UCSD vs Cal Poly Pomona ENGINEERING

OsakaDad
Sun, 24 Jun 2012 03:37:41 +0000

OK – My family actually has experience here. My kid was accepted to UCSD, Cal Poly Pomona, 4 other UC’s (including UCLA and UCSB, etc.) and Cal Poly SLO. Ultimately my kid chose Cal Poly SLO for ME. However, we toured all the schools and our final ranking for the top 3 looked like this:


Cal Poly SLO
UCSD
Cal Ploy Pomona


First of all, UCSD and Cal Poly Pomona are very, very different. I strongly encourage you to physically visit the schools if you haven’t already. The reason why both Cal Poly’s were in our final top 3 is that we preferred the hands on, learn my doing approach of the schools over the research emphasis of the UC system. Many employers feel the same way. The Cal Poly’s share a common history and teaching methodology. However, there is a gap between Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona that was wide enough to let UCSD slip into 2nd place. I believe that UCSD is a better program than Cal Poly Pomona. However, as ucbalumnus said above, it makes more sense to go to a school that offered you a spot in your major. When it comes to ME what you want is a school with a good reputation, has ABET accreditation, and will get you out on time with a degree and a job offer. Cal Poly Pomona will do all of those things for you. UCSD is more oriented to preparing you for a masters degree than preparing you for a job and even though it is a stellar school, if they are not offering you ME than it should be off the table unless you are sure you can be happy with another major or if you think that you can get into ME through the backdoor once enrolled.

It may be a painful choice, but if you want to be a Mechanical Engineer, you gotta get a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Make up for the loss by taking advantage of the excellent internship and coop program at Cal Poly Pomona. Also, you can significantly upgrade your experience and opportunities by applying for Cal Poly Pomona’s Kellogg Honors College. This is actually one of the best Honors College programs I’ve ever seen. It offers priority registration, special classes with no more than 20 students, special lounge, dorms, dedicated counselors, group events, trips, internships and basically VIP treatment for the duration of your time at Cal Poly Pomona. My son seriously weighed going there as he was accepted to the Kellogg Honors College and it can transform your experience at the school. So, that is the route that I would choose – unless you are so enamored with UCSD that you can’t see yourself going anywhere else and are willing to be trained in another field other than your major of choice.