<p>I will be a 5th year senior Mechanical Engineering student at Cal Poly SLO next year ( Fall 2012 to Spring 2013) I have used my 3 “priority Registrations” . My registration rotation for Fall 2012 is dead last…#12. IF I can get the few remaining classes I need I could graduate after 5 yrs. Question for anyone who has been in this situation : Are 5th year Seniors given preference when it comes to waitlisted classes? ( I asume that with a rotation #12 I will be waitlisted for almost everything I need to take) I need to get into ME 428 Senior Project I in Fall of 2012 to have any hope of graduating in 5 years. Reason I am asking here is I have been getting conflicting info. Thanks for any advice !</p>
<p>I have some questions for you:</p>
<p>Did you enter Cal Poly as a freshman? </p>
<p>Did you change majors while going there? </p>
<p>Why do you think you couldn’t graduate in 4 years? </p>
<p>How long did it take you to finish the first supposed to years of Engineering major prerequisites? Like Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Engineering statics, etc. </p>
<p>What advice can you give someone who wants to graduate in 4 years?</p>
<p>Do you think it’s a good idea to get the first 2 years of prerequisites out of the way at a CC?</p>
<p>Roys: FYI, an ME advisor told me that 5th year Seniors who are waitlisted on classes they need to complete in order to Graduate in years are given priority over other waitlisted students. However a couple of Seniors told me it did NOT work that way for them. They ended up taking 5 years + 1 or 2 quarters. I think the 4 year Graduation rate in Engineering must be something like 10 or 20 %. Just a guess on my part. Engineering is a rigorous major at Cal Poly SLO.</p>
<p>Answering your questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>I entered as a Freshman.</li>
<li>I did not change Majors while enrolled</li>
<li>I could not graduate in 4 years because I had to retake a couple of classes. And I decided to take about 4 classes that I was interested in but did not count towards the ME major or any GE requirements. I came here to get a broad University education. As opposed to going to a Trade School. So I admit, some of the reasons I did not make it in 4 years were my own fault. I didnt take 17 or 18 hours of classes each Quarter. Usually like 15. And I didnt take any Summer classes. I worked in the Summers.</li>
<li>I had some AP high school classes that took care of Calc I and Chem 124 and a couple others…I dont honestly recall all them now. </li>
<li>Anyone who wants to graduate in 4 years will obviously need to NOT do what I did. Make sure you dont need to repeat any courses. Dont take any courses other than those that meet requirements for your Major, make sure you take a heavy load of classes each quarter, be lucky with your registration rotations, and save your 3 priority registrations until absolutely needed.</li>
<li>Getting as many GE classes and pre-reqs at a CC would sure be less expensive. Couldnt hurt. Just make absolutely sure they are transferrable to Cal Poly SLO.</li>
</ol>
<p>Bro, I got denied admission by Cal Poly.
I applied early decision, and I’m bummed.
I don’t want to settle for any other college so I’m going to a CC instead…I know for sure that all the classes I’m taking transfer to Cal Poly.
I got like 2 other questions if you don’t mind:
If you graduate in 5 years are you still eligible for the 5+1 program? </p>
<p>and</p>
<p>I see that you’re about to graduate, does Cal Poly do anything to help you out in looking for a job?</p>
<p>Roys;
Sorry to hear that. But dont give up on it. Do the CC thing and take pre-reqs and GEs that transfer and… get some great grades and reapply.</p>
<p>Your questions:
- I dont know much about the 5+1 program, sorry.
- Cal Poly SLO does have a lot of job placement assistance. In my opinion anyway.
There are on- campus job fairs, employer on- campus interviews, resume and interviewing assistance, co-op education programs and so on. I think they do a good job with that. And a Cal Poly Engineering degree is well thought of by employers. I didnt mean to bad mouth Cal Poly in my previous posts. Its a great Engineering school. Best of luck to you …and dont give up !!</p>
<p>Thanks man.
Yeah I’ll try my all to get at the very least a 3.5.</p>
<p>Reza,
My son had the same problems of getting his last upper-level classes after using up all of his priority registrations. What helped him most of the time was visiting the professor before registration and explaining his situation. You might see what’s that profs policy on enrolling in that class. Hopefully, the prof will agree to put you at the top of the waitlist. You might have to remind the prof just before class starts, plus walk into the class on the first day. It might help if the prof already knew you. Why not visit the prof now, rather than wait till fall class registration? That way the prof will remember you. If you don’t know who’s the teacher, ask the dept.</p>
<p>None of this helped for one of his classes, so he had to wait another quarter in his 5th year, when he had a better rotation. He also did not know that prof and that prof only gave priority to seniors graduating that quarter. So every teacher is different.</p>
<p>Please talk with someone in ME or your senior project advisor about this and senior project. I have a hard time believing that there is any waitlist to register for senior project. That may have slightly different requirements and steps to class registration.</p>
<p>My son is not quite in the same situation as you (different engineering major and taking the blended 4+1), but being at Cal Poly for so long, hed say: theres always a way. And sometimes its something he didnt know, but discovered after talking with a professor or the department. Good luck.</p>
<p>eduparent;</p>
<p>Thanks. Good ideas. I was thinking along the same lines.
I know there has been a push to get students to graduate in a timely fashion, so I assume some steps would be taken to implement that. I am not looking for special treatment, but with the cutbacks in budgets, classes it would seem that the University could do at least something to help out 5th yr seniors. I know there are others in my situatation.</p>
<p>Also, I havent checked statistics on how many Freshman are being accepted lately. I would assume fewer than in years past. I hope they arent “OVER BOOKING” like the airlines. That would seem unfair to accept a lot of students just to grab their tuition and fees , and then let them struggle to try to graduate in 4 or even 5 years.</p>
<p>Reza are Iranian?</p>
<p>Salam ! Hal e shoma ?</p>
<p>Sorry. I am not Iranian. A good friend of mine years ago was Iranian. We looked very similar. I just borrowed his name when registering for this site !</p>
<p>Oh too bad, but are there many Iranians at Cal Poly? I know the diversity is terrible, but I’m hoping to meet more than I have in Minnesota. (I’m half Iranian if you were wondering)</p>
<p>I have met 3 or 4 Iranian students. I would suspect there are more than that ! But Cal Poly SLO is not nearly as diverse as say UC Berkley or USC or Stanford.</p>