California Polytechnic State University

I came back to campus for a job fair and was surprised at all the new buildings. It looks great. I graduated in 1999 and it looks like a new campus with all the changes. It is a great school to go to and is in a beautiful setting. “Learn by Doing” is the school motto and it really helped with my education while there.

What a beautiful campus! I was able to attend my brothers graduation. He is a proud alumni, campus wrote an article about him and his success 🙌 campus is so close to so many natural beauties, I highly recommend stopping at the beach and sand dunes!

Absolutely beautiful. Everyone is very happy, friendly, and willing to help out. From the students to the staff they are willing to go out of their way to help you. Some of the housing is older and looks a rundown on the exterior, but the interior is well kept. The campus is compact enough where you can easierly walk from one end to the other, but has enough space that it doesn't feel crowded. Great dining options for dietary needs, gluten free, vegan, and any other allergies. They are constantly updating and remodeling, taking surveys from students to see what they want on campus. A great place!

A top rated engineering school geared toward undergraduate studies that espouses a learning-by-doing approach. Not only is it a top rated school, it's also located on the California central coast, one of the most beautiful places in the US.

Great looking campus and friendly staff. Graduation ceremonies flowed exceptionally well and water bottles were provided. Parking is a tad inadequate and classes are often located across campus and back again. I wonder if a transit system could be implemented to help provide a way for students to get across campus between classes.

Beautiful campus surrounded by hills. Dorms close to the campus center. Extensive sports facilities and food courts.

Recently visited the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The campus looks amazing and has great views.

Great area to bird!! Also one of the finest Universities in the United States.

I wish I could go to school again and try out multiple universities including Cal Poly. It's a beautiful campus in an idyllic setting. I have had the privilege to engage with their staff including their President, Mr. Armstrong who is a gem of a man and a forward-thinking intellectual. They have a great entrepreneurship accelerator program and awesome science programs including a partnership with NASA. I am jealous of the students who go to school here!

Cal Poly has wonderful professors who care about your success and from whom you can learn a great deal. It is also an absolute bureaucratic nightmare. It is a never-ending morass of meaningless paperwork. You will spend at least as much time attempting to navigate the arcane mysteries of Registering for Classes, or Paying For A Thing, or Simply Graduating, as you do in class or studying. They should have given me a Masters in "Filling Out Useless Abode Sign Forms." Shane P., MFOUASF. I was one of the top students in the entire school, and they still (3 months later!) cannot figure out how to award me my degree because of problems stemming from their internal paperwork idiocy. Oh, also: 3 (THREE!) times when I was a student, they erroneously deposited money into my bank account and then CHARGED ME A FEE to pay it back.

It's big, it's rare, and it smells like rotting flesh. Amorphophallus titanium, the titan arum, also known as the corpse flower or plant due to its characteristic smell of a rotting corpse. It is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence (cluster of flowers) in the world. It is in the family of Araceae. The bloom can grow to more than 8' in height, and 3' in diameter. It is native to tropical forests & endemic to Sumatra, Indonesia. Cal Poly's horticulture and botany students have been growing these plants for over 10 years but have never had one of their plants flower. This Titan Arum, named "Musty" began to bloom last evening, and will be on display today until 9 pm, and tomorrow (Saturday July 11, 2020) from 9 am to 12 pm. Face coverings and physical distancing are required. Only one household is allowed in the greenhouse at a time, and visits are limited to one minute each. The student volunteers were very upbeat & knowledgeable, and helped keep the line moving well. Thank you Cal Poly horticulture and botany students & faculty members for sharing this unique and rare event.

We did a self driven tour here as it was too big to walk around and see everything at this school. From what we can tell, the campus was nice and lots of students were seen walking around on a Sunday afternoon. They also had sports events going on so the campus was lively. It's close to downtown SLO and Avila Beach Pier and Pismo Beach as well.

I am many years out of college but If I was considering college again, I would give this university strong consideration. It's my type of surroundings and size of university. I had the chance to cycle and walk around here recently while school was in session. You can tell a lot from just spending a few hours on campus. They got themselves an incredible piece of land surrounded by mountains, lots of land--great setting to study. Seems like a place that attracts more independent intelligent students that are focused, want to succeed, prefer a smaller campus, and are less concerned with partying. It seems like a place a student will have less concern about fitting in and being accepted and more supportive for developing themselves individually. It almost has that atmosphere like an expensive private university and not a public university. It was fairly white-bread here--I did not see too many non-white students. I felt like a well healed Orange County group. You are very close to Pismo Beach and Morro Bay from this campus, and just 2.5 to 3 hours to LA. The one thing that I did not like and did not feel good was the student housing and frat house area right outside the campus. It did not have a great feel to it. The frats were the usual UC institutional builds and not elegant homes. The on campus dorms run the gamut from brand new to 1960's or 70's construction. None of them impressed me. Downtown SLO is close--you can practically long walk it. I cycled downtown in 15 minutes. And then the main thing to consider when going to college is immersing yourself in the business world while in school. There is something to be said about going to college in crime and grime LA or SF or NYC or Chicago, etc. SLO? Not much happening--farming... Buy hey, I was just cycling around. Don't rely on this--go see it yourself and investigate.

rice was sub-hard, egg plant looked like eel, NOT ENOUGH CHICKEN, lemonade was fire! cookie was crumbled! "WHEN IS DINNER?"

I'm rating the rooms in the Yosemite Dormitory. To our surprise, our son who is a freshman will be sharing with two other freshman. The dorm room is tiny and completely outdated. The plastic covered mattress is too big for the bunk beds. Wondering with all the money the school spends on other things, why can't some of that money go to updating this building. It looks like a prison. Very depressing. Bathrooms seem okay.

A bit hard when the school has high expectations and sometimes teachers would assume the student have language barriers and are racist. You work in class and yet they can make you feel stupid when you ask them questions only for them to correctly how to say it properly and then answer it in a way that is hard to comprehend. It makes you feel scared to ask questions or even try to comment without being pushed down. It made me not to socialized with anyone at that point.

Way too expensive to live in this city and go to school. Lots of talk about internships and "learn by doing", but only if you can live in the area year round. If you go home for the summer, good luck getting an internship. A lot of wealthy kids doing drugs and Ubering into class. Oh yes, and if you ride a nice bike and it gets stolen - then the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo police find it - know that it can be then stolen from them. Called the campus police regularly for weeks to get information on how to pick up my stolen bike that they said they had located, no returned phone call. Learned today that they didn't call back because it was stolen again from their police lock up.

Nice campus! We drove up to San Luis Obispo for the day and drove around the campus. We have a few friends that went to school here. This college has some great programs, I may have to go to graduate school here! You'll notice immediately all of the fields and greenhouses around the campus that's because they have an amazing Agurculture department where you can major in Agriculture, Animal Science, Dairy Science, Food Science and Nutrition, Horticulture, Natural Resources, Tourism and wait for it...WINE AND VITICULTURE! The weather is gorgeous the town is quaint charming and granolaish and the people are friendly. I would have loved coming here for my undergrad!

I had a very pleasant time walking around campus recently, admiring the buildings, making a pilgrimage to the Weird Al bathroom, and hanging out.

I love Cal Poly. Period! I was a student at Cal Poly and I'm a twenty year employee off Cal Poly and my love for this college has never wavered. Are there issues with Cal Poly? sure! What university doesn't. Although I don't necessarily agree with all decisions, they are always trying to make Cal Poly better. One thing I feel is 1000% better for students are the activities. When I was a student in the 90's basically I felt the only thing I could when not studying was go to bars. Currently there is always something going on. Between University Athletics (every year it seems one of the teams is making it to the collegiate playoff finals) and their myriad of sports, ASI and their concerts and other programs, the rodeo, Open House, Tractor Pull, guest speakers for all interests, and don't forget Spanos Theater and the Performing Arts Center they strive to keep the collegiate community engaged. This place is a great place to send your student. I hope our son wants to go here someday. By the way, it's close to the ocean and close to hiking. The other massive plus is the quality of education. The Learn by Doing motto is still here. I can't believe how many labs I had to take to make textbook talk a reality. The faculty is also amazing as a whole. Want the best bang for your educational buck? Go to Cal Poly.

Frankly, the selection of students for admission is never based on how good you did in schools. Don't waste your money.

I will make a comparison of Cal Poly and UC Berkeley. At Cal Poly, in an upper division class, normally a professor will recognize every student's face because the class has less than 50 students; However, at Berkeley, a professor will teach a course in a big lecture room which have 300-800 students capacity. At Cal Poly, all the classes are lectured by professors even lab courses are taught by lectures or professors; at Cal, professor teach 2-3 hours/week, another 1 hour lecture and/or 3 hours lab/week will be lectured by a TA. Cal Poly tuition is about $9K now (almost doubled in 10 yrs) though UC Berkeley tuition is about $14K (doesn't change much in 10 yrs). Cal Poly has only 1 main Library. There is a study room in the library for students study overnight; Cal has so many libraries in the campus. At Cal Poly, at least for some engineering majors, in upper division classes, students are more focused on project based, hand on experience team works. Project and term paper weight is equal to or even more than exam weight; At Berkeley, individual, knowledge based exam has more weight than lab or project. At Cal Poly, for ESL students, prepare to struggle on improving your English. Students must pass a Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE), or pass a GWR-approved upper-division course with C on an in class essay to graduate. For engineering students, besides basic GE English courses and one speech class, students have to take a technical writing class and when you are ready for your senior project, many writing exams are waiting for you; At Cal, for engineering major students, not much stress on English writing. Only one particular upper division English course need to be taken. Conclusion: I won't say Cal Poly is better than Cal or the opposite way. It really depends on your goal. Cal Poly probably is the best public undergraduate school for people who don't want to attend graduate school. Go Mustangs if you want to get a good pay job and start your real life after you graduation. If you are focused on graduate school, go Bear or UCLA, you will meet strong professors and you have great libraries for research. It is much easier to make a transition from an undergraduate student to a graduate student if you attend school at UC.

I'd have to say I never been to a college game before but after seen how intense the crowd gets for its mustangs and how well they played this was a great game.

The selection of students' admission is so rigid. It is so absurd. I applied for this university last year. They even refused to REVIEW my application because I am an international student and I was required to have a good enough TOEFL score, which I didn't. I was not able to waive it successfully, either. I can use three specific courses of grade B or better to waive TOEFL. I had an A in communication class, a B for Honor critical thinking English class and a C for Honor English writing class. That C was one of the two Honor English classes and was 78.0+%, less than 2% away to be a B. Shouldn't I be proud of myself that I can survive two Honor class as an international student? I wrote my explanations and mailed to them. All I got was "That C did not satisfy the waive request." TOEFL is required for people whose native language is not English. But what about some people whose English is not as good as mine and happen to change the status and apply as a resident? They skip my hardship and you ignored how hard I tried. I don't want to say SHAME ON YOU! But, SHAME ON WHO? Thank you Cal Poly for treating me as if "You can't speak English well, then you can't vote. That's the way it is!" It's just absurd and sad for you!

Don't listen to the bad reviews. Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo is so far one of the best schools in California hands down. I was super tired of the heavy Los Angeles traffic; UCLA was my first option before I transferred from Santa Monica College to Cal-Poly SLO ( we the locals, call San Luis Obispo - "SLO"- as in slow down life is not about rushing from point A to B. Stop and smell the roses. Best decision of my life. Transferring to this university absolutely changed my life. The college is big but small enough to get the personal one on one attention you need from professors. My grades significantly improved since transferring here. yes, it's a small town, but I love it, it's nice to go places, and you recognize classmates and people, so you don't feel like a stranger like in a big city like Los Angeles where people are so impersonal. You will get the best education hands down since going this University is like attending a private school. Learn by doing- Cal-Poly motto nothing beats that. You get 360 degrees of ocean and mountain views. The air is fresh not contaminated like in the big city. Spending 2-4years here is good for your health, and mental well-being; especially because college can get super stressful The University has an excellent reputation. The nightlife is great- San Luis Obispo downtown is where it's at. Beautiful campus - won't find a campus like this anywhere in California. Tuition is very affordable - yes it's more expensive than all the state universities in California but cheaper than UC's Small community feel - on and off campus hot guys, hot girls hands down! The School is very competitive, I personally liked this, I was pushed to study harder. Great Christian community: if you are into that. Seriously the list goes on. I love this place. Goooo Mustangs

As an engineer, I know that the engineering building on most campuses is easily recognized by being the most boring building on campus. While this has changed over the years, most schools still have that same look. Unfortunately, the California Polytechnic State University - aka Cal Poly - in San Luis Obispo - aka SLO - suffers from a similar fate. Their large campus is located northeast of downtown SLO with several access points. I do enjoy visiting universities on my travels, and I am well aware of the reputation Cal Poly holds in the academic community. Driving through campus, I quickly discovered that they lack many attractive buildings even though the campus is set in the beautiful rolling hills. I am sure that students love their campus the same way I loved my dorm room in college, but I never found anything interesting to stop and admire. That said, the university is top notch and one of the premiere destinations for STEM education. Their location is near the beach in the great town of San Luis Obispo with easy rail access to Southern California. It is just a bit disappointing the mission style of the region is not reflected well on campus.

My friend who used to attend SLO brought me here to visit the campus. Very nice campus with lots of terrain changes and activities for students to stay engaged and fit. I especially enjoyed the Learning Pine Aboretum as I think it's truly spectacular with such wide variety of plants, shrubs, herbs, flowers and trees from all different continents. Kudos to the students and faculty that helped to make this place possible. I am astounded by the staff's ability to grow such diverse annuals and perennials from very different climates. Luckily I also got a glimpse of my favorite California quails running around trying to escape from my sight.

I am giving this review a one star because they cancelled students 4th year internships and study abroad programs and offered nothing to replace them, leaving students to scramble on their own to make up those credits. The staff and facility refuse to find ways to hold in person classes like labs that need to be held in person for pedagogical reasons. The school crosses the line on on how much authority it has over students, requiring them to be tested every 3 days or they cannot access their student portal or use any of the University resources. This is a violation of their human rights and also a violation of their health care privacy. They are monitoring students' test results like creepy overlords.

I would not recommend coming to the Performing Arts Center for shows. They charged $10 to park for an hour to see a show in the middle of the afternoon with my child's school. Once the ticket machine had my credit card info, it wouldn't allow me to cancel the transaction-what a scam! When I inquired about it, I received no response. That sent a clear message that they really don't want the general public to attend shows there. I won't be going back.

Cal Poly should be ashamed for making parking on or near campus a nightmare for their students. It seems that they over sell parking permits when there are, clearly, not enough spaces. We have paid hundreds of dollars in violations due to being forced to park at meters because of lack of parking spots available. Surely with the extra revenue from fines and available space, this school can build extra parking lots for their students or is there another reason for them not to?

Great college with friendly students and staff. The campus is always clean and has great views of the surrounding mountains. The recreation center on campus is one of the nicest gyms I have every used, and the rock climbing wall is a nice addition.

Came here to host a job fair. Very impressed the calibur of students here. The drive to get there is so painful though...=/ Whether from LA or the bay area....

Enjoyed a women's basketball game this passed weekend. The Mott Athletic Center looked well kept. Will probably be back for more events. I've been here several times in the past for concerts/performances etc. and the performing arts center is awesome! Great campus and great people!

There are so amazing people, students, and faculty here, but overall this is a terrible place.

Just come to Cal Poly few months ago, I'm an international student but was really depressed. I owned a car in my hometown (Sweden) for 6 years, never received a single scratch or hit-and-run. 6 months, my Avalon was full of scratches(some uneducated students intentionally did it) and filed a hit-and-run claim in which I need to pay deductible. I'm a study-focused engineer student and never got into a conflict. If you look for a good engineer school, Cal Poly would be a good option. However, beware of complicated environment, or ended up in craziness by faults made by some reckless students. Here's 6 months of crime: - 2 sexual attacks (1 at fraternity, 1 at parking lots) - Bike stolen is normal (even locked). - University polices are useless, except parking enforcement.

Best "bang for your buck" college for business!! I've gotten better internship/job opportunities than my friends attending UC/CSU's for Business. Big name companies recruit at Cal Poly and Mustang Jobs, Cal Poly's jobs listing site, is full of opportunities. Workday, Chevron, Adobe, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, Apple, Cisco, Target,...need I say more? I'm specifically a Business Admin major with a concentration in Information Systems and I'm proud to say I'm graduating this Spring with 2 internships under my belt and a full-time job offer to look forward to post-grad. All because of my education and opportunities at Cal Poly...I HAVE A JOB!!!! That's what we go to college for right?!? And to think I almost didn't consider this college. You may not have heard of this university much (especially if you have Asian parents since they're normally pushing for just UC's) but I highly recommend considering it! It's cheaper than a UC and if you come for Business, Engineering, or Architecture, I'm sure you'll be set for life as long as you don't slack off.

So to commemorate my 100th review, I decided to pay tribute (a long one at that!) to the one and only... Cal Poly!! (Thanks for the idea, Carol!) Ever since I set foot on Cal Poly's campus during a YMCA College Tour, I knew I just had to go there. I have had some great times here, and feel like I owe this to Poly. Major draws? See below: 1) "Learn by Doing": Cal Poly ain't messing around when they use this as their slogan. With many of the classes you take, well-equipped labs are paired with them- making you do lots of hands-on learning. Classes for the most part, are small and intimate, so you also get a good amount of attention. 2) WOW Week: Well thought out program that really gives you a good intro to the school & SLO. It made the high school to college transition much less intimidating than I had originally perceived it to be. 3) Open House: An awesome showcase of all of Cal Poly's clubs & organizations. There are some great performances (PCE Modern!) and mouth watering food booths where you can get BBQ corn on the cob, strawberry shortcake, deep-fried artichokes, BBQ chicken, the list goes on and goes on. It's a great time to visit Poly whether or not you're there as a prospective student. 4) Intermural & Club Teams: They're all at your fingertips! If you played a sport in high school, it's likely that you still have the opportunity to continue it at Poly. 5) UU Hour: Live bands & BBQin' (sometimes!). This is a great Thursday break from the school week where lots of students gather to hang out & lunch together during the 11 o'clock social hour. 6) Rec Center: I love the pool here! My bff and I would often lay out in the sun between classes or swim here during the rec center's triathalon event (sign-up if you can! It's a great workout motivator!!). Before I left, I heard that they installed tv monitors on the workout machines. Too bad I missed out! 7) Julian's Cafe: I'm not gonna lie. When I found out they served Dreyer's Ice Cream, Cal Poly was perfect in my eyes. There was a point during my college career where I had 2 milkshakes a week- I loved it that much. ;) 8) Clubs & Organizations: There's a billion of em', so you're bound to find your niche. Mine was Chi Delta Theta. =] 9) Networking: I feel like practically everyone I've met knows of someone who went to Cal Poly or went there themselves. The alumni love the school and some often retire by there! This is great for networking, especially since Poly has such a shining reputation! the following are more SLO related rather than Poly related, but they definitely contributed to my overall great Poly experience. 10) Food, Food, and more Food: SLO has some of THE best restaurants around. I'm not talkin' amazing high-end ambiance, but all sorts of down to earth, satisfyingly good restaurants located in one small town. Visiting SLO is a debaucle, 'cuz I have to strategically map out my meals to get the most out of my visit. I'm talkin' Shin's, Margie's, Breakfast Buzz, Firestone's, High Street Deli, Yanagi's, Taco Roco, Cabo, Bali's, Thai Palace, etc. 11) Wine Country: I had no idea until my last 2 years of college that we were knee deep in the central coast's wine region! You may not be into wine when you enter Cal Poly, but trust me... you'll love it once you leave. With wineries like Tobin James, Wolff Vineyard, Claiborne & Churchill, Wildhorse, Edna Valley, Laetitia, Clautiere (a MUST visit spot if you're winetasting w/ all your gf's!), good lord I could go on for days, you are SET as far as having a plethora of wineries at your fingertips. 12) Pismo Beach: A short, 15 minute drive?? That doesn't even compare to the SJ/Santa Cruz drive! After going to Santa Cruz all the time in high school, I felt right at home in SLO. 13) The Cliff's: Best. Happy. Hour. Ever. Not sure if they still have this awesome happy hour set-up w/ a complimentary mini buffet, but this was THE best post-class activity to do w/ your friends. Watching the sunset while overlooking Pismo Beach and getting sloshed on margaritas, were classic memories. 14) Farmer's Market: BBQ galore, music, fresh fruits & veggies, and an excuse to go shopping downtown, all made Thursday nights that much more fun. 15) Outdoor Activities: ATVing in Pismo, camping on Grover Beach, kayaking in Morro Bay, hiking Bishop's Peak, surfing in Pismo, golfing off the 1. Need I say more? 16) Mardi Gras: Now this huge celebration is pretty much long gone thanks to the authorities, but before the 5-0 tamed the parties down big time, this party was awesome. I remember pre-drinking at some guy's place, walking down to the parade, and having the time of my life! Those were the "good ol' days". But the fact that SLO hosted such a crazy event, made our town unique & gave something for us college kids to enjoy! I heart you Poly and never once regretted choosing you! Thanks for all the great memories!!!

Going to Cal Poly was the best life decision I have made to this day. Their "Learn by Doing" policy proves true in that by engaging in labs, you learn the material at a deeper level than you would if you were to just read out of a book. I attended Cal Poly and received my a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in information systems. I am now graduating and have received numerous full time offers to work at small and large firms. I have decided to accept an offer to work in PricewaterhouseCooper's Advisory practice in San Francisco. The ability for graduates to receive such offers is a true testament to the education and training provided by the fabulous professors at Cal Poly. What distinguishes Cal Poly from other schools is class size, the "Learn by Doing" motto, student life & culture, support from professors, and challenging coursework. While at Cal Poly, all of my classes were taught solely by professors. Not once did I take a class led by a T.A. Due to small class sizes, I was able to form relationships with my professors, which later helped when I was looking for internships and full time jobs. The professors truly care about student success. They make themselves completely open if you ever need help, and go out of their way to make sure you do well. The largest class I ever took had 45 people. The smallest class had about 16. The average class size throughout my time was around 30 people. You simply cannot find these class sizes at other top-rated schools. The campus culture and student life also contributed to my positive experience. Contrary to what another review stated, our campus is gorgeous. Many parts of campus are lined with palm trees, have large open fields where students lay out and have fun (Dexter Lawn), and with recent construction on campus, the buildings are becoming architecturally beautiful. We even have a brand new Rec Center with a leisure pool and lap pool! Students also have numerous opportunities to join clubs, teams, and greek life. With such a gorgeous community, it is hard not to have a campus filled with genuinely happy students. In fact, Oprah ranked SLO as the happiest city in America. As I mentioned earlier, Cal Poly was a perfect fit for me. I would highly recommend this school to any interested transfer or high school student.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. Does Yelp have an option for 18+ stars? That's what I want to give Cal Poly. I went to undergrad here and even with my Ivy grad education, recruiters can't stop asking me about Cal Poly. I could sit here for a long time ranting about the joys of this little "hands on" university in the middle of the California mountains. Here are just a few things off the top of my head: 1. 10min driving from the beach, or, in the other direction, the mountains. Awesome mountain biking, climbing, hiking, trekking in your backyard. 2. Small town where people genuinely care about everyone - even strangers. When I went here, some people didn't lock their doors and were never robbed or anything. Bonus: I have never dealt with a more agreeable administration. Since the school is so small, the admins will go out of their way to help you in any way possible. The red tapes of bureaucracy seem more like cellophane. 3. 60min driving to Paso Robles, Santa Barbara and the entire Central Coast wine culture. Unlike Napa and Sonoma which are flooded with tourists, the Central Coast is relatively undiscovered. On several occasions, the wine makers have personally come out and spoken with us and discussed everything from wine, to dogs, to how the gravel and irrigation issues affect the experience. Bonus: tastings here are still usually free. 4. Farmer's Market. You just HAVE to go. Especially if you're a big food nut (which I'm assuming you are because you're a Yelper.) 5. Hands-on Education - I majored in Mechanical Engineering. Not only did I achieve a solid engineering background (pass rate for SLO ME's for the EIT is over 95%), I also machined, welded, soldered, ran experiments,..etc. as part of my required curriculum. 6. Amazing brilliant peers. Cal Poly's general structure of accepting a wider range of students and weeding out 2/3 of their freshman/sophomore population may be difficult to get through; however, it enables students to meet a larger variety of people with differing interests and passions. I have met some of the most amazing brilliant peers and best friends at this school. Quite tired of typing now,.. more to come...

This review is for Cal Poly Parking. I enjoyed Cal Poly and enjoyed SLO town so much that I decided to stick around after graduation. Loved everything except the parking on campus. Very expensive parking permits for students, not enough parking space, and MISLEADING signage at parking lots that can cost you $$. Parking lot rules and restrictions signs state weekends and holidays parking rules are not enforced except on 24/7 zones. I parked my car on 'staff 30 min zone' on a SATURDAY and received TWO citation tickets for parking on the spot for more than 30 minutes. NO '24/7' sign ANYWHERE (all staff spots are free to park on weekends). I actually parked on these spots for almost 5 years on Saturdays with no problem, and when I asked the Parking Services what's up, they told me 'oh we do enforce it starting this year'. They should've updated the policy signage, change the lot marking so its not misleading, or have a 'heads-up citation note' or something. I completely felt like it's a TRAP. I appealed my ticket twice. Took pictures of the lot and wrote letters and I was VERY sure they would reconsider dropping the ticket and making some sort of a change at the parking lot. All I got back was 'as a licensed driver you should know what timed spots mean'. Really? maybe someone who put up the parking rules doesn't know how to write English. Rules like that must be CRYSTAL CLEAR. Unless it's an INTENTIONAL PARKING TRAP to take money away from poor college students.

Best decision of my life! You'll will not find a single person who didn't enjoy going to Cal Poly. Cal Poly is without a doubt an amazing University. But pair that with an equally impressive town, and you have a college experience that you will not find anywhere else. Graduating from a University that provides you with a "hands on" approach will make graduates very attractive to employers. Many of my classmates received scholarships to graduate school, or amazing job opportunities once graduating from Cal Poly. Living in a town that prides itself on safety and "community" will give you an incredible living experience away from home. It is the perfect environment to grow as a young adult, receive a valuable education, and develop a skill-set to function in the world. My wife and I both graduated from Cal Poly, and went on to receive our doctorate degrees. While in graduate school we felt we had the "upper hand" due to our undergraduate experiences at Cal Poly. And beyond the education, students at Cal Poly will learn to flourish in the community....without the crime or violence that you would find in a larger city. You will be perfectly safe in any part of town, any time of the day. Most of all, a student will leave Cal Poly, SLO feeling like they are part of a family....which is priceless. I would recommend Cal Poly, and the San Luis Obispo community to anyone!

I wasted 7 years of my life at this overrated school. It's left me distraught and suicidal, and indebted. I am not exaggerating. You will have to crash every class, deal with an administration that cares more about new buildings than getting class sections open for students who desperately need to graduate, and won't be able to change to any desirable majors with anything but a 4.0 (and even then, good luck. I was a physics major who decided a year in that perhaps engineering made more sense, but with no luck switching during the next 4 years). I had to wait a year to graduate because I wasn't able to get a class that was offered once a year. This sort of experience was fairly common among my peers. I could write essays, and essays, about what a horrible place this is. The school maintains its artificially high reputation by cherry-picking students for its engineering and architecture programs and locking out all other students into its mediocre programs in sciences, liberal arts, etc. They reduce class sections at the same time that they put up shiny new buildings. They also raise fees so you can go into debt for their sports teams. I should have left, but didn't, and that's entirely my fault. Please, don't go here. No amount of therapy can make up for the loss of your early-mid-20's (you will be here until you're 23-24 most likely, if you graduate), or the debt you'll incur (especially considering the income you lose by going to a school that takes 5-6 years to escape).

"Learn by doing": A mantra that's drilled in your head from the first day of orientation until graduation day, and a mantra that will be part of my vernacular for (pretty much) the rest of my professional life. If you're willing to put the work in, Cal Poly will give you as many opportunities as possible to achieve what YOU want. And once you put the work in and graduate, the "Cal Poly" name DOES have weight/pull when you apply for jobs. But enough of that: enjoy the atmosphere, the college community, and everything else San Luis Obispo (and surrounding areas) offer. It's a truly unique experience that you will remember for a lifetime! c/o 2004, CSc

I went to Cal Poly for undergrad (for engineering) and LOVED it. Education: The "Learn by Doing" curriculum was incredible. I had phenomenal professors and intelligent classmates. I will say that the quality of education is a bit variable, in that the engineering and architecture programs are great but some of the other programs might not provide as good of an experience. Culture: There is something awesome about going to school in a small town. I could walk into any restaurant or bar in town and know someone there. Cal Poly has a tight-knit community and made me feel incredibly at home. Location: San Luis Obispo is a fantastic town to live in.... it's charming, has delicious restaurants, and is right near the beach. Loved it. Career Potential: After having been on the recruiting side with Deloitte Consulting, I can proudly say Cal Poly has a great presence/reputation in industry. It was also well recognized as a fantastic school as I was applying to top-tier business school programs across the United States.

I really wanted to go here for engineering, got in and finally went for a tour. Boy did this place reek, the tour guide didn't show us anything interesting and there was nothing around?! We asked what they did for fun and he couldn't even answer the question... bad sign. It seems like a good place if you are not into city life and don't mind the farm animal smells. Would have given this school 3 stars, but I had the pleasure of meeting a team of engineering students. Wow they were super immature, rude and represented the school in a negative light. Made me glad I didn't end up going. Still think the hands on aspects of the school are cool.

Disclaimer - I graduated from here so I'm prejudiced. But I've sent two kids here and have nothing but raves about it. As one reviewer noted, all the graduates have careers. Which means if you go here and graduate, you WILL get a job. Of course they make it that way by having almost no 'liberal arts' majors. And they demand that all students have a major. Also, the professors teach the classes. (Which isn't the case at the UC schools or those Ivy League schools). Since the person teaching you has a PhD in the subject and is evaluated by how good a job they do, they tend to be superb at it, no matter what your major. (And yes I've gone to a UC for graduate school, where the TA's do all the teaching and the professors just lecture. This is much better). Ambience is great and you'll meet some people who aren't like you (mostly Aggies). It's great to socialize with people who's parents are growers (they don't use the word 'farmer' much) and who are used to a totally different lifestyle. Good life lessons. Plus, as I said, they do tend to get their graduates jobs.

The architecture program is top notch, most of the engineering programs are pretty good, even as good or better than the UCs. Their business courses on the other hand suck, avoid anything to do with economics or business at this University and really all but 1 of the CSUs have atrocious undergraduate programs or courses in those 2 fields. In California, for these fields you're pretty much stuck with UCLA for undergrad economics or post-grad business for public universities in California. Although UCI and UCSD have some potential. Some of the University staff are pretentious and if not outright combative, adversarial or confrontational then they are indifferent, apathetic and not very supportive. The campus is a bit awkward (as Erik N. alluded to in his review) but still has a serene feel to it. It's not going to win any awards for beauty, design or being unique It's about 3 hours from L.A. and 4 hours to San Francisco if there's no traffic and you speed, so most of the students hang out locally but it's the same old places, to the point of boredom. The beach is close but extremely cold and the restaurants, stores, etc. are a bit pricey during certain times of the year.

Cal Poly is awesome. Period. For me, here are things I consider to be great about going to Cal Poly: 1. I transferred to Cal Poly from a community college and still finished in four years. 2. I majored in Business with Accounting and was hired by a Big 4 accounting firm, along with two of my other accounting friends (in other words, it's not uncommon). 3. There is PLENTY to do, even if you aren't 21 yet (some guy below me said there isn't anything to do). One of the most common things I heard from people graduating Cal Poly is that they didn't get to do everything they wanted to do in SLO in four years. Hiking, surfing, beaching it, campus clubs, tutoring, golf, bowling...the list goes on and on and I didn't even mention a bar. 4. The professors, for the most part, are cool. They love the area and, as such, are content. I had very smart professors. 5. Cal Poly students are extremely active. Many students call it an "active campus." There are always people biking and running around the city. 6. San Luis Obispo is an absolute oasis. It has that small college town feel but a downtown area large enough for quality shopping and dining. If you get tired of living near the serious college party scene, you can move out to a house by Laguna Lake with some buds and have a real chill time. 7. Cal Poly makes a great effort to get their students hired and, as a result, hold many large job fairs. Along with job fairs, the college has a really great campus interview scheduling system. It's very easy to navigate. Sure, it's tough for liberal arts students, but I"m sure it's the same for many other colleges. 8. I graduated three months ago and want to go back already...I miss it.

What a college, what a campus, one of the best in California. By far the best location to go to college in the entire US. A perfect climate, and a lovely town. That is one of the problems that occurs over and over, people go to college here, and then never want to leave. I know I did! The college is worth reviewing for any potential students, and is a gem for instructors. The underlying motto for 'Learn by Doing' generates an environment that creates graduates who are sought after by companies nationwide. This place is a 10 and seems to improve every decade!

I visited Cal Poly 4 times in the last 4 years. The campus layout is incoherent. It does not have a central quad. I did not really figure it out until my 3rd visit. The landscape is not very attractive. The architecture is modern and interesting, but it does not match between buildings. When you enter campus, you feel like you have come in a service entrance with no visible parking and a lot of the backs of buildings. The new rec center is huge and top notch. The people you meet are all very upbeat and friendly, but they also seem very Caucasian. SLO downtown is beautiful with lots of upscale shopping, 3 barbecue places, 3 pizza places, more than 3 coffee shops and lots of pubs and bars. Thursday night Farmer's Market is a fun street party. Check out the Mission and the restaurants along the river in front of it. The beach towns are nice and there is a lot of wine to taste in the area. There are not many businesses in the city, so I think it will be hard to get internships locally. Both my boys applied with 4.0 GPAs, decently rigorous coursework and good attitudes. The admission process is the strangest I have ever seen. They admit people early decision. Then they admit some people every week for about 8 weeks. It was excruciating to read online and to watch other people at their school get in and just wait. Then the deadline for dorm application arrived before the rejection notices went out. They didn't get in, so yes I am a bit bitter about that and how unpleasant the process was. For a school with a renowned engineering and CS program their admission portal seemed poorly designed and had capacity problems. Here is a comment from a reader of this review. "I have lived on the Central Coast my whole life and finally got the opportunity to attend Cal Poly SLO 2 years ago. (I transferred in from Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria.) You are completely right about the campus layout. Ridiculous, impossible to get around, too many pedestrians and cyclists that don't follow common traffic rules and my program sucks. I am a "super senior" in the GrC program and it has me totally disillusioned about why I ever wanted to have a career in my chosen field."

If you want to be an engineer or work on a farm go here. If you have not yet decided on what you want to do avoid this school like the plague. You have to choose your major up front and it is impossible to change it. I spent two years in the civil engineering program and trained for 5 quarters to switch but I could not. The only person I knew who had an easy time changing majors into something besides Industrial Technology, or "I Tried" Engineering," had to switch to forestry for a year before he got his majors choice. Everything is impacted and crowded and if you are under twenty-one there is nothing to do in the town. Go someplace else!!

My parents are putting up a lot of dollas for my education, so it better be worth it! Cal Poly boasts a "learn by doing" curriculum, where students are exposed to hands-on learning through labs and interactive lectures. The school, I feel, is the best university in the CSU system and ranks even higher than some UC's. There is a handful of athletic teams that compete at the NCAA Division I level, excluding the football team, which is Division I AA. The school, being established in 1901, is going through some massive renovations to their science buildings, and other random spots on campus to stay modern. Personally, I love this school. I am currently studying Computer Science which is pretty damn difficult, but will be well-worth it once I get my degree. This school excels in engineering and in agriculture, so if you're planning to go here and study under those colleges, it will be worth it. I heard the College of Business ranks in Top 100 in something, can't remember the exact people who conducted the poll. Go Mustangs!

It was an awesome four years of my life. Good challenging academic environment and you finish your classes (sink or swim) every three months. The students are friendly as well as some faculty. I would give my college a higher rating, but I encountered a few problems with my experience. First, I always felt that the registration system was fixed against me. Who knew that, even when given the first priority for choosing GE classes, the pickings are slim AFTER people with disabilities, athletes, "special" people, first quarter applicants, and "priority" students got to register. If you are dead last and out of priorities, your only hope is to "wait list" or (if that fails) "crash" those classes that you need to graduate and pray to God that someone either failed to show up or dropped the class. I ended up doing this quite a lot. Next, the administration. There is a reason why you need to send in your graduation application FOUR quarters in advance...it's because those that sent in their applications late are placing lots of stress on the small staff that make sure you can graduate on time and that you met all the requirements, whether you did them all at Poly, transferred from a different school, or studied abroad. Otherwise, your 4 year plan (or 5 to 6 yr plan if you're majoring in engineering or architecture) could be unavoidably extended. (self-disclosure: I wrote an article about this topic on the Mustang Daily, Cal Poly's newspaper). Also, I have never seen the Cal Poly President on campus! Seriously, how can you go to campus for 4 years and almost never see him except for graduation?! And he doesn't live on campus! Oh well, at least I saw his car parked in one of the few precious spaces around campus. Other than those complaints, it is a great college no matter what your major. You will come out more prepared for the "real world" of work than your peers and most likely land with a good job in the future...I hope that becomes true for me one day.

California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly for short, is an amazing university. I spent 5 years getting my computer engineering degree at cal poly and all of it was worth it! The academic curriculum for engineering is no joke, it is hard and difficult, but the professors make sure you learn everything you need to know to succeed. All the engineering courses at Cal Poly are actually taught by Professors with industry experience, not some graduate TA. Professors also have an open door office hours and are highly accessible when you need help understanding that difficult search algorithm you just learned. The labs are long, although very practical and hands on and relevant to what you will face in the workforce. The education and knowledge you obtain definitely show when you realize you are as prepared if not more in the engineering field than your fellow UC Berkeley or Stanford colleagues, who paid way more for their education. Cal Poly is highly ranked by US News being one of the top 3 public universities for engineering for schools who's highest degree is a masters. It is also one of the highest ranked universities in ROI and pay by payscale.com, I can attest to it! While tuition has been going up due to state budget cuts, the quality of education remains high with advanced labs and new state of the art buildings. What other university has their own pier on the ocean where engineering students can deploy their autonomous robots to track sharks? From the time I first applied to when I left, Cal Poly built a new gym, 2 new major engineering buildings, a new math and science center, renovated the library, a new technology field park, two huge housing apartment complexes for students, and now plans for an expanded university union and another huge student housing project. Cal Poly is in a very beautiful setting, with hiking and running trails right inside the campus to the beach just 10 miles away. It is in a very small town of San Luis Obispo, there are plenty of bars downtown and some good places to eat like Firestones. Keep in mind the university isn't near any major city, with San Francisco being 230 miles north. So some students, especially those who crave the urban life instead of the outdoors will find a hard time adjusting. Those who love the outdoors will find Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo their mecca for outdoor fun. Diversity in Cal Poly isn't as great as other schools, I would say it is about 60-70% White, with the rest being Asian. The school has been doing alot to improve diversity and I think it is working. Near the end of my time in poly I noticed an increase of diversity, especially among Asians. I never had an issue with diversity at Cal Poly and always felt welcomed in the community. While the central coast tends to be more conservative in nature, Cal Poly is balance in temperament on both sides of the political spectrum with highly active clubs in both sides. Cal Poly has alot of school pride and it really feels like a big united community unlike other CSUs which tend to be commuter schools. Plenty has to do with the fact that San Luis Obispo is centered around the university and its population. Alot of students are active in the university, with a vibrant greek community, and plenty of clubs for every type of interest, culture, or sport. You'll see plenty of people sport cal poly pride everyday and going to our sport games. I live in the SF Bay Area now and you still can see the cal poly pride of alumni here. I definitely recommend this institution if you want a great education, a successful career, and a great college experience. Ride High, You Mustangs!

Top 10 Cal Poly Memories 10 - Birthday Chairman - Muir Hall What a better way to meet all the women in the dorms? Go door to door and introduce yourself as the BDAY Committee - which of course was all BS. Within the first week we knew at least 80 women. 9 - John Madden Golf Tourney Each year the golf tourney came to town - along with alot of ex Raiders. Go to Bulls (owned by Dan Connors ex Raider) and party with Lester Hayes, Ray Chester et al. End up at Farm Boys for a nice nutritious breakfast paid for by these nice gentlemen 8 - WOW Young impressionable women.... 7 - Education You get a kick ass education and "learn by doing". College is more than a classroom experience - the more you do - the more you learn. 6 - Women to Men Ratio (The more you do - the more you learn) When I was there - there was 2.26 women for every 1 man. "Like catching fish in a barrell" 5 - MTV Music Awards A certain group of young men were charged with doing Security at the first few events. Drive from SLO to LA. Watching my buddy throw Christian Slater out on his ass because he didnt know who he was...Priceless! 4 - Blackmailing Lets just say certain people in power couldn't do certain things due to a certain video 3 - Fraternity Life TG's 2 - Poly Royal Riots 1990 I was hit with a Billy Club by a riot cop as they marched down California Blvd - and I was trying to keep people out of my house. 1 - Graduating Nobody knows how this happens - it just does!

194 units required to graduate. Why? Because most, if not all, courses come with a lab requirement. I am a proud Cal Poly Electrical Engineering graduate. I felt extremely prepared after graduation and landed a decent job within three months after. Mind you, many may talk smack about CP just being a state school, but ignorance is certainly a bliss to them. I have been accepted to UCLA, UCSD, UCD, and UCI for EE. After touring and sitting in EE upper-division lectures to every single aforementioned UCs above, where most lectures/exams were administered by graduate students; I felt CP is definitely the right place to settle for my degree. Upside of CP: Equal in distance to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Pismo Beach is 10mins away. Lots of vineyard for wine-tasting. Downside of CP. Course registration is chaos. If you miss certain technical electives, then be prepared to stay for another quarter or two. The senior project is no joke; one cannot simply swing it and expect to graduate on time.

Housing: I wish they had Cerro Vista and Poly Canyon when I was a freshman. I didn't have much of a choice for housing when I got here; I ended up getting a triple in the red bricks. Those 11x12 rooms weren't made to house 3 students at a time! I'm glad they extended the housing options to incoming students now, though. The new dorms are really, really nice. Education: One thing I love about Cal Poly is the small class sizes. The entire time I've been here (4 years), I've only had to take 2 seminar-like classes (100+ students). There are a lot of great teachers here. I'd recommend checking out PolyRatings before registering, just to make sure you don't get stuck with one of the evil ones. Classes are hard, but you will learn a heck of a lot more here than you did in high school. Other Facilities: There isn't really a gym right now which makes me sad. The gym is currently under construction and the temporary gym is always PACKED. I feel like I'm standing in line for Disney Land whenever I go there, but at the end of the line I get to go on the elliptical machine instead of space mountain. The campus food is also terrible. Anyone who says its good clearly wasn't fed very well by their mothers. Campus: There is so much construction going on, I can't see how anyone could find the campus "beautiful". The parking lots were built as if they were just an afterthought. Expect to walk about 3 miles a day to get around campus. A lot of the buildings are getting really old and the roofs leak in some rooms. The new buildings, however, are really nice.