<p>I love this part “make money and tinker around with stuff”
I would think that a master’s in ME would possibly help get higher paying jobs, but at PhD would not really be beneficial unless you become a professor. Just getting a Bachelors and then working sounds like a good plan to start with and if your son decides that he wants to continue into a Master’s program he can start that process junior/senior year. I think the kids need to get into the major first and see how they like it. They have the opportunity to go on for a Master’s at Cal Poly. I am just guessing that not a huge amount of people get a PhD in engineering. Could be wrong…</p>
<p>Sorry everyone for being off the topic:</p>
<p>NTKS17—If you dont have a car, how do you get to and from campus to the local airport? Bus or what? Is it easy?</p>
<p>I take a taxi to the airport. It’s about $22-25 for a private taxi from the campus to the slo airport. If you’re able to share a ride with a friend or something, it’s slightly cheaper. If you’re lucky, you may have a friend who has a car who can drop you off.</p>
<p>“make money and tinker around with stuff”…I love that quote too! Sounds like Cal Poly is perfect for him.<br>
I can’t speak for getting a PHD in ME but sounds like momofmv has it right. My son wants to do research (cellular and molecular engineering) and a PHD in BME is pretty much required. Plus he got an offer that he really can’t refuse…especially in this economy!</p>
<p>Hi. As I am trying to pick between SLO and UCLA for business (SLO) or biz-econ (UCLA) I am spinning due to all the differences. My question is do you think I can get launched into the business world as well from SLO as UCLA? Any other thoughts are appreciated too.<br>
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>kctree, the curriculum of business of SLO and biz-econ are different, you can easily see that by checking out the courses required from the two programs. UCLA’s biz-econ is econ based + a few course of accounting. SLO biz requires a few courses from each of the business discipline (acct/finance/ect. + more course of your concentration).</p>
<p>What discipline of business you’re interested? If it’s accounting, both have it. But if you want sth. like marketing, I don’t think biz-econ cover it.</p>
<p>Thanks for getting back to me Watermark. I THINK I am interested in finance. I have studied both curriculums and see the differences. Cal Poly’s really sounds like a match for what I am interested in. But I wonder if the theoretical teaching at UCLA would make me into a more “advanced” business/finance person (whatever that means!) and honesty, I’m also trying to figure out the value of the UCLA name compared to the Cal Poly name. If I had a strong preference for one of the schools of course I would go with that, but it really is a close contest right now. I love Cal Poly’s curriculum and the energy/sports/big city, etc of UCLA. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>@ParentalUnit58…if you go here [Grad</a> School Admissions Results for 2006–2010 • thegradcafe.com](<a href=“http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php]Grad”>Grad School Admissions Results for 2006–2023 • thegradcafe.com) and search mechanical you can see that there are a significant number of ME phd applicants.</p>
<p>kctree, what’s your definition of “advanced” business/finace person 
If you mean by having the job in IB or Consulting, UCLA might be a better choice. Although the chance of IB over there is still slim since those jobs are mostly recruited in “prestige” campus. I heard there’s some consulting recruit for top students there. But if you’re interested in corporate finance, personally, I would go with CalPoly. Same as accounting, finance requires hard skills. If I remember correctly, biz-econ in UCLA only require one finance course. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Thanks again Watermark for helping me out. I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know what IB is. Obviously I have a lot to learn in my new major. Your point about finance requiring hard skills is helpful for me. I will consider that and look into what UCLA offers. Again, I appreciate your help. … And what is IB?</p>
<p>IB = investment banking, likely the most coveted jobs in the finance industry: big money and high prestige, but also a high stress and burnout rate as well. As Watermark mentioned, students recruited for IB jobs usually come from top B-schools like Cal, Virginia, UPenn, MIT, etc.</p>
<p>If you truly want to attend a B School, then I believe CP is going to better than UCLA. The UC’s mandates are more science oriented and not business oriented. The only UC that has a business administration program is UCI. Cal has a 2 year business school. You apply for your junior/senior years and may not be accepted. Biz econ is not the same as going to B School. S looked into the program at UCLA. It was also more theoretical and not as much hands on. But, it depends on what you ulitmately want to do. You can always go to one of the more elite schools for an MBA.</p>
<p>UCLA does not have an undergraduate B School. The MBA program at Anderson is great though. S did not get in to USC, but became friends with the assistant dean of the B School along the way. She has been helping him narrow his list of 9 B Schools. Some of the questions that she posed were:</p>
<p>Is the program a 4 year program?</p>
<p>How desirable are graduates looked upon by recruiters (CP ranks 11th in the nation)</p>
<p>Where do you want to have a career? UCLA will have internships in southern CA. CP has internships all over CA.</p>
<p>How strong is the alumni network? </p>
<p>Ask business people what they think. Who would they want to hire? S asked people at Qualcomm, Scripps Health, bio-tech industries, venture capitalists, etc.) </p>
<p>She also told him that if he went to CP, he would definitley be prepared for an MBA an USC.</p>
<p>S was accpeted to B Schools that were ranked higher than CP and received lots of scholarship $$, but the hands-on experience and the opportunity to take B course the first year (Green Light Program at CP) sold him. The B students on the tour also told him that the professors give the students their cell phone numbers.</p>
<p>UCLA will be more of a big college experience and is in a great part of LA. A friend’s daughter is graduating from UCLA in a few months and she was not happy this past year. Due to budget cuts, her upper level seminars went from 30 students to 100 students. They were also taught by TAs and not professors. She also needed 2 classes to graduate and previously one was offered in the Fall and the other in the Spring. Due to budget cuts, they are both offered in the Spring this year so she has to leave one class early and be late to the other class.</p>