As it’s so close to decision time for many students, I thought this might be interesting to find out. I’ve read a similar thread for other schools and it contained a slew of good information and feedback.
My son hasn’t decided yet, but if he does go to Cal Poly, based on schools he has already heard from, he will be passing on
University of Alabama (full tuition scholarship), University of Oregon, Oregon State, Northern Arizona University, Colorado Boulder. Still waiting on UCLA, UCB, and UCSD, although he will pick Cal Poly over all of them. Also waiting on Stanford and Duke.
I passed on Oregon State, CU boulder, UC Davis, and Univ Washington for Cal Poly.
That said, from a senior engineering student from cal poly to your son, Cal Poly is a great school, but not worth passing up a full ride scholarship. I see from your past posts that your son was accepted for statistics. The Cal Poly math department is good, but not as strong as business, engineering, or the architecture departments. The beauty of math is that it is location independent unlike many other majors. I would suggest he deeply considers the financial differences. After all, he can still move back to California after college or for a masters or summer internships.
My son’s graduating from Cal Poly in June. Chemistry major.
He passed on:
Whitman (30K scholarship)
Grinnell (scholarship, can’t remember amount)
Redlands (real nice scholarship)
UCI – accepted to some program, don’t know if it was honors or whatever.
UCSC
Cal Poly Pomona – Honors
SFSU
@r77r77, I would agree about the scholarship with a big caveat. If it’s a school the student has NO interest in, for what ever reason, free is not worth it. Alabama is a completely different world than CA.
@r77r77 - thank you for the student perspective and I agree…the scholarship is a tough one to pass up. It isn’t a full ride as we do have to cover room and board, but it does cover out of state tuition for four years. It will still be significantly cheaper than Cal Poly.
@eyemgh - totally agree with you, which is why it is such a tough choice for my son. He is a CA boy born and raised. He spent a week at Alabama over the summer and really liked it, but it is the location and culture that are downsides.
Both myself and my kids are CA born and raised.
I feel that my two that went out of state (St. Louis and Nashville) benefited so much from that experience.
My son who went to Berkeley and then Stanford for graduate is the least worldly of my older kids, has no friends from out of state, doesn’t know anything about the rest of the country and has only traveled in a few western states.
I highly recommend the out of state experience.
@dragonmom3 - exactly why I am in favor of Alabama with Cal Poly a close second. I want him to experience life outside of what he knows and to step out of his comfort zone.
Cal Poly certainly wasn’t my son’s cheapest option, but he felt as a ME it was the best fit. He’s a very worldly kid and from OOS, so going to CA is a further rounding of his experience. With that said, I would not advise anyone go into a situation they might hate for 4 years simply to step out of their comfort zone. There’s a difference between a little discomfort and misery. Both St. Louis and Nashville have broad cultural and political diversity. Alabama…not so much.
@eyemgh - definitely hear what you are saying. In my sons case, he actually did really like Alabama, so it wouldn’t be something that he hated, but I certainly do sense his apprehension regarding the culture there and that’s why the decision will be his to make. He has to live there and hopefully thrive for the next four years, not me. I definitely will not complain if he chooses Cal Poly.
For my D17 Cal Poly is 100% our most economical choice. We’re waiting on UC’s to make a decision, but Cal Poly is definitely the parents pick. Our D would be turning down merit scholarships at several out of state private schools.
I would think a student who attended Berkeley and Stanford, both with extremely high out of state and out of country populations would give a student an extremely worldly experience. The fact that one student attended these and doesn’t have out of state friends you know of (maybe many were originally out of state/country and now Californian’s?) might be an anomaly or just who that person is. I meet more people from different cultures in CA than I might meet in Alabama. Just more food for thought. Out of state means more travel expenses also, which must be counted when comparing costs. My student only applied to two colleges and turned down Regent’s at UCSB for Cal Poly, for math, which is an amazing major at Cal Poly, probably stronger than their business but since math isn’t rated as often difficult to tell. Statistics is not part of Math at Cal Poly, they are both departments within the College of Science and Math, I do know some statistics majors/minors (a lot of actuarial career kids do that combination) and they were happy.
My youngest son chose Cal Poly SLO over USC (my alma mater) and UT Austin for architecture. He visited Cornell, where his older brother studies architecture, but didn’t like the feel and wasnt even interested in applying.
czs1994, agree 100%. OOS travel expenses alone would be a big cost over 4 years. Plus, I would think a 22 y.o. would have plenty of other opportunities to travel and become more worldly after they graduate…or if they go out of state for graduate school, if they choose that route? At 18 y.o they will be out of their comfort zone enough the first year living away from home trying to navigate college life in a new environment…even if in state. It’s important for the school and the surrounding environment to be the right fit no matter where they go. Happy student=happy parents.
@socalmom007 I had to chuckle at your “parents pick” description. It’s true for us as well. Yes we’re waiting on UCs and we also got some merit money for OOS but please go easy on our wallets! We’ll make the savings available to you for grad school. That’s what I’ve been thinking but haven’t said anything to D (yet).
Since my son is going to college as an English major, he passed on applying to the UC’s and private schools so as to save money in anticipation of going to grad school. He was a lock for Santa Cruz and Merced with a really good shot at Davis (local). Several of the privates (Willamette, St. John’s, UOP) offered scholarships that would have put their prices in line with in-state UC tuition and housing. We also visited Fresno, Cal Poly Pomona, and a ton of schools in Oregon (WUE tuition breaks), but nothing clicked.
However, English is one of those degrees that can be well served at a wide variety of institutions. Cal Poly, for an engineering school, is well regarded in Liberal Arts. Two of my co-workers (I’m a high school English teacher) have degrees from CP SLO and speak very highly of it. His other choices (Sac State, CSU Monterey Bay, and Sonoma State) are all schools where either I earned a degree or at least one of my English teaching brethren did.
That being said, Cal Poly is the front runner because of environment. It is cost effective (net cost is actually less than Sonoma State) compared to UC’s and carries a certain name recognition that the others don’t. Mostly, it’s where my son can “see” himself going to school. Ironically, that “see”-ing is why he is still up in the air about his decision. Sac State is lingering as a choice because he is already familiar with the lifestyle since it’s where we live. He’s not in a great rush to go AWAY to college. There are benefits to staying at home that are enticing. He would be able to spend a semester or even a year studying abroad because of the savings on room and board while living at home. Or he could bank cash to further pay for grad school.
That being said, he has about one week to make his decision (family “Decision Day” is March 10th, just because). I think it’s 60-40 in favor of CP SLO. Basically, Cal Poly > Sac State and a semester in England/Australia.
@eyemgh, I don’t think I could handle that. I can see the advantages and disadvantages to any of his options, so I’m okay with any choice he makes. He just HAS to make it soon! That being said, I truly do want him to make a decision he can live with, so I doubt that March 10th will actually be the decision day. Just wishful thinking on my part.
