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About Cal Poly

Cal Poly is a nationally ranked, four-year, comprehensive public university located in San Luis Obispo, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on California's Central Coast. It is a distinctive learning community offering academically focused students a hands-on educational experience that prepares them for today's scientific and technical world.

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Cal Poly moved up to 6th in the magazine's overall list of the West's best universities, including both public and private institutions, that provide "a full range of undergraduate and master's-level programs but few, if any, doctoral programs." U.S. News ranks colleges that grant doctoral degrees, such as those in the University of California system, in a separate category.

Cal Poly's College of Engineering program ranked second among public engineering programs, bested only by the U.S. Military Academy, for schools whose highest degree is a bachelor's or master's. A number of College of Engineering programs ranked high in the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs in their individual specialty categories. The university's industrial and manufacturing, computer, electrical and mechanical engineering programs were each ranked as the top program at a public university in their respective specialty categories. Cal Poly's civil and environmental engineering program was ranked the second best program at a public university.

Cal Poly ranks third nationally among public universities in a Forbes.com ranking of college campuses, based on a study that looks at earnings of alumni at colleges around the country.

Forbes.com says it bases its ratings on the salaries of college degree holders who have 10 to 20 years of work experience.

Cal Poly followed only Berkeley and University of Virginia in the public rankings, tying for the third spot with UCLA and UC San Diego.

According to the study, compiled by PayScale.com, Cal Poly alumni with 10-20 years of experience earn a median salary of $101,000, with 10 percent of the graduates at this experience level making more than $178,000..

In 2009, Cal Poly's architecture program was rated as the No. 3 architecture school in the nation by the leading architecture and engineering journal Design Intelligence.

Cal Poly's College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences is consistently rated among the top agricultural programs in the nation in granting baccalaureate degrees to minority students. In 2009, the college was ranked No. 4 in the nation in granting agriculture degrees to Hispanic students, and No. 6 in degrees to Asian American students, and No. 7 in degrees granted to all minority students.

Cal Poly's architecture program was ranked fifth in the nation in granting architecture degrees to students of all minority groups, architecture degrees, to Asian American students, and architecture degrees to Hispanic students.