"The Harvard of the West". An extremely underrated University located in one of the best cities in California. A university that accepts about 30% of applicants yet doesn't have it's head up its ass. Ranked the #1 Public University of the West. #3 highest average alumni salary, we can basically assume that it should be considered in the top 5 public universities in the nation.. The only college in CA that denies students that get into UC Berkeley. Easily better than UCD, UCI, UCSB, UCSC, UCR, and UCSD, Cal Poly is the place to be.

1) Cal Poly is where you go if you want to do something meaningful with the time you spend in college. Of course, going here will virtually guarantee you a prolonged stay, especially if you are in engineering, architecture, or one of the computer majors (in which case you're lucky if you finish in 5-6 years).

2) A source of high stress, difficult and endless work, and perpetual insomnia that will drain you of your time and energy to the point where you miss lectures in order to complete labs on time. If you are in a computer major, be prepared to spend many Friday nights debugging programs to get it ready by the midnight deadline. One of two things is certain: a) you will be tired A LOT, or b) you will be addicted to Adderall.

3) The reason I only get to sleep on days that begin with 'S'. Meanwhile, most other majors drink on every day that ends with 'Y'. Got any Staley classes? Expect this to happen to you!

A state school that tries to pretend its not.

usually where most of the UC-Berkeley engineering rejects go - don't deny the fact that Cal is still years ahead of you in engineering and science

Cal's EECS program >>>>>>>>>>>> any other school's similar program, except for maybe MIT

Cal's Haas School of Business >>>>>>>> *

Average GPA and SAT score of admitted EECS applicants: 4.45 and 1460, 4.0+ and 1400+ for engineering applicants overall, whereas cow poly's at 3.87 and 1280.

that, and the area near cow poly's kennedy library smells like shit - at least we don't have to worry about having an ag department

A decent state university filled with people who harbor great resentment toward UC Berkeley, probably because they got rejected from there and had to stoop to a CSU.

I could give a long rant as to why Berkeley is better than cal poly, but the sheer number of definitions that attempt to bash Berkeley with petty comments speaks for itself.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo:

A safety school. This is where you have to resort to once you get rejected from all your top choices, i.e. Cal, UCLA, USC, UCSD, UCSB, UC Davis, and all your east-coast privates. It's common knowledge that this school just doesn't compare to Cal. Cal is ranked 21st by the US News report for top national universities of 2010. UCLA follows closely behind at 24th. Cal Poly isn't even on the list.

As far as engineering goes, Cal Poly doesn't even offer a doctorate program (Cal does). According to the 2010 US News report, Cal's undergraduate engineering program received a 4.7 out of 5 while Cal Poly's only received a 3.9.

It seems like some people here are bitter because they were rejected from Cal. It's odd, though, that they would have to stoop as low as Cal Poly. There are plenty of better schools in between UC Berkeley and SLO (UCLA, USC, UCSD, etc.) But then again Cal Poly students probably didn't get into those schools either.

The people here probably don't honestly think their school is as good as they claim, they just tell themselves that to justify attending a state school.

Note: there is a common misconception that this school is underrated, when in fact it deserves the rep it has. The fact that students claim their school is the "Harvard of the West" is a testament as to how stupid you can be and still get into this school.