<p>My husband and I live near the beach, but both work in San Luis Obispo. He teaches at Cal Poly. SLO is a great small town, very friendly to the university students. The local area is great for outdoor lovers with nice beaches for surfing and lots of hiking and biking oppotunities. San Francisco and Los Angeles are easily accessible on weekends by train or driving. If you don’t bring a car with you don’t worry - the local area has a decent bus system, downtown can be easily walked to and Cal Poly has a zip car program.</p>
<p>The school has a lot of spirit, unlike most state schools the location means there are hardly any full-time working commuter students and most students live on campus. Poly Village was recently built and has great housing options. </p>
<p>SLO county is mostly rural, the main industry is agriculture. The area can tend toward conservative in politics, except in the city of San Luis Obispo itself which is pretty balanced.</p>
<p>As far as getting a job after graduation, the Architecture program is well known to employers. My husband teaches engineering, and most students get job offers (almost all). He says that those who get the best offers are the ones who join the academic honor fraternities and/or the competition groups such as NECA (National Electrical Contractors Association) or IEEE. The foundations that fund these groups do a lot to help the students involved in them.</p>