<p>Junior S and I visited [url=<a href="http://www.calpoly.edu%5DCalPoly">www.calpoly.edu]CalPoly</a> SLO<a href="California%20Polytechnic%20State%20University,%20San%20Luis%20Obispo">/url</a> on Monday. Since he's interested in the Engineering school there, we took two tours: the morning Engineering tour (with ~30 people: the guide said last week the tour had 3), and the afternoon general tour (with <em>300</em> people! broken into 3 groups, still too large for a decent tour and little interaction with the tourguide unless you are assertive... which luckily we are). We drove to SLO from the San Jose area, about a 3-hour trip, on Sun. night and stayed in a nice B&B in town. There are several hotels and B&Bs available.</p>
<p>The campus was a good size, very clean and with gorgeous California hills on several sides. It didn't seem crowded anywhere (except in the lobby waiting for the tours to begin!). The buildings were mostly cinderblock or nondescript brick, with some exceptions (performing arts center, library...). The tourguide explained that this is because of earlier-decade concerns about nearby Vandeberg AFB and a nuclear power plant which led to the desire for "bomb shelters" (more likely air raid shelters). The architecture was not consistent, but was utilitarian. Construction of a large new engineering complex is underway; a new science & math building is being designed. Cars are NOT recommended on campus, it's just not possible to get a parking space (literally as a freshman/sophomore unless you live in some outlying areas, figuratively later). The guides mentioned that the school is "best" and "#1" for several departments on several lists. (I didn't know Burt Rutan, John Madden, and Weird Al Yankovic were alums!)</p>
<p>Regular (general) tour
The school motto is "Learn by doing", hence there are many hands-on opportunities. The school has ~18K undergrads, who apply by the college they are interested in: Agriculture, Architecture, Business, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Science & Mathematics, Education (masters only). Most students in Engineering take 5 years minimum to graduate; Architecture can take up to 7 years (and still only result in a Bachelors degree). The guide claimed that this is not because of problems getting into required classes, but because it's not possible, from a workload standpoint, to handle more than 3 courses per term. I found this hard to believe, but the students we talked with seemed to think 3 courses was the max. It is close to impossible to double-major or minor in anything else if your major is Engineering or Architecture: you may not double-major within your school, and both schools have to agree to you doubling, which is apparently a non-trivial exercise. ~75% of students live off-campus, within 2 miles of school. Most of the town is school-focused. Most freshmen live on-campus, but it tapers off fast after that. There is a choice of dorms segregated by major, or mixed-major apartments. We were not able to see the dorms. Food services on-campus are nothing special, several eateries (one with really good pizza).</p>
<p>Engineering tour
I <em>HIGHLY</em> recommend this if your student is interested in any of the engineering disciplines, even though it means two tours. Our guide was a "graduating senior" (fifth year), who took us through many lab areas: embedded systems lab, networking lab, foundry, welding lab, fabrication labs, robotic systems lab, machine shops, wind tunnel, flight simulator, civil engineering construction lot... Juniors and seniors work on a big design/build project, and there is heavy job fair recruiting for graduates. Three professors and six students were called into action during the tour to tell us about their work, all were very engaged, enthusiastic, knowledgeable. We saw excellent equipment, the labs seemed very heavily funded, all were well appointed with modern equipment. Lots of industry involvement (naming classrooms and labs, lending equipment for testing, etc.)</p>
<p>SLO seems to exist for the college, and vice-versa. There are lots of shops, several hotels and B&Bs near the school, good transportation around campus & town (free with student ID). The Ag School runs a store on-campus selling student-produced meats, cheeses, dairy products, produce, and CHOCOLATE!</p>
<p>My son thought it was a pleasant school and nice little town, very pretty. Pismo Beach is about a half hour away, and lots of students do learn to surf while there. :) S also thought it sounded like students didn't do much other than their coursework, and <em>still</em> couldn't graduate in 4 years. As a Cal State U, there are some standard admissions requirements, but selectivity varies depending on the school you apply to. S will likely apply.</p>