I’m a current high school senior who wants to major in business administration deciding on which school I should go to. To tell you the truth, I think I have been blessed by a very good hand of cards (Cal Poly SLO, University of British Columbia, University of San Francisco, SDSU, and Chapman University), which most of them I got into their business program (other than UBC, which Sauder was really difficult to get into, I got into their faculty of arts though)
Of course, when I got accepted to Cal Poly SLO, I was extremely excited. I looked at their reddit and many other websites, which solidified my impression of it being a top level institution. (The program in Orfalea is impressive, and their hands on learning is awesome).
However, my family seems to have some “little” problem with San Luis Obispo. Of course, they are extremely supportive and said that I could go where ever I want; however their “problems” have sort of make me start to second guess my decisions again. A few major concerns:
The city itself. When I told them that I want to go to Cal Poly SLO, they were surprised. SLO is located right between San Francisco and Los Angeles. They sort of implied that SLO is sort of "out in the boonies". All my other schools are located in major cities (LA, SD, SF, Vancouver). They said that living in a major city can help broaden my horizon from people that I am exposed too, and that it provides more opportunity in internship, amenities...etc.
Networking: I'm an American that lives outside of the US, and most likely after the four undergraduate years, I would work in a foreign country, maybe China. Networking with people especially from China is important. However, if I can find a job in the US, this might be negligible.
Travelling. There are two major airports we can fly in internationally, LAX and SFO. If I really want to meet my family, how can I travel from SLO to Los Angeles or San Francisco? I don't have a car which makes travelling alot more difficult.
Chapman’s Argyros, UBC’s Faculty of Economics, USF’s school of management, SDSU all seems amazing too.
Please feel free to respond to my question. Since I only have a few more days left for my decision, I need some help ASAP.
In the end, you have to go with your gut, but I can allay some fears about SLO. It is isolated and that’s a large part of it’s attractiveness. You have to visit to see if it’s a fit or not, but it’s not some little cow town. It’s a highly desirable California location. As for getting a job though, there will be recruiters from all over the place. Your biggest problem will be getting to the large airports. There are trains and buses N and S and frequent ride shares. If the fog allows, you can fly out of SLO, but it’s more expensive.
Networking, none of them will be better or worse out of the US. There are very few business schools that have a huge amount of cachet outside of the US. Think Harvard and Wharton. In the US I would guess Poly and SDSU have the broadest reach, but I could be wrong.
The coolest thing about Poly is what students do outside their formal curriculum. There’s a formal, funded business incubator. Lot’s of business have been started by students while at school.
So, if Cal Poly is the school that feels right, you’ll certainly won’t be held back from what you want to do after you graduate.
You can look up placement information here: https://careers.calpoly.edu/search.php. It’s incomplete, because it’s self reported, but grads from Orfalea and from the CENG tend to do VERY well.
Cal Poly will not dampen your opportunities for internships and jobs. There’s an endless barrage of companies trying to recruit on campus every week from locals to Silicon Valley to the big 4. Will you grow as much as in a urban setting? No, probably not. There’s a large percentage of people who don’t acknowledge college as a path for growth, but as 4 year delay for the real working world. That’s mostly due to the number of students here that have everything paid for already by their parents.
None of those schools you listed seem to have a large international student community. If you plan on going to China, SLO is probably the least prepped school for you. As someone who speaks only elementary level mandarin, I was told by the advisor that I was overqualified for the highest level mandarin classes that were offered. Coincidentally, I will eventually be doing work in China, because my job at Apple (which I got because of Cal Poly) will require a few months of travel to Shen Zheng. I believe plenty of other companies with manufacturing and supply chains in China will offer similar opportunities (especially Delloitte I believe)
Travel is very easy. There's a page called Cal Poly ride share that always has people going to those major cities at only 20$ a ride
Thanks everyone!
I spent a major part of my time living outside of the US.With the limited time I had in the US, I was never able to truly visit San Luis Obispo. When my family asked me about what is in San Luis Obispo, I blurted out the farmers market and was not able to think of anything else. Of course, they sort of laughed at my answer (which became an inside joke). From this, I realized I don’t know a lot about SLO. Are there anything business related around the city which I can really convince my family that I am making the right decision?
The benefit of Cal Poly isn’t the businesses that are around (although SLO has an Apple store ). The benefit is what businesses will come to SLO to hire you! A recent job fair had 400 companies! Quite a few companies including Apple and Tesla to name drop just a couple come to campus for multi-day networking sessions. Job placement out of Orfalea is very strong. I’m not sure what they need to hear, but there’s lots of crap schools close to good companies. I’m not sure what proximity really does for you. It’s about how good the program is. That’s what brings recruiters in droves.
It is remote, but not in a bad way, and it’s certainly not some podunk town. San Luis Obispo really is great, and that it’s in the middle of both SF and LA is nice because you can go to either on a long weekend, LA especially.
If you need to fly out, an Amtrak gets you to LA in a few hours and very cost efficiently. I can’t speak to all of the schools you mentioned, but it would be high on my list.
@Nikki2020… You can also look into study abroad and short trips to China through Cal Poly (and the other universities). For instance, Cal Poly College of Business took students to Vietnam and China last December 2015 for a week or so to travel and meet with business representatives/alumni (http://www.cob.calpoly.edu/studentservices/HCMC_Shanghai)
). The benefit is what businesses will come to SLO to hire you! A recent job fair had 400 companies! Quite a few companies including Apple and Tesla to name drop just a couple come to campus for multi-day networking sessions. Job placement out of Orfalea is very strong. I’m not sure what they need to hear, but there’s lots of crap schools close to good companies. I’m not sure what proximity really does for you. It’s about how good the program is. That’s what brings recruiters in droves.