SLO over Davis?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
1

<p>I recently got off the waitlist for UC Davis. I already submitted my SIR to Cal Poly but now I’m starting to reconsider :confused: I absolutely loved visiting Cal Poly and I was so excited to go, but after looking into UC Davis I’m wondering if the education there would be enough to reassess my decision. Sorry if this is rushed, I’m in a hurry but I wanted to get this out there ASAP. Keep in mind I have to make my decision by this FRIDAY Math 10th
Pros and cons of each:</p>

<p>Cal Poly SLO
Pros:
*Beautiful location (beaches, mountains, etc.)
*Demographics (I went to dominantly Asian school; I’m half-Asian myself but I didn’t appreciate the cut-throat environment. At times it encouraged me to work harder and other times I felt discouraged)
*Smaller school
*“Learn by doing” philosophy
*The students seemed so friendly, polite, and happy!!
*The school looks like it has a good balance of academics, sports, social life, etc.
*Business school
*Actually has a journalism major
*Surrounding area has great food
*Safer for someone who may not want to go to graduate school after (should something happen)
*Closer to friends
*I’ve heard from people who have graduated from my high school and then went to UC Davis that it’s “really easy”</p>

<p>Cons:
*Less emphasis on graduate school
*There is that CSU stigma (I definitely feel it at my school; my parents don’t as much because everybody they talk to raves about Cal Poly)
*I feel it contends with UCD solely for it’s engineering school
*Not as strong in the liberal arts…?
*Harder to switch majors
*Dining has been described as “gnarly”
*Farther from home</p>

<p>UC Davis
Pros:
*Emphasis on graduate school
*Looks like there’s a wide variety of opportunities
*Good food (Hey, I love to eat)
*UC name
*easier to switch majors along the way
*Better for those on the fence about what they want to do…?
*Closer to home
*I’ve heard from people who have graduated from my high school and then went to UC Davis that it’s “really easy” (my high school is fairly challenging)
*Football!
*One of my favorite UCs (Initially, I wanted to go to UC Davis more than Cal Poly)</p>

<p>Cons:
*Flat land (I’ve passed by Davis many times, though I’ve never seen the campus)
*Huuuuge campus. At times I like anonymity but I might feel intimidated with the sheer size of the school
*Large classes (taken classes at De Anza; at first I was impressed with the amount of students–“It’s like I’m at a real university!”–but after a while you crave for some interaction with your professor. And I HATED our TA…so if you’re behind on work, this could be a problem)
*I don’t really like the idea of researching… I’d rather go out and do something with what I’ve learned…
*Farther from friends
*Demographics…
*Family friend dropped out; she said it was too hard and the environment wasn’t conducive to her learning
*If I end up not going to graduate school, I feel at Cal Poly I’ll have a better chance of finding a job
*No business school for undergraduates</p>

<p>At UC Davis I’m majoring in English, Cal Poly is journalism. However, I want to double major at Cal Poly with Business (now that I know more about the school; many of my friends were able to switch or add business to their major). Not sure if I’ll switch to English at Cal Poly.</p>

<p>Any thoughts? As you can tell, I’m more inclined to attend Cal Poly but maybe I’d have a harder time going onto graduate school. And God forbid, I don’t get into Orfalea’s Business school…</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>-Daisy</p>

2

<p>With regards to the CSU stigma, only you can decide whether that’s a deal breaker for you. After all, any “stigma” is really all on our heads to most extent.</p>

<p>Cal Poly is not only comparable to UCD in engineering. UCD is a big agriculture school (one of the best), so is Cal Poly. </p>

<p>SLO has one of the top architecture school in the whole of the US. I think we are number 4 in the nation, Cornell is #1. </p>

<p>Our business school is pretty decently ranked, and moving up. </p>

<p>So SLO is really known for its engineering, architecture, agriculture, and business programs. </p>

<p>The biggest cross-admit school for Cal Poly is UC Davis (reverse of that being true also). </p>

<p>As for graduate school, whether you get into a top grad school has everything to do with your college grades, recommendations, and standardized test scores. If you have brilliant stats, you will get in. SLO will never be an hinderance to that endavour. Conversely, a UCD diploma will not guarantee admissions into a top grad school either. Although if your goal is going to grad school in UCD, then there is an advantage. </p>

<p>To sum up, UCD is Cal Poly’s academic peer. </p>

<p>It all comes down to where you are most comfortable. Either choice will work out nicely for you.</p>

<p>Forgot to mention, you worried about UCD’s campus size being too big. Cal Poly is actually bigger than UCD (this is not a competition, but rather just a caution that you might find Cal Poly too big also).</p>

3

<p>Whaaat? Cal Poly is bigger? When I visited it seemed so much smaller than UC Davis’ campus! Don’t they cover 5,300 acres and Cal Poly only has 1,321 acres? I only saw UCD for a few seconds (my mom went in to check out the food ha ha).</p>

<p>But Cal Poly has a smaller student body. I’m fine if the campus itself is a lot bigger, I just don’t want to go to a really crowded school.</p>

<p>And thanks! Your statement solidified my intent to attend Cal Poly! I really hope I’ll be able to double major with Business, too.</p>

4

<ul>
<li>Cal Poly Quick Facts by Cal Poly Web Site -</li>
</ul>

<p>Main Campus: 1,321 acres, of which 155 are the campus core
San Luis Creek Ranches, adjacent to campus: 1,614 acres
Western Ranches, not contiguous to campus: 3,043 acres
Swanton Pacific Ranch, Santa Cruz County: 3,200 acres
Valencia Property, Santa Cruz County: 500 acres
Total: 9,678 acres.</p>

<p>Cal Poly is the second largest land-holding university in California, second only to UC Berkeley, and one of the largest land-holding universities in the nation. Cal Poly uses all of its land holdings in active support of the education of its students.</p>

5

<p>I completely overlooked the rest of that! How very interesting. Ah well, better have more land in San Luis Obispo than in Davis (in my humble opinion), so I think my decision has been made.</p>

<p>Thanks all!</p>

<p>& if anyone knows anything about Orfalea, please message me!</p>

6

<p>Forgot to edit: and also on their English Department/CLA. I’d be glad to know more about it to see how it stands!</p>

7

<p>Did you take the time to see Davis? You mentioned DeAnza, and that’s only a couple hours (if that) from Davis - and you haven’t seen it? If you didn’t make the effort to go there, maybe that answers your question…I think both campuses appear large cause there is a lot of open space around them. As a side note, the Davis campus is actually pretty cool, but you have to get off the hwy to see it. But SLO is a cute town. Good luck!</p>