<p>I can't decide between UC Davis and Cal Poly. I am a bioengineering major and I likethe small class size of cal poly but I dont really like the town. Davis is reputible but is soo big. Please help! Which do you guys like better?!?</p>
<p>I recently visited Cal Poly a couple of days ago for their Open House and I have to say, the college and town definitely lives up to its reputation. Just beautiful! As far as academics go, you can’t go wrong with either. Cal Poly has the “Learn by Doing” motto which is seen as being more practical and Davis as being more theoretical. However Davis also provides internships that will help you work in the field that you want. I’m not saying that Cal Poly doesn’t, they both try to help you in the long run. Ohhh and I forgot to say, I was admitted into Cal Poly’s Biological Sciences and Davis’ Neurobiology program this year so it was a tough decision. But right when I got home, I knew that Davis was the university for me. The place is amazing. And as a STEM major, it’s gonna be tough all year round but thank goodness for the tutoring. There’s so much resources that are offered to you. Honestly, it all comes down to where you feel comfortable. Enjoy the experience! Try visiting both colleges. Hope that helped! (:</p>
<p>My sources: Students from both universities and personal.</p>
<p>It really depends on your personality. SLO is a small city but I would not call it isolating. It has a very lively downtown and very active and close knit student body that are very active in terms of clubs, and social activities. There are always enough crazy parties along with mellow professional club events that most student never feel bored or lonely. </p>
<p>Also, given the breathtaking natural surroundings along the Pacific coast, there are endless variety of outdoor activities ranging from surfing to biking to hiking. But if you are a big city sort of person, then I would agree SLO might not be for you. But one could easily argue Davis is in a similar secluded setting as well. </p>
<p>With respect to job placements success, Cal Poly is actually a definite class leader. It has one of the most successful career placement office out of all of the CA public universities. Most students at Cal Poly partake in internships or co-ops during their time in university. And CP is a leader in post undergraduate job placements especially for engineering. It explains why the university’s graduates have the highest average starting salary in all CA public universities (including all UCs and CSUs) and the third highest mid-career salary of all public universities in the US. </p>
<p>Both universities are solid, it really depends on where you feel most comfortable as nomnomnomz has stated. So do visit both.</p>
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<p>Major selection is the reason CP-SLO has the highest average pay for graduates out of all CSU and UC schools. CP-SLO students favor engineering and business majors, with fewer (low paying) biology and humanities majors, than other CSU and (especially) UC schools.</p>
<p>But CP-SLO’s job placement rate is very impressive – even civil engineering graduates in 2009 had a high placement rate.</p>
<p>Various universities’ career surveys may be useful (including CP-SLO):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html</a></p>
<p>@ucbalumnus</p>
<p>I gave your reasoning some thought. I have a challenge reconciling some conflicting facts. </p>
<p>Both Cal and UCLA have substantial name recognition and traditionally been viewed as in a higher tier when compare to mid-tier UCs and Cal Poly. Hence, in theory, Cal and UCLA should have access to lucrative career opportunities that are traditionally open only to top-tier national universities (HYMPS), ultra high paid careers in industries such as investment banking and management consulting. </p>
<p>If this is so, Cal’s and may be even UCLA’s graduates average starting salary (regardless of majors) should be decisively ahead of Cal Poly’s due to these 2 top UCs graduates taking highly selective i-banking and management consulting jobs, following similar patterns in other upper tier schools. This would be akin to top LACs’ starting salary being way ahead of many heavy engineering/technical schools because of its graduates being privy to exclusive Wall street jobs. </p>
<p>And yet, this line of reasoning is not reflected in reality. Cal Poly has demonstrated its ability to compete toe to toe with Cal and UCLA in earning power. Why this discrepancy?</p>
<p>Berkeley is full of biology majors and humanities majors (Molecular and Cell Biology is the largest single major at Berkeley, and that does not count some other biology majors adding to the biology total). Graduates of these majors do not have very good job and career prospects, even from the top schools. The few who go on to top end Wall Street investment banking jobs are not going to significantly pull up the average weighted down by hundreds of biology and humanities majors getting low paying jobs after graduation.</p>
<p>If you compare major by major in each school’s career surveys, Cal Poly SLO graduates tend to have lower average pay than Berkeley graduates, although they do tend to have higher job placement rates. This is not true for every major, but it is true for most of the larger majors.</p>
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<p>[Cal</a> Poly](<a href=“Press Releases | University Communications and Marketing”>Press Releases | University Communications and Marketing) has about 18,300 undergrads, with about 5,200 in the College of Engineering.</p>
<p>[UC</a> Davis](<a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/uwnews/stat/statsum/fall2010/statsumm2010.pdf]UC”>http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/uwnews/stat/statsum/fall2010/statsumm2010.pdf) has about 24,700 undergrads, with about 2,800 in the College of Engineering.</p>
<p>So compared to Poly, Davis is somewhat larger overall, but it is significantly smaller as an engineering school specifically.</p>