State university #3

[CAVA1990]

One of my relatives is an engineer who started at Cal Poly SLO, didn't really care for it (found the area kind of isolating) and then transferred to Colorado School of Mines in Golden, which she found to be excellent. She was a top flight engineering student. She also considered Virginia Tech but didn't want to move out of the West. You might want to include those two in your decision set.

[Ceece]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I don't understand that statement. What aspect of the full college experience has ruined college? I'm a huge believer in participation in activities outside the classroom including assocations, sports, lectures, concerts, and just doing fun stuff with other students. Establishing a good social network and creating fond memories during your college years can be just as important as what you learned. I know that through my own experience as well my siblings' and kids'.

It's also a lot more fun later on as an alum if you went to a school with decent football and basketball programs; but then I'm a huge, and often disappointed, Cal football fan.

I'm talking about the idea that everyone has in their heads about everything BUT academics and why so many who wouldn't have been college bound a generation or two ago are now routinely take that route only to fail miserably and really jamming up the system. I'm not saying those outside-the-classroom things aren't benificial but creating memories probably shouldn't be the focus. I myself never went to college that way, my kids college didn't have football or anything like that either. There are lot's of ways to do things, lot's of things to get from life and I believe many are "stuck" on a particular idea about the college experience which, of course, includes lot's of partying too, and feel they have to do that in order to do things right.

[diku]

Thanks for all the input! I shall look into UVa charlotsville, VT and Colorado school of mines as well.

I actually visited UVa, it was a beautiful campus, breathtaking architecture and it seems like a really well funded giant university. I also visited Cal Poly SLO, I actually really liked the campus (which was huge) and the surrounding area, nice little downtown, especially the 2 near by beaches along the Pacific coast!

[MattClyde]

Originally Posted by diku

@mattclyde



I am looking into applying for engineering school for next year. I am strongly considering Cal Poly SLO and other comparable engineering schools.

I am not surprised to hear that Cal and UCLA are consider superior to CPSLO engineering. But how does Cal Poly compare to the other UCs??

Thanks ahead for the info!

SLO is a good engineering school, if you are accepted than I would suggest going there. I think SLO is a good comparison to UCSB, not sure on the others. Not sure if you are considering this or even if this college has engineering but UCM is brand new and quite nice. It is in the middle of nowhere but 10-15 years later a UCM degree will probably be equal to or greater than a UCI degree because of the small class size and the massive amounts of money it is getting.

The best engineering schools would be CalTech, MIT, CSMines. Not sure what your academics are or if you want to go there but those are some options. CSMines might be easier to get into than SLO BUT I have heard the classes there are insane and you will have no life because of the the amount of work and challenging curriculum. But one plus for mines is in the top 5 in the nation for starting salary for a graduate.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Ceece

I'm talking about the idea that everyone has in their heads about everything BUT academics and why so many who wouldn't have been college bound a generation or two ago are now routinely take that route only to fail miserably and really jamming up the system. I'm not saying those outside-the-classroom things aren't benificial but creating memories probably shouldn't be the focus. I myself never went to college that way, my kids college didn't have football or anything like that either. There are lot's of ways to do things, lot's of things to get from life and I believe many are "stuck" on a particular idea about the college experience which, of course, includes lot's of partying too, and feel they have to do that in order to do things right.

I can't speak for the other schools but I can assure you you wouldn't find a whole lot of that at Cal. Some of the kids there may play hard and have a great time non-academically but they work hard too. They didn't get in there by being slackers.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by diku

Thanks for all the input! I shall look into UVa charlotsville, VT and Colorado school of mines as well.

No not UVA in Charlottesville. It's a great school otherwise but not in engineering. The one you'd want to check out would be VA Tech in Blacksburg. It's one of the top engineering schools on the East Coast

[slo1318]

More Cal Poly SLO info:

Welcome to Cal Poly - Cal Poly

A couple of snippets on the engineering school:


Cal Poly ranks third nationally among public universities in a Forbes.com ranking of college campuses, based on a recent study that looks at earnings of alumni at colleges around the country. Cal Poly followed only Berkeley and University of Virginia in the public rankings, tying for the third spot with UCLA and UC San Diego. According to the study, compiled by PayScale.com, Cal Poly alumni with 10-20 years of experience earn a median salary of $101,000, with 10 percent of the graduates at this experience level making more than $178,000.




Cal Poly’s College of Engineering program ranked second among public engineering programs, bested only by the U.S. Military Academy, for schools whose highest degree is a bachelor's or master's. A number of College of Engineering degree programs ranked high in the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs in their individual specialty categories. The university’s industrial and manufacturing, computer, electrical and mechanical engineering programs were each ranked as the top program at a public university in their respective specialty categories. Cal Poly’s civil and environmental engineering program was ranked the second best program at a public university.

[DowntownVentura]

Originally Posted by MattClyde

SLO is a good engineering school, if you are accepted than I would suggest going there. I think SLO is a good comparison to UCSB, not sure on the others. Not sure if you are considering this or even if this college has engineering but UCM is brand new and quite nice. It is in the middle of nowhere but 10-15 years later a UCM degree will probably be equal to or greater than a UCI degree because of the small class size and the massive amounts of money it is getting.

The best engineering schools would be CalTech, MIT, CSMines. Not sure what your academics are or if you want to go there but those are some options. CSMines might be easier to get into than SLO BUT I have heard the classes there are insane and you will have no life because of the the amount of work and challenging curriculum. But one plus for mines is in the top 5 in the nation for starting salary for a graduate.

Colorado School of Mines is not ranked very high in the USNews (graduate) engineering school rankings. Not that I think that is the only measure or necessarily even the best measure, but it is curious on why it is so low.
Colorado School of Mines | Best Engineering Schools List | US News

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by diku

Thanks for all the input! I shall look into UVa charlotsville, VT and Colorado school of mines as well.

I actually visited UVa, it was a beautiful campus, breathtaking architecture and it seems like a really well funded giant university. I also visited Cal Poly SLO, I actually really liked the campus (which was huge) and the surrounding area, nice little downtown, especially the 2 near by beaches along the Pacific coast!

I love the setting around both UVA and CAl POly. Co School of Mines is a great university but it certainly isn't for everyone and I beleive it is pricey. Of course what schools are not today?

Nita