Share your DC's experience or any knowledge of Cal Poly SLO?

[Anonymous]

Hi,
DC was just admitted for Cal Poly SLO. Would love to hear any experiences your DC or you have with this school.

What we love:
- beautiful campus with so many things students can do
- focus on practical skills "learn by doing" and "hands on" learning, very innovative teaching
- smaller than other public univesities. 9000 students. Most classes around 35-ish students or less, except a few big intro classes
- happy, happy students


Thoughts/experiences?

[Anonymous]

congrats to your DC! it's VERY hard to get into. so many kids apply and many of the best majors have below 10% or even below 5% acceptances!

do you mind sharing stats/major of your DC?

[Anonymous]

Google says 22K undergrads?

[Anonymous]

OP, it has 22k students https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=san+luis+obispo&s=all&id=110422

Have you already visited? I would do that if you can. There is a small airport there that has direct flights to some cities. My two kids who visited didn't like something about it. My youngest is will probably apply.

[Anonymous]

NorCal native here. GO! It is an awesome college town, happy student body, lots of friends and family have attended. All loved it. Good weather, interesting majors. Your DC will thrive just with the fresh food, good hiking, sunshine, beach close by, and Cali vibes. Downside: annoying to get to. I personally would do a direct into LAX or SFO and then a small flight to Santa Barbara for SLO. They would be able to carpool pretty easily once settled. No question, it would be a journey but worth it! Congrats!

[Anonymous]

There is a small regional airport at San Luis Obispo. You can get direct flights from LAX or SFO to SLO's regional airport. The regional airport is much more convenient (10 minutes from campus) than flying into Santa Barbara which is roughly 90 minutes away.

[Anonymous]

California person here. That is my favorite part of the state. It is absolutely beautiful and a great pace of life.

Friends of mine went there and loved it. It's seemed to be a very wholesome environment and a lot of fun.

It is an ag school and there are a lot of people who are kids of farmers. But that's not all the opportunity there. It just was new for my So Cal friends who had never met farmers before, lol. They went into business, teaching, English to grad school/professor. Most of the kids will be from California.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
DC was just admitted for Cal Poly SLO. Would love to hear any experiences your DC or you have with this school.

What we love:
- beautiful campus with so many things students can do
- focus on practical skills "learn by doing" and "hands on" learning, very innovative teaching
- smaller than other public univesities. 9000 students. Most classes around 35-ish students or less, except a few big intro classes
- happy, happy students


Thoughts/experiences?

My goddaughter is an engineering student there and loves it. She joined a sorority, is really involved with her various activities, and loves the projects and practical academic approach. She has also gained really wonderful and impressive internship experiences there.

Advising has been uneven and course registration can be challenging, as is often the case with state public schools. She is a proactive and self-directed student and that has served her well there.

[Anonymous]

I think it's a great school. my college friend's daughter went there and loved it, but my friend said it has a heavy party element.

but isnt that true eveywhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a great school. my college friend's daughter went there and loved it, but my friend said it has a heavy party element.

but isnt that true eveywhere?

Yes, true everywhere. Cal Pol just gets some negative publicity for some big events. Recently it's been St. Patrick's Day. When I went there, the annual big open house event, Poly Royal, got shut down because of over the top partying. But, I wasn't a partier and had a great experience.

Some of the best things about Cal Poly (outside of the beautiful part of the state);
* The learn by doing ethos is really a thing. My first job out of college was directly the result of the experience I got on my senior project.
* Their orientation program, Week of Welcome, is superb. It set very high expectations and neither of my kids had as good an experience at their colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a great school. my college friend's daughter went there and loved it, but my friend said it has a heavy party element.

but isnt that true eveywhere?

Yes, true everywhere. Cal Pol just gets some negative publicity for some big events. Recently it's been St. Patrick's Day. When I went there, the annual big open house event, Poly Royal, got shut down because of over the top partying. But, I wasn't a partier and had a great experience.

Some of the best things about Cal Poly (outside of the beautiful part of the state);
* The learn by doing ethos is really a thing. My first job out of college was directly the result of the experience I got on my senior project.
* Their orientation program, Week of Welcome, is superb. It set very high expectations and neither of my kids had as good an experience at their colleges.

St Fratty's Day: https://mustangnews.net/cal-poly-st-frattys-timeline/

[Anonymous]

It’s very white and not diverse for a school in California. Not popular among Asians.

[Anonymous]

When I worked in silicon valley, we were always happy to hire a new grad from Cal Poly SLO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I worked in silicon valley, we were always happy to hire a new grad from Cal Poly SLO.

I went to Cal Poly. It was on my list because it was my dad's favorite place to hire new grads (business and graphic design majors).

[Anonymous]

Mom, sister, cousin all went there. All loved it. Much smaller than the UCs, smaller classes, smaller campus. SLO is a perfect college town.