<p>S is a HS junior. Very OOS. Just visited California colleges and was most impressed with USC and Cal Poly.</p>
<p>Intends to major in civil engineering of some type. 31 ACT and and 3.8/4,3 gpa, so should have a chance, but no lock, for admission at either school.</p>
<p>If you were choosing between the two, what would make the difference for you?</p>
<p>Cal Poly is an awesome school for those of us in California because it is an incredible value in terms of the quality of education for your tuition dollar. It is also a polytechnic school, so it has an emphasis on practical knowledge and experience as part of the educational process. It is also a beautiful rural area.</p>
<p>It is more inflexible in terms of changing majors, although I’ve heard that it is easier for those getting good grades to make changes.</p>
<p>Assuming cost to attend USC is the same or slightly more, then in my opinion USC is a much better all around choice. You will get a private school experience, a better college environment, a more well rounded academic experience and a much more solid foundation for building relationships for future connnections in the business world.</p>
<p>I know Cal Poly is ranked very high nationally for Engineering, but for the reasons mentioned above I think USC is a better overall choice.</p>
<p>Fight On!</p>
<p>^^ yea it’s much easier to change grades if you have a solid gpa while there.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that the areas are entirely different: USC is right in LA(although surrounded by some rather bad areas…) and Cal Poly is in a small college town and is a good drive from a large city.</p>
<p>USC is also more theory while Cal Poly is hands on(their slogan is ‘learn by doing’).</p>
<p>Unlike the person above, I chose Cal Poly over USC. Aside from the huge money difference, I personally like Cal Poly a lot more because I love the area and people seem to be nicer and more down to earth. Either way you have great weather and a great school though.</p>
<p>^^ Also, I’m going for Mechanical Engineering and I was able to shadow another Mechanical Eng. student so I feel like I got a really good feel for the school.</p>
<p>Both are good schools.
Son was going to go to Cal Poly before he got in to UCSD and USC.
Visited all of the offers and sat in on classes.
At Cal Poly the class was not involved with the teacher and he was using an overhead projector with a grease pencil
Two days later at USC and at UCSD, teachers and students totally involved abd using state of the art computerized blackboard
Just an observation</p>
<p>I would also consider price in the equation</p>
<p>I think Cal Poly wins because of the price.</p>
<p>ThunderG, since you are out of state, how much will it cost you to go to CalPoly vs. USC?</p>
<p>Fight On!</p>
<p>Cal Poly wins on price:</p>
<p>2009-2010 COA (incl room and board) $20,577, plus $226/unit for out-of-state = $30,747 for 45 quarter units/year. <a href=“http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_finaid/coa0910.htm[/url]”>http://www.ess.calpoly.edu/_finaid/coa0910.htm</a></p>
<p>That is still a really good deal for Cal Poly. Why is California making it so attractive for oos residents? I would have thought it would be a lot more expensive. That is almost half the cost of USC’s $54K COA, even for an oos resident. </p>
<p>No wonder California is in a financial crisis. :)</p>
<p>Cal Poly is Cal State system so it’s cheaper than UC. Plus OOS will pay more because of this line</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>36 * 226 = $7232. </p>
<p>So it would be $28K for OOS.</p>
<p>^ But Cal Poly uses the “Quarter system,” with each school year containing three quarters. As you know, at USC a “full load” is 12 units/semester, but students would not graduate in 4 years with 12 units per semester at USC, so students typically take 16-18 units each semester. Typical class loads at Cal Poly are 15 units/quarter (remember - THREE quarters per year) totaling 45 units per year ($10,170 extra oos) and as many as 22 units/quarter totaling 66/year ($14,916 extra oos).</p>
<p>Hm? 16 units is a full load at USC. 12 would not be a full load. I myself have taken 20 units/semester and been able to manage.</p>
<p>Haha! Exactly! 12 units is the minimum number to be considered a full-time student at USC, but you would not make progress toward your degree that would result in graduation in 4 years. Columbia_Student had estimated 36 units per year for Cal Poly, and I was just illustrating that though a Cal Poly student COULD take just 12 units each quarter for only 36 units per year, a typical load there is 15+units per quarter for 45+ per year. (Husband is a Cal Poly graduate.)</p>
<p>Ah, ok. I’m a little slow on the uptake.</p>
<p>alamemom, I did not know it’s a quarter system. In that case, it should be 54 * $226 = $12204, so that would be $32K for OOS.</p>
<p>OP here. Thanks for all the insight into Cal Poly costs. A little bit more complicated math than for most schools. Not sure what the total costs would be to attend in the end. A think with a much better chance to graduate from USC in 4 years, and maybe a little bit of USC aid, I think the total costs will be close. </p>
<p>I think the choice would come down to more of a comfort factor and, of course, admissions decisions. My S always said he didn’t want to go to a school in the city, but then really liked USC which is, obviously, in a very bad area of one of the biggest cities in America. I thought he was just visiting there out of curiosity because he is a big football fan. Go figure.</p>