Cal Poly Pomona and San Luis Obispo University Forums - View Single Post

jayandbutton · 10-12-07, 08:09 AM

first some history. the state legislature planned for three polytechnics, beginning in the center of the state at SLO which launched in 1901. the southern branch began 37 years later at san dimas before moving to pomona in 1949. the third campus never got off the ground in the north due to budgetary constraints.

with an almost four decade head start the first campus obviously was mature before the second had even admitted women, yet amazingly by the 1980s the pomona campus, with strong leadership, had almost caught up with SLO academically--if you believe those ratings scales.

more recently, SLO has surged far ahead, fueled in part by huge streams of private funds while pomona has been in a decade-long tailspin that has dropped pomona from a princeton review best in the west nod and taken it from a top ten USNWR ranking in the late 1980s to a tie for 32d among non-doctoral western universities this year.

the pomona campus claims it will launch a capital campaign, but it is so woefully behind SLO in almost every area and likely never again will be similar other than in name. yes, the types of programs are similar but for the most part that's as far as it goes. that said, engineering and architecture still offer solid degrees at pomona though not as highly ranked as at SLO.

the typical SLO student could have gained admit letters at top tier UCs while that kind of student is a rare exception at pomona. the admission standards are not even close.

10-12-07, 08:09 AM	#2 (permalink)
jayandbutton Guru Joined: Sep 2004 Posts: 606	not exactly the same, not even close anymore first some history. the state legislature planned for three polytechnics, beginning in the center of the state at SLO which launched in 1901. the southern branch began 37 years later at san dimas before moving to pomona in 1949. the third campus never got off the ground in the north due to budgetary constraints. with an almost four decade head start the first campus obviously was mature before the second had even admitted women, yet amazingly by the 1980s the pomona campus, with strong leadership, had almost caught up with SLO academically--if you believe those ratings scales. more recently, SLO has surged far ahead, fueled in part by huge streams of private funds while pomona has been in a decade-long tailspin that has dropped pomona from a princeton review best in the west nod and taken it from a top ten USNWR ranking in the late 1980s to a tie for 32d among non-doctoral western universities this year. the pomona campus claims it will launch a capital campaign, but it is so woefully behind SLO in almost every area and likely never again will be similar other than in name. yes, the types of programs are similar but for the most part that's as far as it goes. that said, engineering and architecture still offer solid degrees at pomona though not as highly ranked as at SLO. the typical SLO student could have gained admit letters at top tier UCs while that kind of student is a rare exception at pomona. the admission standards are not even close.