I’m glad it was helpful.
A part of the decision process for our son was looking for schools with smaller class sizes. Even in high school, he would connect with his teachers before or after class. This has carried over with him in college and so far he has been able to connect well with each of his professors. He’s at a school with around 3200 kids, for him small but not too small. Just a data point to consider when you compare a school like Cal Poly with a WPI.
Cal Poly has small class sizes too. Calculus for example is capped at 32 and Physics, 40. They don’t use TAs even for labs or discussions. It’s easy to connect with instructors.
The largest lecture hall at both of them is about 200. Interestingly, WPI has 4 that big. Cal Poly just has one, The Silo in Orfalea, the business school. The largest lecture hall in the CENG is 133.
I know these schools very well. Our son ultimately chose CP, primarily because he wanted to stay on the west coast. He agonized between CP and WPI though until the very end because they have so many similarities.
I know there are some larger size schools that do a good job in making it feel like you are in a smaller school. Also, those schools may have more resources and academic choices. I was just looking at the published stats for both schools showing percentages by class sizes.
Being based on the East Coast we hear more about WPI and really only know Cal Poly by name. Every once in a while there’s a college you always hear only positives and WPI seems to be one of those for us. The project-based type of learning that WPI emphasizes was really appealing to my son when he was looking at schools
It came down to a few schools for him and the one with the project-based approach just didn’t have a potential major he was interested in. He’s at a LAC with about 3000 kids and most of his classes average around 12 to 15 kids which really works for him.
We were very fortunate to know someone who had a child at both. They are both phenomenal programs, both emphasizing hands on application of theory, each with their strengths and weaknesses. Deciding which was better would really boil down to what someone was prioritizing in the intangibles. Lots to like at both.