In the old SPARTAN’s saying,” the best soldiers come from the toughest schools”… they weren’t talking about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo…. although they like to pretend they’re better than anybody. Believe me… I’ve heard it all.
The local spin doctors continue to massage the message… The local paper the Telegram Tribune in bold headlines screamed:
Hey, wait a minute!… what does that really mean? Should we really care how ‘happy’ a student is? Real happiness comes later with a great start in a career that a good school gives you!
The TRIBUNE rejoiced in Cal Poly being compared to more prestigious universities… although, regrettably, in but one of the more ‘warm and fuzzy” categories:
“Poly students say they are so content, in fact, that a just-released survey from the Princeton Review has ranked them 15th “happiest” of 115,000 students surveyed at 361 schools.”
When Cal Poly Students get ‘happy’, it costs the city $500,000…..
Well, as they said in ‘Animal House’: “being fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life ,boy’… or words to that effect. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t say anything about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s academic rigor. ( not to slight Cal Poly Pomona… which has to be better as they are ‘hell and gone from Cartagena, Angel!’)
LINK to only one Cal Poly Incident…. just young people working to express themselves.
Anyway, back to the ‘Tribune article, some typical student comments:
“I’m going to stretch out my time here,” said 20-year-old Wood…”I’m hoping for five or six years.”
“School is hard. That doesn’t contribute to the happiness factor,” said Taylor Gilmore
Have you told Mom and Dad yet, dude? Maybe they were thinking about shedding some unwanted pounds earlier than you intended. Sounds like ‘Failure to Launch… the prequel.’
Okay, I have trashed Cal Pooey San Luis Obispo enough for the moment… and it is true that I do have little respect for some of the folks there… but, the question any thinking parent should ask,”Do you want your child to go to a college (often on your own nickel)… just because it might make him/her happy?” I guess this would be okay if their future didn’t matter… oh yeah… I forgot… they’re going to move back home when they eventually graduate… work — after all — is so hard.
Well, here we see a typical Cal Poly coed at a party… and we wonder why it takes the average student roughly 6.5 YEARS to graduate?? Hey, is that your daughter?
Over the years, Cal Poly has made academic claims… in fact, all too many claims have proven to be less that truthful. Who can forget the infamous ‘Dinosaur DNA’ fiasco? Often times you will hear a lot of well meaning folks call themselves number one in a lot of areas… but the truth is often very sobering…
It is said that Cal Poly often refers to themselves as the ‘conservative’ alternative to Berkeley (definitely not the faculty or their administration)…. where’s the ‘conservative’? And why did President Baker recieve the infamous ‘Sheldon Award” from U.S. News and World Report?
….read on.
Here’s a HINT… check this out.
Cal Poly has some good, clean clubs on campus too…like the Progressive Student Alliance maybe your daughter could ‘hook up’ with these fine boys…. can we say ‘losers’. Their faculty advisor is one time past Faculty President… that says it all.
Here’s a list of the top engineering schools… there are plenty of California Schools listed by US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT in 2007… but no Cal Poly… wonder why?
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. Stanford University (CA)
3. University of California–Berkeley
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
5. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
6. Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN)
6. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
8. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
9. University of Southern California (Viterbi)
10. California Institute of Technology
11. Cornell University (NY)
11. University of California–San Diego (Jacobs)
13. University of Texas–Austin
14. Texas A&M University–College Station (Look)
15. University of Maryland–College Park (Clark)
15. University of Wisconsin–Madison
18. Princeton University (NJ)
19. Pennsylvania State University–University Park
20. Columbia University (Fu Foundation) (NY)
21. Harvard University (MA)
21. Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) (MD)
21. Northwestern University (McCormick) (IL)
21. University of California–Santa Barbara
21. University of Washington
26. Ohio State University
26. University of Florida
28. University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
29. Rice University (Brown) (TX)
30. Duke University (NC)
30. Virginia Tech
32. University of Pennsylvania
33. North Carolina State University
33. Washington University in St. Louis (Sever)
35. University of California–Davis
35. University of Rochester (NY)
37. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY)
38. University of Virginia
39. University of Colorado–Boulder
39. Yale University (CT)
41. University of California–Irvine (Samueli)
42. Boston University
42. Case Western Reserve University (OH)
42. Dartmouth College (Thayer) (NH)
42. Iowa State University
42. University of Delaware
47. Arizona State University (Fulton)
47. Lehigh
Now, I am not saying that your kid can’t have a little fun when they go to college… but you better know what you are ‘buying’ in your choice of schools. When they tell you that they are going to Cal Poly for the ‘Academics’…. it’s kinda like someone saying they read ‘Playboy” for the “articles”. Let me be fair here, as one Cal Poly Math Professor was quoted,” we may be third tier, but we’re not third rate.” Can’t get better praise then that… although it does make you kinda wince.Cal Poly serves a nitch… it is a CSU standard institution with a teaching orientation, no more no less. For all their protestations… they are not another UCLA, USC, UC Santa Barbara…. or a lot of other places.
Got a tough stomach? read CAL Poly Blogs
Help your kid make a good decision… for the long term. We did….
Roger Freberg