<p>I'm a mechanical engineering major, accepted to both Cal Poly and UCI, and I'm trying to decide which would be better. While SLO seems like it has a much better rep as an engineering school, UCI offered me both CHP and Regents...and that is an absolutely killer deal. However, even though UCI is near my "homestead" in SoCal, I've heard that SLO actually offers the better "college experience". Both are in urban environments, which I like, though Cal Poly seems a little isolated for my taste.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on this matchup?</p>
<p>I would say UCI is more suburban and Cal Poly is more rural. SLO is more of a college town though because of its isolation so there are going to be more people around on the weekends. It's just gunna be really far away from a big city like going to LA for the day or evening. Both probably have their advantages.</p>
<p>which is better for comp. engineering?</p>
<p>I think Cal Poly has the reputation of being better at the practical aspects of engineering, while the UC schools have the reputation of being better at the academic aspects of it. So at SLO you'll spend more time doing actual engineering stuff, while at UCI you'll spend more time on theory and classroom learning. But you still have labs and stuff where you'll be doing practical engineering, but at UC schools you do more theory than SLO.</p>