other parts of each campus as well as get a feel of the off-campus housing neighborhood, where you’ll be spending several years. Best of luck with your decision.</p>
<p>First of all thank you for everyone’s comments! I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>this might seem like a dumb question, but is there transportation to major airports ( for students that do/did attend SLO) </p>
<p>From the way everyone’s describing it, cal poly is the way to go! I would attend admitted student day / campus visits, but my parents aren’t willing to dish out almost 5000 dollars in travel expenses just to figure out where I’m gonna attend college ( they expect me to do my own research, hence this post) . </p>
<p>Now that SJSU is pretty much out of the picture ( unless they somehow cost way less than cal poly), where does cal poly stand among those mid tier UC’s ( applied to UCI , UCD, UCSD, UCLA, CAL ) now I don’t want to assume I get accepted, but I’m pretty confident about the mid tiers. </p>
<p>Would going to a “hands on school” make it hard to go to a “research school” for my masters? </p>
<p>Once again thanks in advance and I appreciate all the advice!</p>
<p>There is limited commercial air service at the SLO airport but, it will be expensive. You can take a train to Santa Barbara, LA or Bay Area for more commercial service. It is slow and kinda expensive.</p>
<p>I belive SLO is a little more expensive than SJSU - maybe $1 - but that shouldn’t really be a determining factor.</p>
<p>The UCs you list are ‘better’, more expensive and generally more selective than SLO. As noted above, they prepare you best for grad school while, for engineering, the hands on Cal Poly approach will better qualify you for the workforce immediately.</p>
<p>A huge percentage of Cal Poly students come from the Bay Area and LA area. There are ride sharing boards and most OOS kids get to airports that way or take the Amtrak Train/Bus to the larger airports. I disagree with others only UCLA and Berkeley are considered better than Cal Poly, UCSD and UCSB are kind of a push, and the others are definitely considered below. Cal Poly has a 4+1 Master’s. If a job in the industry is your goal Cal Poly is the way to go. If research is your goal stay away and go to a UC or other PhD school.</p>
<p>Engineering interns hired at one Silicon Valley firm receive different pay based on which school they attend. The higher pay goes to students from Cal Poly SLO, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, etc. San Jose State students are in a lower pay group. Make of that what you will.</p>
<p>Can you pls cite that source?
I’d like to know how engineering grads from USC stand against Cal Poly ones
I’ve been admitted to Cal Poly and waiting to hear from USC and I’m currently broken up between the 2 schools</p>
<p>The source is a friend. I just asked your question and the friend said they are unaware of USC students ever being considered for internships at this particular firm. Their top internship feeder schools are Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Cal Poly SLO and Cornell. </p>
<p>Keep in mind this is just one firm and may be based on where employees happen to have connections. I know that engineers working there ask their former favorite professors who the current top students are, and then reach out to those students to discuss internships. If you have companies in mind that you aspire to work for, perhaps you could ask them the USC vs. Cal Poly question. My post was meant only to contrast Cal Poly SLO and SJSU anecdotally. </p>
<p>Best wishes to you in making your decision!</p>
<p>I would take the alumni network and experience of USC over CP anyday. USC is a private with all the benefits (and price tag) of that. Two totally different experiences. Every decent school has great job connections and job fairs, it is not a differentiator for CP. USC and UCLA run the LA area and those two schools would be chosen by a majority of firms there over CP. Silicon Valley firms use them all, Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, CP, and more, etc. The EECS degree of Cal is highlight sought in the bay area. I would not attend CP because of job connections. The idea that they prepare you more than other students makes no sense but is good marketing. People make you think that people never leave a text book at UCLA and only CP offers this learning by doing. Reality is all schools are learning by doing. Talk to anyone at any good school, they all have great connections and job fairs and are prepared for the job market when they graduate. Large privates have amazing alumni networks. A state school versus a private? Should be an obvious choice if money is not an issue.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at SLO for EE. His good friend is a freshman in computer engineering. They went to an internship fair in the fall/winter. At orientation we were all told it is unlikely for a freshman to get an internship as they are competing against juniors/seniors with more classes/experience but it’s good experience for them to go. My son’s friend was approached by two companies who wanted him. After a 3 day interview he ended up getting hired by Amazon to work this summer in an office in SLO making $27/hour. The other company said they will keep his name and try to get him next year. That’s a freshman! There are definitely job opportunities through SLO. And like someone said above, they do offer the masters under a 4+1 plan, which is what my son is intending to do.</p>
<p>Since it’s impossible to copy paste names I’ll go in order…</p>
<p>Since it’s limited is there flights from SLO to LA or the Bay area ? I’m personally not a fan of cars ( carsick easily.) so a 3 hour trip twice a year will be brutal for me. </p>
<p>Honestly Im lucky enough to get into Cal Poly , 1450 SAT, 3.8 gpa so I don’t think I’ll even be able to choose between CP and UCLA/CAL. Wouldn’t a research based degree be more preferable to an innovating job industry? </p>
<p>Well I assume ( no offence to other people) that the graduation rate is low because it’s quite easy to get in meaning the students aren’t as motivated to work hard as say people from stanford. I calculated how much credits im coming in with assuming I pass my exams ( well im getting As I think I will pass) and I think I’ll be fine if anything I want to complete the 4+1 in less than 5 years. </p>
<p>From what your saying, school > degree, I’m sure that’s quite debatable unless the school vastly makes you more prepared and experienced compared to other schools. </p>
<p>the fact that it’s considered a top school in the industry makes me want to go, but I feel like it’s … all marketing and I feel like I’ll get scammed ( unless there’s previous SLO grads here that can argue against that). </p>
<p>Well lucky for me I didn’t apply to USC due to person reasons with that school so I won’t have to choose between those 2 schools. I actually have teachers that worked with UCLA grads and they told me that they are only taught how to research and the theoretical side of things ( didn’t understand concepts in the defense industry) so I’m not too sure about that. </p>
<p>SLO is such a small place you can actually get internships in the area?? 3 days must’ve been very intense, congratz to him! Do you know what they had him do at work etc? I’m very curious. </p>
<p>I want to give my thanks for everyone that’s replying!</p>
<p>It’s funny reading these threads because so many give opinions like they are actually facts.</p>
<p>I will tell you this and it is an indisputed truth. Engineering programs’ reputations are made by the research produced in the labs of their doctoral candidates. No PhD program (ala CP), no international reputation. </p>
<p>So, what are the implications for an UNDERGRAD? At the institutions with PhD programs you WILL be taught in large part by graduate students. Undergraduate teaching is NOT a priority of the famous faculty. Also, at “research” schools, UGs are rarely doing anything that could be considered other than menial because they are busy looking for projects for Masters and Doctoral candidates.</p>
<p>Do with that what you want.</p>
<p>I can tell you what a PhD from Stanford told my son when he was debating between CP and Stanford. Go to CP for UG. If you go on to graduate school, then choose Stanford (or Cal Tech or MIT). Two Cal Tech profs (retired) told him the same.</p>
<p>Wow…Cal Poly is great but if anyone turns away a Stanford acceptance they are missing the big picture. I’m from Northern California Eyemgh, where we all know 10 dozen kids at Cal Poly and two at Stanford. Agree or not, it’s a prestige fact and the name on the diploma opens far more doors when it says Stanford. </p>
<p>Eyemgh, your opinions are above are not facts at all either. Your summary of PhD programs is bunk. That is such old marketing that CP has been playing for years. Old record that is so out of date. CP is not in the league of Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA but some need to stay in fantasy land to feel good about their choice. Several kids in our area left CP as freshman this year cause they couldn’t get classes. That is a fact I know. It is an impacted state school, that’s it. Let’s talk about that, not bury it by blowing rainbows around. But please don’t present your opinions as facts either, they are not.</p>
<p>My son didn’t choose CP for the savings. He turned down $100 K from the 37th ranked national university, if that ranking crap means anything to you, to go to Poly. Why? He felt poly offered the best undergraduate engineering education. That’s not from propaganda. That’s from visiting LOTS of schools and reviewing many curricula. </p>
<p>It is true, no matter how you want to spin it, that engineering reputations are built on research output and not teaching quality. In fact, 100% of USNWRs undergraduate methodology for engineering is reputation as determined through the opinions of other institutions. They know the published literature in their own areas of expertise, not about how well thermodynamics is taught at U of Whatever.</p>
<p>The opinion on Stanford came from a graduate of Stanford. With that said, it would be hard to turn down. UCB? UCLA? Not so much. He didn’t even apply to those, especially after hearing from a current UCB undergrad that it was sort of akin to “going to school at the DMV.”</p>
<p>If you want to call my opinion bunk, refute it with something at least anecdotal. I have former Cal Tech professors on my side. You?</p>
<p>As for Poly’s difficulty in delivering classes, there’s no doubt about that. There are tricks and it requires flexibility, but even with that, we’re budgeted for 5 years. I did just run into a kid however that will finish his 4+1 in 4 years! There are quitters and there are go getters and there’s the rest in between.</p>
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