<p>I was accepted (disappointingly, almost, because I legitimately thought I had stats for UCLA/UCB) to UCSB and Cal Poly SLO for electrical engineering. UCSB offered me enough in grants and scholarships that it would cost, in essence, just as much as SLO. </p>
<p>I need to know what people who are familiar with the two would have to say on the following (I am going to be visiting the schools and asking over spring break, but I need "outside" opinions):
1. Is it true that it's near-impossible to get any "unnecessary" classes, and difficult to get any necessary classes, at Cal Poly?
2. Is the party environment at UCSB really that bad?
3. Does the frequently-communicated argument "Cal Poly's "Learn by Doing" policy makes it better than most UCs" hold true? Will going to Cal Poly allow me to learn more about Electrical Engineering than if I went to UCSB? (I've looked at the flowcharts but have no real grasp on the depth each course goes into at each school.....)
4. Will one school make me more prepared for grad school than the other? I looked at SLO's "after-graduation" survey and it seemed like very few EE majors went to grad school. Does anybody know if one EE program is better than the other for after-college purposes?</p>
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<li>WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE I'm always veering towards SLO but the fact that they have such a poor graduation rate because of a weird class-getting issue scares me. I want to minor in <em>something</em> (probably entrepreneurship or physics or computer science) in college, and it seems like my chances of doing that at SLO are nill....is this true?</li>
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<p>And finally, how do I get over the fact my top choices said no? I had a 33 ACT, 2170 SAT, 4.04 GPA, and both UCLA and UCB (and Stanford and Harvey Mudd) said no. Am I really just a UCSB-level student based on those stats? My ECs weren't that bad, and while EE is a very difficult major to get into...I just feel like I might have overestimated myself and it's hard to reconcile myself with that thought....</p>