<p>Went to the Cal Poly open house last weekend with son, and were just notified of UCSC
acceptance off the waitlist Fri night. We only have 3 days to accept or reject UCSC.
Here are the pros and cons as we see it - We would appreciate any feedback or disagreement:</p>
<p>Cal Poly
Pros - Learn by doing - less theory than UC's and more practical. No TA's. All the
students love it - great reputation - school spirit - friendly. Small town, Thursday farmers market, no traffic congestion, make your own surfboard shop on campus. (warmer ocan water than UCSC ?) Huge new rec center with two outdoor pools. Triathalon, hiking, and surfingare big. </p>
<p>Cons - Forced to delcare major first quarter and could waste time b/c many will change majors (too much to expect most 17 year olds to make career decesions) Provincial - no diversity - mostly white - not enough international students.
No access to urban amenties b/c of geographical setting. Limited internship potential b/c
of SLO's size. If you're a guy you're outnumbered. No work study for freshman </p>
<p>UCSC
Pros - Don't have to declare major right away (he's accepted undeclared) Can mature and take time to figure it out. Good diversity and number of international students. Silicon Valley job fairs. Teachers have tie ins with Siclicon Valley for jobs or internships. Div 3 school so sports is possible for average atheletes. Most beautiful campus on the planet. Politically and environmentally acive and aware. Creative vibe. Progessive in many ways. Near San Francisco. </p>
<p>Cons - More theoretical than practical like most UC's. Some classes taught by TA's
Maybe too much pot on campus? Is that still true?</p>
<p>Both schools are amazing and Im sure my son can thrive at either. Tough choice for
him. We don't know enough about UCSC to know the faults I guess - went to the fall open house but missed the Spring Spotlight b/c we were just waitlisted. Trying to convince son to fly up tomorow and give it a fair comparison, since it's been six months and the memory has faded </p>
<p>We want our son to make fully informed decision. At this point, he wants SLO because of the wonderful recent open house. We need more info. on UCSC!</p>
<p>I was taken off the waitlist and will be attending UCSC so I may not be the most knowledgeable on the campus, but I was in a similar situation as your son. If it was between SLO (I was waitlisted) and UCSC I think I would personally choose UCSC unless it made more sense financially to attend SLO. So you should probably look into finances too unless you can afford anything.</p>
<p>I haven’t done any drugs, alcohol, etc. (I don’t even drink soda) and was weary of the drug stereotype also. I don’t think it’s a huge problem from what I’ve read and can be avoided, and if you say no most people won’t ask again. I think UCSC’s just more open about pot than other schools, nobody forces you into anything that you don’t want to do.</p>
<p>What does your son want to eventually major in?</p>
<p>I am studying engineering at SLO, and I think UCSC is a good school. It doesn’t get enough credit for what it is.</p>
<p>But to clarify your point on internships opportunities at SLO, Cal Poly actually has one of the strongest campus recruiting program in all of the West Coast schools. It is one of the cornerstones of the university, and one of its strongest selling point.</p>
<p>Because of our school’s motto of “learn by doing”, the University constantly encourages us to taken on internships and co-ops, primarily in Silicon Valley or LA. In turn, Cal Poly organizes many job fairs and attracts many top Fortune 500 companies (e.g. Apple, Google, HP, Cisco, Raytheon) to come to recruit on campus. Almost all my peers have done an internship of some kind a few years into studying@SLO.</p>
<p>Most recently, it is reported that 90% of Cal Poly graduates are either employed or in graduate schools upon graduation.</p>
<p>At the end, either school your son chooses will be a good choice.</p>
<p>Your son can’t go wrong with either school. Unless he is uncertain about his major. CPSLO makes it nearly impossible to switch majors. It’s not just a matter of taking more time to graduate by changing. The school flat out won’t let students change in many instances. I know of one exception. I also know a couple of students that left the school so they had the freedom to change their major.</p>
<p>Your son should visit UCSC again. Unfortunately he won’t experience it the way he would at Spring Spotlight. It will probably be pretty quiet. At least he’ll get to view the campus again though, and get a feeling for it. My daughter loves it there. However, she’s had friends visit her there that were completely freaked out by the prospect of cutting through the woods to get to class. It doesn’t appeal to everyone.</p>
<p>From my understanding at UCSC the TAs teach some small sections that are attached to larger classes that are taught by the professors. My daughter has found her professors to be accessible and approachable. The TAs have been great at holding study review sessions for the students prior to exams.</p>
<p>Students who want to smoke pot will be able to find it. Students who have no interest in smoking pot won’t be impacted by it. My daughter doesn’t smoke and she says she smells it occasionally. I attended a Jesuit University in the 80’s, and I smelled it there occasionally too.</p>
<p>Hiking, mountain biking, surfing and various outdoor activities are popular with Santa Cruz students as well. Santa Cruz also has farmers markets. If these are in the “pro” column for SLO, they can be in a “pro” column for Santa Cruz too. </p>
<p>Yes, the UCs are more theoretical. I consider that a plus though. I don’t think critical thinking is emphasized enough in our public school system, and I believe exploring the theoretical helps students think outside the box and leads to innovation. There’s nothing wrong with the more hands-on practical teaching at SLO though. Some students perform much better under that system. My husband employs engineers from both a nearby UC and Cal Poly and he finds them equally capable.</p>
<p>If your son has a strong preference for one school over the other, I’d say go with it.</p>
<p>I would beg to differ on the changing major issue. Since this is a UCSC thread, I don’t want to belabor too much about Cal Poly, I will keep it short.</p>
<p>Changing major within the same college (e.g. ME to EE, within College of Engineering) is trivial. You just need to apply and as long as you grades are passable, you will get to change. </p>
<p>Changing between colleges (e.g. College of Business to College of Architecture) will be more tricky. Since you need to have qualified for the target college as if you were a freshmen applicant first time around. But it is possible to change between colleges. I had a roommate that went from college of liberal arts changing to college of math and science. And I have a lot classmates changing from college of engineering to Cal Poly b-school. </p>
<p>But it would be better if your son already knows what he want to major in.</p>
<p>blindmonkey: I am glad to hear that you know students that are having success switching majors. I would expect any student elite enough to be accepted into engineering or architecture to be able to swap to a less prestigous major. The one student I know that was allowed to change did change disciplines within engineering. Also, I would hope most students realize they aren’t likely to be accepted into architecture after the fact. I stand by my recommendation, that CPSLO is for students who feel committed to their declared major upon entrance. The undecided are better off at a school that permits them to enter undeclared.</p>
<p>Troutforpres: I want to share info from a magazine that I just received in today’s mail. It’s from UCSC. It’s relevant to the opportunities available to UCSC students in real world exposure. One article states that in the last 4 quarters “700 UCSC environmental studies interns have contributed close to 60,000 hours of work to nonprofits, businesses, and government in the Santa Cruz area.” Then it names students and gives examples, such as conducting energy audits, and installing solar tubes. Some marine biology students are helping the NOAA study the effects of fire on salmon populations. Another article discusses the 2013 senior design projects for engineering majors. Silicon Valley companies are sponsoring 11 projects. Companies named include Applied Materials, Dell KACE, eBay, Echelon, Google, Netflix, Oracle, Raytheon, Xilinx and Yaskawa. It mentions that last year’s sponsors hired many of the graduates. I don’t have overall percentages to provide, but it appears that UCSC places a priority on fostering partnerships with government, nonprofits and industry in order for it’s students to gain real world experience and exposure.</p>