I agree that Cal Poly should be on the list if a student is looking for a collaborative, non-weed out environment. They “weed in” by competing for major at application.
Computer Science is the most competitive admit on campus though (they are expecting over 5000 applications for 100 slots) and they over enrolled a few years ago when they eliminated ED. As a result, the rules change intermittently from requiring a 3.3 to not allowing anyone to switch into CS, regardless of their GPA.
Do not chose Cal Poly if switching into CS needs to be on the table, because sometimes it isn’t.
Otherwise, my son, who is just finishing his MS in ME got a GREAT engineering education. His roommate has a brother who went to Georgia Tech. She said he was blown away by how much deeper their course lab work was at Cal Poly and how much more robust the Cal Poly Senior Projects were relative to those at Georgia Tech. It’s one person’s opinion only, but a pretty good data point.
Lastly, I wholeheartedly agree with your approach of looking at schools where you don’t have to stress out about not getting your major. Good luck!