<p>I am planning on majoring in engineering, and I’ve heard of how Cal Poly SLO/Pomona stress the “learn by doing” philosophy and how most employers prefer to hire people from these schools even though they’re CSU’s. What bothers me is what does that say about the UC schools for engineering? I always hear that UCs are more theoritcal vs CSUs, but what does that mean when you graduate? Some of my friends have said that they know of people who graduated from a UC but had a hard time at their job because they just learned theory and not practical stuff. Should I apply to a UC anyway? And what is your opinion on this? Does it REALLY matter if you get an engineering degree at a Cal Poly vs UC Irvine for example?</p>
<p>Lets keep things in perspective…</p>
<p>Universities are all about theory and research to prove or disprove those theories. And from those theories, come new products and ideas. Besides Al Gore… it was the University system that created the internet… and who prototyped and created bombs and computers, for instance. Most all this gets passed on to the private sector for improvement, refinement, and product.</p>
<p>State Universities exist for all the reasons that Universities exist… except for the research. They just take the best theory and best practices and educate students with them. </p>
<p>And of course, all Colleges provide well rounded educations so that we have free-thinkers… creative thinkers in this wold of ours.</p>
<p>If your goal is to get a college education and move into the work environment with your education, the a State University is for you. If you are the creative type interested in what currently isn’t… then a University might be a best fit.</p>