PERT: Cal Poly

In a number of ways Cal Poly is different than the other colleges the boys have toured. It's the first college not specialized to science and engineering. The tour guide recommended getting to know the agriculture students because they really know how to barbecue. Second, Cal Poly is the first public school they have toured. They were told Cal Poly has the leanest acceptance ratio of any school in the CSU (California State University) system. The other public school they will tour on this trip is Berkeley. And third, Caly Poly has about 5,000 students in their school of engineering (there are half a dozen different colleges on campus), which compares to 720 for Harvey Mudd, 900 for Caltech and 1,400 for Rose-Hulman. Class sizes are bigger too, but the average class size of forty is only about two to three times bigger than the other colleges they have seen so far. So forty is not crazy. For these reasons Peter was initially determined to not be impressed by Cal Poly. Peter intends to major in computer science and software engineering, which are combined into a single degree at many colleges but not at Cal Poly, which offers those plus computer engineering. That sounds impressive. Peter has yet to compare the actual courses offered to see if that is so.

Perhaps the most interesting thing they learned about Cal Poly -- and what turned Peter around -- is that Boeing Aerospace, one of the main contractors at the Cape Air Force Base, has students working on satellites right on campus. In Florida they learned there is a lot more space activity generated by private money and by classified government spending than by NASA. Boeing's involvement is a huge plus for Cal Poly for someone who wants to make a living in the space business. Most of the colleges toured so far have been secretive about the average SAT scores of entering students. But at Caltech it is 1,500; at Cal Poly it is 1,317. So these last two factors make Cal Poly a terrific choice as a safety school for Peter. And although Peter is not influenced by such factors, Craig was impressed by the city of San Luis Obispo and by the campus, which although a public campus draws a lot of private donations, especially the engineering college. I have done high school visits in San Luis Obispo and, when Peter was six months old, attended my cousin's wedding at the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa ... it's a charming city.