Cal Poly

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?

It’s pretty lit. Trust me. Oprah likes us.

How can you not like Poly. What a great school. Good professors, great environment. Several family members attended Cal Poly with degrees. All had nothing but good to say. Big school, small town environment. The campus is large and cool. Great new student workout gym and pool. The school of business is excellent! It seems like half the architects in California attended Cal Poly. This school is pretty hard to beat. Great food in town too! Sports teams are amazing! Go Mustangs!

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.

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!

We just got back from SOAR – the summer orientation for incoming freshmen and their parents. From the parent perspective, it was an incredibly thoughtful, comprehensive overview of what they offer students, how they can help students be successful, and how we can continue to support our children, although from afar. We learned so much, met some really nice parents, and were fed well to boot! I am excited that our son is going there and believe that he will get a great education. Their learn by doing approach was evident everywhere – students were as much a part of creating SOAR as the faculty. Our son said that he had a great time too and is really looking forward to WOW week in Sept. and is really excited about going to school. So thank you Cal Poly!

Hi I need English teacher

Loved the school, hated my major. If I could do it all over again, I would 100% choose Cal Poly, but I would major in something completely different. Cal Poly’s campus, and the surrounding town of SLO both have great atmospheres though that you won’t find in many other places.

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.

Our group loved the student led docent tour and the gardens were wonderful. Leaning Pines Arboretum is definitely worth the stop for any plant enthusiast.

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.

LOVE this school! Amazing professors, mostly small class sizes, school in a wonderful college town.
I had the best time of my life going to school there. Met lifelong friends, loved living on and off campus, had some phenomenal professors.
The only downside is you sort of get locked into your major. Some people are able to navigate their way and change majors though.
I believe in the «learning by doing» philosophy and you will leave with 2 internships under your belt.
If I could go back, I would go back in time and go to Cal Poly all over again! I got my BS Undergraduate degree, and stayed for my Master’s.

Best vibe, best students, go here if you want to be an engineer, hire from here if you need an engineer. Period.

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.

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 university is big but small enough to get the attention you need from professors. my grades greatly improved since transferring here. yes it’s a small town but I love it, it’s nice to go places and you recognize class mates 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. 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.
the university has a great reputation.
the night life is great– San luis Obispo downtown is where it’s at.
beautiful campus — won’t find a campus like this anywhere in California.
amazing professors– every helpful
tuition is very affordable — yes it’s more expensive than most state universities but cheaper than UC’s
small community feel — on and off campus
hot guys, hot girls hands down
great christian community
seriously the list goes on. i love this place. Goooo Mustangs

Beautiful campus and area.
Two of my favorite buildings on campus are the Rec Center and Baker Science.
The huge Recreation Center is architecturally designed beautifully with all kinds of fun things to do.
The new Baker Science building is a great place to study especially on the terrace floor. Overall, Cal Poly SLO’s campus is perfect for that college atmosphere.

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
, 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!

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 3^rd 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.»

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!

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!

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.

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…