Hi! I have to SIR today, so I need some help. I am a communications major (pre comm for ucsb). I know ucsb’s comm studied is one of their top majors, so what worries me is the ease of getting classes and graduating in four years. Also, you must keep a minimum 3.0 gpa to enter the comm major at UCSB. I did generally decent in high school (3.88 UW and 4.16 w, 2060 SAT) but I was wondering if UCSB might be too challenging academically. I don’t want to fail out of the major.
For SLO, its liberal arts studies and communications are generally less well known, but the classes seem easier and more job oriented. The professors seem to be in the industry. My problem is that at cal poly it is too hard to get needed classes and their four year grad rate is very low.
At this rate, SLO and UCSB are priced the same. Which one do you think is best?
I can’t answer your question directly, but I’d like to dispel a few points. First, if you KNOW you want a certain major, be it engineering, communications, or whatever, I never recommend schools that don’t allow direct admits. Why? There’s a chance you might not get in. Why take the risk when there are other options? Second, don’t assume that the better known school will be harder. They will likely be similar. Last, classes are now much less difficult to get at SLO. The registration system is changing and there are more classes available. Good luck. Both are great options!
I think you need to ask yourself some more questions and think hard about the answers. Is the difficulty of the major the only reason you would consider not attending UCSB? Are there many other aspects that you like about Cal Poly over UCSB or vice versa? I would advise you not to worry about failing out of the major if you decide on UCSB. Fear of failure will ultimately only hold you back. I’m assuming that by this point you’ve already done some reasearch about both schools, so it’s really up to you to decide what is best.
Also, just FYI, Cal Poly’s four year grad rate is definitely impacted by engineering and architecture majors. Arch majors have a five year program to begin with, and engineers are usually the other majors who might take longer to graduate, since some of them do the combined bachelor + masters program, which is five years, and others have a larger amount of units required to graduate. Most liberal arts majors should be able to get out in four years or less no problem, unless they change their major, which may or may not add time.