If you got accepted into both, which would you choose and why? I’m a senior in HS and applied to civil engineering to both schools, I got accepted into Cal Poly last week and now I’m patiently waiting for UCB to reply. I know that Cal Poly is a smaller school, practices hands-on learning and is in a great town. UCB is a lot bigger, much more diverse, very prestigious and also in an urban environment. Which school do you think would be better, by that i mean as in their engineering and the school’s atmosphere. Thanks guys!
There really is no comparison. UCB is in an altogether higher league than Cal Poly.
not sure why anybody would compare the two, UC Berkeley is wayyyy better in almost every regard. A degree from berkeley is infinitely more prized and respected than one from slo. I’m not saying slo isn’t respectable, but compared to the engineering giant that is Berkely slo is miniscule.
@fogcity @YuiHirasawa well, I am really hoping to get into UC Berkeley. The weird thing is, a few people from my school that I have talked to favor Cal Poly over UCB? When I told my school counselor I got into Cal Poly SLO, he told me that he recommends that over UCB. I was really confused when he told me that… maybe they are just thinking about how it is by the beach and that kind of outdoorsy stuff. Thanks guys!
maybe because tuition in cal states are generally slightly lower than UCs, and because cal states generally have smaller class sizes/ students on campus in general. This is the case for UCB vs SLO, anyways. But in terms of raw statistics, UCB clearly has the edge in prestige and academics.
UCB:
Acceptance Rate: 17%
avg Math+CR sat: 1380
weighted avg gpa: 4.39
4-Year Graduation Rate: 72%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 91%
Cal Poly SLO:
Acceptance Rate: 31%
avg Math+CR sat: 1190
weighted avg gpa: 3.97
4-Year Graduation Rate: 28%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 72%
(source: cappex)
I consider Cal Poly SLO to be the one CSU that can compete with the UCs in engineering. A lot of people don’t like Berkeley’s campus and large class sizes, so in that respect, Cal Poly SLO would very appealing.
In California, I would suspect many engineering managers would rate Cal Poly SLO’s undergraduate engineering programs as on par with Berkeley’s. Outside of the state, where Cal Poly isn’t as well known, Berkeley’s reputation will certainly overshadow Cal Poly’s.
It’s easier to get part-time and intership jobs if you are in the Bay area.
Let me start with the preface that I just spent two hours talking with a civil engineering major at SLO, and my best friend is a recent graduate of one of UCB’s top quantative STEM programs. At no point in my life have I attended either university. I would also caution you on assuming you’ll get into Berkeley engineering. Frankly it’s much more competitive than SLO.
The level of recruiting at SLO is excellent, particularly for in state employers. I think people underestimate just how well reputed SLO is among many California employers. It also has smaller classes, and is in a completely different setting than the quasi urban Berkeley.
The core philosophies of the school differ substantially. On one end, from the minute you get to SLO, almost every engineering course will have some hands on component. Berkeley is much more theoretical in its treatment of subjects (although there will absolutely be hands on work). Some people and employers prefer the Berkeley method, while others like Cal Poly’s methodology. Many likely don’t care, seeing both as ready. My last relevant California employer preferred UC grads, although that was partially because it was a small engineering firm where R&D was expected of most employees.
At SLO opportunities to participate in research will be more limited if that’s important to you. SLO is not grad school prep. It’s not intended to be, although there are some on campus opportunities.
If you decide to switch out of engineering at either school, SLO is much weaker in all but a few fields.
The previous posts to this thread provide a great many sound observations and good advice. As one who has been heavily involved in the hiring – and especially in the promotion – of many engineers (for Lockheed Martin), I suggest UCB. Cal Poly is a darn good school – please make no mistake about that – and, frankly, I might find it’s aggregate environment and its “cultural fit” to be more appealing than Berkeley’s. However, when 150 resumes have to be culled to about 10 individuals who will be interviewed – and the program director can only devote two hours to this task – UCB will be a “plus” that Cal Poly is not. That’s probably unfair – and it certainly is applicable in only limited situations – but it is also a “fact of life.”
"However, when 150 resumes have to be culled to about 10 individuals who will be interviewed – and the program director can only devote two hours to this task – UCB will be a “plus” that Cal Poly is not. That’s probably unfair – and it certainly is applicable in only limited situations – but it is also a “fact of life.”
That is so true Top Tier. That is why, contrary to the belief of many posters here in CC, that the name brand of the school does make somewhat of a difference, even in engineering.
We live fairly close to CalPoly, so this experience may be skewed. I know several engineering managers who say they really like the graduates from CalPoly because they are so hands-on and can take a project and run with it without needing a whole lot of direction.
As others said, CalPoly is a darn good school. If you don’t make it into Berkeley engineering (it’s a tough admit), I think you should be very happy to attend CalPoly. It’s a great school for civil engineering. I haven’t been on the CalPoly campus lately during session, but I believe it is reasonably diverse, and it’s a really nice town.
Yea the thing about SLO is that in comparison to most of California, it’s a fairly white campus. By national standards it’s extremely racially diverse.
Ethnic diversity:
Group United States California CPSLO
White (NH) 62.6% 39.0% 60.4%
Hispanic/Latino 17.1% 38.4% 15.2%
Black 13.2% 6.6% 0.8%
Asian 5.3% 14.1% 11.6%
Native American 1.2% 1.7% 0.2%
Pacific Islander 0.2% 0.5% 0.2%
Two or more 2.4% 3.7% 6.7%
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg06_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=666
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html
Thank you guys for all the replies! It means a lot and is so helpful (: @ucbalumnus @whenhen @Ynotgo @rjkofnovi @TopTier @coolweather @simba9 @YuiHirasawa @fogcity
Its a tough decision, to be sure. As for which setting is better, you’ll need to decide that for yourself. I’m less convinced than some previous posters about the dominating position of Cal. There have been studies such as the one by Krueger that track students that got into a variety of colleges. What these studies report is that students who got into more selective colleges are more successful (in income terms, which is what they measured) than those who did not get accepted, no matter which college they actually attended. It might be worth spending a few minutes looking up results in this vein. One such link is http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/revisiting-the-value-of-elite-colleges/
I think there is something to these studies. A lot of kids put too much faith in the school “doing” something, as opposed to an understanding and/or willingness to take the reins. How many posts do we see here “which school will better prepare me for med school?” Most people here would agree that Stanford > Cal > Cal Poly SLO, but as you climb the ladder in selectivity personal characteristics matter more in admission. The kid who got into Stanford, even if finances force her to attend Cal Poly, is still the kind to really study hard to learn the material, will get to know some profs which will give good recs for grad school or perhaps some leads if companies they consult for ask about promising students, will go out and get internships.
So my advice is that in the end what you do in college is going to matter much more than the name of the school where you do it.
Any word from UCB yet? Shouldn’t it be any day now?
I think berkeley is next thursday. the 26th.
Cal Poly-without a doubt. I got accepted to both and chose Cal Poly and have 0 regrets. The people that said Berkeley is better is everything is biased and has no understanding of how different and amazing Cal Poly is.
Thanks everyone, I ended up getting rejected to UCB so it definitely made it an easy pick! lol Cal Poly SLO engineering here I come B-)
jake, you will be fine. My father is an engineer for a biomed company in Silicon Valley. He works for start ups and hires engineers every 6 months or so. He tells me he would rather hire a Cal Poly grad over a Berkeley or Stanford grad any day. They are just better prepared to get jobs.