Hi there! I’m a current high school senior who recently got accepted to Cal Poly SLO and BYU. On one hand, I know Cal Poly is better (like waaaaayyyy better) for my major (architecture), but I’m nervous that there won’t be enough people who hold the same values as me. I would really appreciate it to hear for anyone at Cal Poly, or who is thinking about going to Cal Poly, and is Mormon!
You should call or email the San Louis Obispo Institute to see if you can talk to current Mormons at the school about their experiences.
https://studentview.lds.org/home.aspx/60110
Im catholic (not quite Mormon but similar values) and I got into cal poly slo and plan on going there if I don’t get into UCLA! I think that cal poly is a good choice because it’s going to get you much more prepared for the real world than BYU in my opinion. In reality, society doesn’t have the highest morals and BYU’s Mormon bubble might be a bit unrealistic. But regardless you’re going to love college and wherever you end up
I’m a student at Cal Poly, and I’ve honestly never seen anybody be disrespectful to another here based on religion. or beliefs
I can’t answer for how many Mormon students there are here, but I can assure you’ll be welcomed here either way.
I would love to reach out to the mormon community at Cal Poly, I just don’t know anyone and I want to meet at least a few people and maybe someone I could room with before I choose to go.
Why don’t you contact the LDS Ward (sorry if I’m labeling it incorrectly) in SLO to find out if they have a college age group with members you can talk to. I know there are Mormons attending Cal Poly and they may be involved with the church there.
I’m considering Cal Poly SLO for architecture… Do you mind sharing your grades and scores with me so I can see my chances? (Sorry for being off topic)
Are you from Utah? Have you been to Provo?
Why not look up LDS churches in San Luis Obispo and give them a call to find out how the LDS religious and social scene is there?
Alfonsia I am not from Provo, I am actually from the Bay Area of California. I have been to Provo and visited the BYU campus, and I’ve been admitted there as well, so I’m trying to decide between BYU and cal poly. @ucbalumnus Thanks for the suggestion!
@musiclover131 I had an average GPA of 3.5 unweighted and 3.8 weighted. I didn’t get super stellar grades, but I took a lot of hard classes (9 AP classes) and so far I have credit for 5 classes. I didn’t take the SAT, but my ACT was 33 which I believe to be pretty good, equivalent to a 2200 SAT. I also had a lot of extracurriculars (clubs, sports, and an internship in architecture) which I’m sure helped me get in.
Quoting from Cal Poly’s Architecture website:
The Average High School GPA was 4.08.
The Average SAT Reading score was 664.
The Average SAT Math score was 699.
The Average ACT Composite score was 31.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Utah is different LOL. You know cali and you live there, and you question values in a cali school when in fact your question could easily be flipped to ask whether or not you would feel the values of BYU would work for you too, not to mention location, academics, the nature of the institution.
@Alfonsia I know Utah is different, but BYU is an LDS school and I’m LDS, and from what I’ve experienced and heard, I share most if now all of the same values as the majority of students on BYU campus. I know that I wouldn’t struggle, from an ideological standpoint, at BYU. However, I’m worried at Cal Poly my values will be challanged to an uncomfortable extent, and I won’t have a strong group of friends who share my values as I would at BYU.
BYU isn’t an architecture undergrad, right, is the cal poly offer for BArch? Is there a sense of academic compromise here?
Does your high school have many non LDS students? If so, then you should be experienced with interacting with non LDS people.
@Alfonsia If I went to BYU I would be a Civ Eng major not Architecture. @ucbalumnus there are about 20 LDS students at my school currently, and I am experienced with interacting with non-member people, but I would still like to room with an LDS student who shares my values, and frequently spend time with other Mormons. I have contacted the ward down there and so far they have been super excited and happy to help me. They’ve told me about their ward and SLO. They’re a close group (albeit small) that hands out often. The institute program is also strong, and located across the street from campus.
Note that civil engineering and architecture are rather different majors, even though they work on different aspects of buildings.
This is going to sound really harsh, but if you’re that concerned about associating mostly with LDS students who share your values, go to BYU. By attending BYU, students commit to following the honor code… In other words they WILL share yor values. At Cal Poly, they do not have to live by that code, and let me tell you many of your fellow members will not even come close. I know many LDS students who go to church every Sunday but do not live their lives in a way that would align with the church’s values.
This is simply a choice of better school for what you want to do vs. better (maybe easier is the better word) religious cultural fit. No one can make that decision for you. Only you know which is more important to you.
I will say this, the code anyone chooses to live by, LDS or not, should resonate internally. If you have to be insulated from main stream society in order to follow “your” path, some introspection about said path is probably in order.
I think that going to BYU provo from cali (being LDS on the side) is much more of a potential culture shock than being LDS at a Cali school. Especially if it doesn’t even offer your actual major. However tons of kids do go to BYU from Cali so it should be easy enough to speak to people about. And if money is in play at all, this will be a huge factor as BYU is super cheap.