<p>@jdask8er - I’ve seen a lot of folks turn down UCB, UCLA and UCSD for Cal Poly. My kid included. I can understand NW, Cornell, UC and NE. But, I’ve never met anyone that turned down MIT for Cal Poly! Was it the cost factor? Could you elaborate a bit more? I am really interested to know!</p>
<p>UC Davis animal science major also I would only have to pay 5k total there.
Ucsb zoology major
Csu chico
Never heard back from cal poly Pomona</p>
<p>I agree with Osakadad. I have never heard of anyone turning down MIT for Cal Poly either. However, my brother-in-law, who is a computer engineer who graduated with an EE degree from MIT and has been working in the industry for many years, told my son that he has been impressed with the Cal Poly grads he has worked with. In his opinion, my son was smart to pick Cal Poly over UCI, UCSB, and UC Davis for EE.</p>
<p>My son choose Cal Poly over Santa Clara and UC Davis. He is a National Merit Finalist with 4.8 GPA. He wanted to go to school on the west coast, and had no desire to apply to Stanford, Berkeley, or the other UCs. Environment was important to him, as was school philosophy. He is a computer engineering major. And I have to add this: the two-hour Cal Poly SLO College of Engineering tour is more impressive/comprehenisve than Harvey Mudd or Cal Tech’s. Let me be clear: I am NOT saying Cal Poly is better than these top-ranked schools. But Cal Poly SLO’s presentation – hosted by a variety of well-spoken engineering students with tour access to numerous labs and buildings – left my son much more excited about studying engineering, and studying it at a school where he could explore other interests and meet a wide variety of people.</p>
<p>@chimchim --Wow, you just echoed our exact experience. My kid did not have a 4.8 GPA but he was a valedictory scholar and graduated from HS in the top 5 out of close to 600 students. My kid also refused to apply to Stanford, Berkeley and CalTech too. He also did not want to go to school out of state so GaTech and MIT were off the list from day one. We also toured Harvey Mudd and had a great time. The kids were smart, cool and quirky, which we really liked. However, there seemed to be more than a few kids that were abnormally odd and a bit too intense adding an element of uncomfortable weirdness. Cal Poly was just cool from start to finish and the kids all seemed “normal” with none of the weirdness.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is also $55k a year in tuition only – so glad that it did not work out!</p>
<p>DD chose CPSLO Business over UCD, UCSB and UCI. She commented that she found the students she knows at SLO, for whatever reason, to be on average much happier than the students she knows at those three UCs. Call her crazy, but she is attracted to happy people.</p>
<p>
re: Mudders v. Cal Poly – well, there <em>is</em> a fine line between genius and weirdness, in general. Often the different wiring migrates from the analytical parts of the brain to all the rest!</p>
<p>I have chosen to transfer to SLO for aerospace engineering over UCI, UCSB, UCSD, and the University of Maryland. I’m still waiting to hear from UCLA, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, but I would honestly pick SLO over all of them unless they were to offer a substantial financial aid package.</p>
<p>The two main reasons that I’m going to SLO are
- It will be cheaper to attend than any of the other schools I applied to
- I’m still not sure if I want to go to grad school</p>
<p>I want to go to a school that gives me a fair chance to find employment after my undergraduate studies if I decide not to go to graduate school. Looking at various statistics on the internet, SLO was shown to be near the top in this regard.</p>
<p>No wonder osakadad kept running into the same families at open houses, it seems everyone turned down basically the same group of schools. Interesting, can definitely see the pattern in picking SLO from the ones they got into, and schools not mentioned as choices. Haven’t seen many turn down UCB or UCLA for that matter, but may not have applied or got in. Not too surprising, but enlightening. I suppose most that have gone elsewhere have moved on from this thread and others once they make the decision not to attend a school.</p>
<p>^“Haven’t seen many turn down UCB or UCLA for that matter, but may not have applied or got in”</p>
<p>I have seen posts on CC and personally know two kids who have been accepted to Berkeley and/or UCLA, and choose Cal Poly, for the reasons stated in my post above, and because of what my son didn’t like about UCB and UCLA: more mega-size classes, grad students teaching classes, Los Angeles=yuck, Berkeley=crowded/grungy. (This is a 17-old talking/judging, not me.). You have to see the school before you decide. The actual day-to-day college experience cannot be overstated. And yes, as Osaka states, the cost of SLO cannot be beat. Save the money for grad school. But if my son had sought and got into a pricier private school equal/better to SLO in engineering, I would have supported his decision (as I did with my older son).</p>
<p>I didn’t say any, but not many. Turning down the #2 or 3 school in the nation would be tough and most don’t. It’s a different culture there for sure, but I see the value in working through a jungle like UCB or UCLA. Kids are pretty soft these days and I like the life lessons they get when everything isn’t so perfect. And imo UCLA is the most gorgeous campus in the country. Ya every kid is different, for everyone that hates LA or Berkeley there is someone that thinks Calpoly is too quiet/dull. I think CP is an awesome place and at a great price, and I see why parents like it, cause it doesn’t seem nearly as threatening as other options. And for some kids, it is absolute perfection. The first time there S loved it, we thought it was a done deal. But on the second and third visits after seeing more schools in between it felt too restrictive/small and he wanted to be in a certain/different/more urban environment. He has done a lot of things on his own already and is a really mature kid, so I think CP just wasn’t different/exciting enough for him and in the end he is absolutely right. He would have outgrown it and not been satisfied. I’m just happy he figured out what he likes through the process. Have a couple more to go, so we may be back to CP before we know it with another one. The best thing a kid can do is find the right place for them. There are so many excellent choices in CA (and elsewhere), we are pretty lucky.</p>
<p>What school did your son end up choosing? I have a large family, and their choices for college have all been different so far. I enjoy learning why a particular school ends up being the perfect fit for each kid (and all of their friends)!</p>
<p>oops no time to finish this so will start over later - sorry!</p>
<p>As a transfer student. I turn down UCB, UCLA, UCSD for Cal Poly. 
All of my friends were shocked when they heard that I chose Cal Poly over UCB. Oh well I am happy with my choice :)</p>
<p>Just to let you know my son did not apply to UC Berkeley even tho he may have been amitted.The same with UCLA ,USC.He felt Cal Poly fit him better.</p>
<p>I recently got accepted off the waitlist from UC Davis, but I’m still leaning towards Cal Poly because of their Business school, campus vibe, smaller student body, etc.
Still not sure yet! This was a surprise, but I’ll probably end up turning down UCD for Cal Poly</p>
<p>wayold, the thread is asking where you got admitted and turned down. Not getting into a school that you didn’t apply to could be a very long thread, and pretty irrelevant to providing good justification for one or the other. And no one can count on getting into UCB or UCLA, certainly easier to get into CP, although still difficult.</p>
<p>blueskies2day-just to let you know I started this thread.So I am aware of the topic.I was addressing the post from FremontCA. so that they might feel better about thier decision because it appeared there was some lingering concerns.As far as UCLA goes I saw no problem for my son to be admitted there.</p>
<p>Aerospace Engineering transfer student - turned down UCSB, UCI, Cal Poly Pomona for SLO.</p>
<p>These all seem like great reasons!</p>