<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>Size and location really do matter but what really made the difference for us is what people had to say about the school. Everyone loves the place! I started wearing a Cal Poly cap and folks now come up to me all the time. Not once has anyone had anything negative or even slightly critical to say and I really probed them for it.</p>
<p>I have the same experience as gotpeter with respect to Cal Poly SLO. There are a lot of alums, parents of alums, parents of current students, and current students in my area. The unanimous opinion is that it’s a great school - I haven’t heard a single negative. My son will be a freshman there this fall (EE) and I’m confident that it’s the right place for him.</p>
<p>However, if I could throw in one negative, it would be the very real possibility of engineering students taking more than 4 years to graduate. This is something you might want to question the admissions office and the engineering department about very carefully.</p>
<p>My brother preferred the lively big city atmosphere of LA, so he ended up at USC. I chose Cal Poly for the direct opposite reasons. Being OOS, your son will have a better chance of getting into USC than CPSLO for engineering.</p>
<p>Another negative I might add is the need to declare a major prior to admission and then the subsequent difficulty in changing it, particularly within engineering, should the need arise. This is discussed ad nauseum in this forum.</p>
<p>If you are in the college of engineering it is much easier to change engineering majors than it is coming from another college at slo.</p>
<p>I am a senior (originally from the east coast) studying civil and environmental engineering at USC. While I have no direct experience with SLO aside from civil engineering competitions (of which they are very competitive in) I can say why I chose USC for engineering. </p>
<p>I fell in love with USC the minute I walked on campus because it was somewhere I could see myself fitting in. The Trojan Spirit and alumni network at USC is incredible- as is the football program. It is a wonderful place to go to school and still maintain balance in your life- whether that is through taking classes outside of engineering, playing soccer in your free time or exploring LA- USC encourages you to do it.</p>
<p>Within the engineering school there are a lot of great resources for a fairly small student population. We have an academic resource center with free peer tutors, a career services office devoted to helping engineering students find jobs and internships as well as a tight knit engineering community (but not your only community at USC).</p>
<p>The civil engineering department is full of wonderful professors and students. Professors teach all of our classes and are always available to answer questions- in fact they are required to hold office hours a certain amount of time per week. We have great student organizations such as ASCE and AGC (of which SLO has both) but the difference in organizations is that they aren’t as large as SLO’s which allows you to take a more active role in the projects and competitions. </p>
<p>I hope that helps!</p>
<p>16 % of people at slo garduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>hirenishungry, where did you get that stat?</p>
<p>per this article from our local news it’s 25.5% in 4 years and 62.4% in 5. The article also discusses early registration and why it may help students graduate on time.
[Cal</a> Poly opens fall registration two months early - KSBY 6 Action News Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles-](<a href=“http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=10233288&nav=menu544_3]Cal”>http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=10233288&nav=menu544_3)</p>
<p>@gotpeter the assistant dean of the engineering department, professor walsh</p>
<p>Both schools are great. You get what you put in. As far as freshman registration, USC makes the registration and getting your classes process with less effort. Again, the student determines the experience.</p>