http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html Life at CPSU - Comments en http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html I find it humorous so many people have complained about the lack of emphasis Calpoly places on the humanities. Bottom line, it’s NOT a soft school; it’s a technical university that tra... Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:11:44 GMT StudentsReview 127-58326 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 127-58326 127 1 Accounting Male Undergraduate Alumnus Class 2000 Positive I find it humorous so many people have complained about the lack of emphasis Calpoly places on the humanities. Bottom line, it’s NOT a soft school; it’s a technical university that trains people to hit the job market running. When I graduated last year I had two job offers before I graduated, starting salary? 58k… If you want to spend 4 years debating the origins of feminism and taking a bunch of sociology classes go ahead… if on the other hand you want to know how a computer is manufactured, coded, and brought to market try Calpoly (but don’t complain). Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:11:44 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html The negative reviews are amazing to me. Clearly most of these reviewers are social misfits, arrogant, or just don't understand what college life is all about. They would proably have the same comments... Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:06:37 GMT StudentsReview 127-57655 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 127-57655 127 3 Architecture Male Undergraduate Class 1983 5th Year Advice The negative reviews are amazing to me. Clearly most of these reviewers are social misfits, arrogant, or just don't understand what college life is all about. They would proably have the same comments about every other school.

College is what you make of it. There are no silver platters or spoons.


To any prospective student or parent, Poly is a wonderful place.

No, I do not work there.
Yes, it has been 25 years since I attended.
No, it is not Harvard or Stanford, but some programs, like architecture, rank among the best in the world.
Of course, other programs are on the periphery, that's true with any school.

The truth is, you can find reviews like some of the negative ones here for every campus in the nation. Some kids are simply clueless. Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:06:37 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html Cal Poly reminds me of HEALD College on steroids. SLO has a great reputation for it's engineering, accounting and agriculture programs, but it's education lacks real UNIVERSITY qualities. It's huma... Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:24:17 GMT StudentsReview 127-56660 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 127-56660 127 7 Business - Management and Administration Male Undergraduate Class 1999 1st Year Negative Cal Poly reminds me of HEALD College on steroids. SLO has a great reputation for it's engineering, accounting and agriculture programs, but it's education lacks real UNIVERSITY qualities. It's humanities, social science, liberal arts and hard science programs are lacking academic rigor and depth. I attended Cal Poly and then transferred to UC Santa Barbara.

If you want a true university experience, I highly recommend you consider attending a UC school. As college educated people, we are expected to know something about literature, art, history, philosophy, politics, etc.....Cal Poly offers a one dimensional education for one dimensional minds. It's students are essentially being trained to become worker bees. This is the main reason students in the technical majors are heavily recruited by Silicon Valley companies.

If you want a good vocational training, you can't go wrong with Cal Poly. The college has poured millions of dollars into labs and engineering classrooms, but has done very little in the way of improving it's other programs. The campus library is on par with what you would expect to find at a community college. A university experience is supposed to be much more than training for a job, it's suppose to challenge, nurture and open your mind to a whole new ways of thinking and seeing the world. You can't do this at Cal Poly, if the school lacks proper university course offerings, faculty and facilities. If you desire a Heald College experience, then Cal Poly will be the place for you. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:24:17 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html My experience at Cal Poly like most stories has two sides. I still flip flop back and forth but my message is relatively clear with respect the key component that come embedded within Cal Poly and th... Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:57:41 GMT StudentsReview 127-56067 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 127-56067 127 3 Architecture Male Undergraduate Class 2002 5th Year Neutral My experience at Cal Poly like most stories has two sides. I still flip flop back and forth but my message is relatively clear with respect the key component that come embedded within Cal Poly and the small town of San Luis Obispo. Growing up in Laguna Beach it would be a safe assertion that I left high school at age 17 with a warped sense of perspective on life and perhaps any school would have greeted me with disappointment. Having said that, I spent my first two years at Cal Poly trying to adapt and here is what I found to be the most critical points that incoming prospective students should be aware of prior to signing on the dotted line. Finally as a disclaimer, it is important to note that this commentary is in many ways subjective and comes with a perspective based on my life’s experiences and upbringing but at the same time is written having graduated six years ago with a better understanding of the entire process.

It would be safe to say that every school has it shortcomings. Here is what I found to be the most challenging aspects with respect to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Anyway you slice it, there is an overwhelming sense of feeling isolated from a metropolitan civic center like Los Angeles or San Francisco and for me this only added claustrophobia to the psyche. At the same time, this isolation came with a benefit of being surrounded by some of the most beautiful land in California from Santa Barbara to Big Sur.

The next topic was touched on in previous commentaries but I would like to take it bit further into detail because I think this is one of the more important mechanisms that continue’s to restrict the future prosperity of the university. Cal Poly caries with it a very strong conservative background and when combined with a lack of diversity in the student demographic, this directly influences a cultureless and almost bland student body that juxtaposes the very concept of a university setting. Simply put, Cal Poly has no sense of style, individuality and rarely did I witness an act of liberal expressionism that one would expect in a college town. The student body is in many ways self conscious and when given the opportunity, would prefer to be anonymous. I watched six batches of freshman enter Cal Poly every year with a level of energy and excitement only to fall victim to the small town syndrome of “SLO” town.

If you’re looking for the quintessential college experience that you witnessed in movies where renown published professor’s lecture in two hundred year old lecture halls among a campus of profound architectural landmarks surrounded by a constant liberal body of discourse flowing as rampant as the worldly art and music surrounding your context, than Cal Poly is not for you. Cal Poly is simply a state funded school doing what it can in a remote rural context and for that it should be commended. Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:57:41 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html I find that most people who are from NorCal or are in the college of engineering or architecture has the same opinion as me: Cal Poly isn't a great college experience. This is probably because Cal Pol... Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:55:01 GMT StudentsReview 127-54481 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 127-54481 127 12 Computer Science Female Undergraduate Class 2010 2nd Year Negative I find that most people who are from NorCal or are in the college of engineering or architecture has the same opinion as me: Cal Poly isn't a great college experience. This is probably because Cal Poly is famous for these 2 colleges, and the work you must do in these programs can be intense.

So most of these students feel stressed, and also alone because they are often busy doing work and when they try to go out, there really is nothing to do and they are usually the ones who don't have a really close group of friends.

I find also that a lot of NorCal people tend to hang out with NorCal people because the school is mostly SoCal people and these two sides, for the most part, aren't best friends with each other. They are just classmates at most.

I thought Cal Poly was going to be a great school with a friendly community, but it doesn't fit me. Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:55:01 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/CPSU_comments.html