To ALL Cal Poly Applicants

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
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The link below was posted by @collgbrwsr and I don’t want it to get lost in the long thread. Plus, there’s some info I want to add.

The gist is that it’s more about what you do than where you go. There’s plenty of evidence to support that notion, notably, 80% of graduates surveyed say they were very happy with their school no matter where it fit on their list! even if it was last place.

Society and rankings have painted a picture that there is a single just perfect school. Anyone who’s been through it though can tell you, no school is perfect and lots will actually be suitable as long as…you make the most…out of your opportunities.

So, neither a CP acceptance or rejection will define your life. What you do where ever you go will.

Here’s the post in its entirety:

Today at 1:23 pm
Congrats to all who have been accepted, and best wishes to those still waiting! I’m assuming that none of you have just applied to one school, and one school only (who does that?) so I am sure you will all have great choices. I highly recommend the excellent book “Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be,” by NY Times columnist Frank Bruni. Don’t have time to read the whole book? Here’s an article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-how-to-survive-the-college-admissions-madness.html

I am doubtful my son will get into Cal Poly SLO, but if he does, we will be absolutely thrilled. If not, at this point he still has two great schools to choose from: San Jose State and UC Riverside, both of which are reputed to have excellent engineering programs. We’re still awaiting other schools, including Cal Poly Pomona and the UCs, but if nothing comes through, we still have some good options.

Reach for the stars, but learn to love your safeties and alternates!
Flaminhaute, I’ve been really impressed with you, and wish you the best! Mills College is an awesome school. I don’t know where you are, but have you also checked out Embry-Riddle? There are campuses in Florida and Arizona, and I believe they do rolling applications.

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Thanks, eyemgh. There’s definitely a danger in pinning your hopes on one elite school, or a group of elite schools. Five years ago, we went through this whole college application process with my daughter. 4.5/4.0 GPA, 2020 SAT, great recommendations, loads of ECs, etc. She was an attractive candidate for a lot of schools, but her big 3 were Georgetown (#1), Stanford and Berkeley. All three rejected her over the course of three days, and Georgetown even rejected her TWICE…they sent two identical rejection letters. I told her it was probably a computer glitch, but she took it to mean: “we really, really don’t want you here. Got that?” After a tearful afternoon and some cupcake and retail therapy, she took a look at her acceptances: UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and Cal Poly SLO. Chose UCLA, and couldn’t be more pleased, even though she initially thought all schools paled in comparison to Georgetown. She’s insanely happy there, and couldn’t imagine going anywhere else. She’s had loads of opportunities, once had Michael Dukakis for her professor, had internships, met some fantastic friends, and sees celebrities on a regular basis, just hanging around campus.
I have no doubt that my son will have a great time and a terrific education wherever he ends up.