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Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo

Basic Information

Type Public
Geographical Reach Regional
Location San Luis Obispo, CA
Population 180,000
Website http://www.calpoly.edu/
Map of the United States

Demographics

Total Undergraduates 21,521
Men / Women 49% / 51%
White 48%
Hispanic 26%
Asian 12%
Mixed 7%
Black 1%
International 1%
Native American 0%
From State 83%
From Region 3%

Academics

Undergraduate Degrees
Business & Economics 21%
Engineering 21%
Humanities & Social Sciences 17%
Life & Natural Sciences 17%
Arts 8%
Computer Science 5%
Physical Sciences & Math 5%
Health Sciences 3%
Professional 3%
Education 1%

Financial

In-State Tuition & Fees $13,596
Out-of-State Tuition & Fees $34,665
Est. In-State Cost $17,588
Est. Out-of-State Cost $44,843
10-Year ROI $318,000
ROI Percentile 99th

Retention & Graduation

Full-Time Retention 96%
4-Year Graduation Rate 61%
6-Year Graduation Rate 86%
Transfer-Out Rate 1%

Weather

Comfortable Days 195 (99% 😎)
Sunshine Hours 3,120 (92% ☀️)
Days Without Precipitation 322 (96% 🏖️)

Admissions

Uses Common App No
Acceptance Rate 30%
Yield (Unbound) 25%
Regular Decision Jan 1

Research

Research Level R3
Expenditure
Engineering, Computing & Math $11M #195
Life & Natural Sciences $21M #200
Humanities & Social Sciences $1M #303

Honors College

Standardized Tests

Test Scores

Test Policy blind

Earnings by Major Category

Each major category's degree-weighted estimated median 5-year earnings at this college, expressed as a z-score against the national degree-weighted distribution for that category. 0 is the national average. The shaded band between +1.28 and −1.28 marks the central 80% of the national distribution (10th–90th percentile).

Schools & Majors

⇅ Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences 935 35% / 65% 0% $72,719 97%
Marine Sciences 24 — 29% / 71% 0% $39,639 12 100%
Agriculture 36 — 39% / 61% 0% $68,350 79 91%
Animal Science 189 — 11% / 89% 0% $62,117 69 95%
Crop Science 48 +1 50% / 50% 0% $74,094 84 96%
Dairy Science 18 — 11% / 89% 0% $62,117 69 95%
Food Science 42 — 19% / 81% 0% $82,237 90 95%
Forestry 39 +1 74% / 26% 0% $73,077 84 100%
Natural Resources Management 136 +2 29% / 71% 0% $69,368 80 97%
Nutrition 63 — 8% / 92% 0% $67,551 77 100%
Viticulture and Enology 65 — 49% / 51% 0% $82,237 90 95%
Agribusiness 117 +1 63% / 37% 0% $93,186 96 96%
Agricultural Systems Management 30 — 77% / 23% 0% $76,518 86 100%
Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration 93 — 38% / 62% 1% $73,677 84 100%
Agricultural Communication 35 — 26% / 74% 0% $79,346 89 100%
⇅ Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
College of Architecture and Environmental Design 370 57% / 43% 5% $92,409 98%
Architecture 172 — 45% / 55% 10% $85,047 92 97%
City and Regional Planning 30 — 47% / 53% 0% $79,204 88 100%
Landscape Architecture 42 — 45% / 55% 0% $61,334 67 97%
Construction Management 126 — 81% / 19% 0% $115,964 99 100%
⇅ Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
College of Engineering 1,326 72% / 28% 2% $118,241 97%
Aerospace Engineering 95 — 74% / 26% 1% $112,671 99 92%
Agricultural and Biological Engineering 32 — 66% / 34% 0% $89,957 95 100%
Architectural Engineering 44 — 50% / 50% 0% $97,098 97 98%
Biomedical Engineering 84 — 43% / 57% 0% $111,260 99 95%
Civil Engineering 126 — 73% / 27% 1% $101,618 98 98%
Computer Engineering 80 — 89% / 11% 1% $146,406 100 97%
Electrical Engineering 76 — 82% / 18% 0% $116,692 99 97%
Engineering Science 12 — 75% / 25% 0% $108,186 99 —
Environmental Engineering 31 — 48% / 52% 0% $86,311 93 92%
Industrial Engineering 68 +1 57% / 43% 1% $121,125 99 96%
Manufacturing Engineering 28 — 79% / 21% 4% $107,764 98 —
Materials Engineering 59 — 76% / 24% 2% $107,726 98 100%
Mechanical Engineering 288 — 81% / 19% 1% $110,675 99 95%
Computer Science 219 — 79% / 21% 8% $151,688 100 100%
Software Engineering 37 — 78% / 22% 3% $146,406 100 97%
Industrial Technology 47 — 47% / 53% 0% $87,411 93 100%
⇅ Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
College of Liberal Arts 1,018 26% / 74% 0% $70,590 93%
Communication Studies 86 — 20% / 80% 0% $67,009 77 94%
English 52 +1 21% / 79% 0% $64,041 72 93%
Ethnic Studies 5 +3 40% / 60% 0% $64,916 74 —
Foreign Languages 1 — 0% / 100% 0% $64,785 73 —
History 61 — 67% / 33% 0% $58,207 61 87%
Interdisciplinary Studies 41 — 46% / 54% 2% $67,026 77 —
Journalism 85 +1 16% / 84% 0% $67,804 78 96%
Liberal Arts 18 +2 44% / 56% 0% $64,390 73 97%
Liberal Studies 82 — 10% / 90% 0% $64,390 73 97%
Philosophy 30 +1 43% / 57% 3% $96,620 97 94%
Political Science 97 +1 47% / 53% 0% $90,264 95 96%
Psychology 152 +4 16% / 84% 0% $65,762 75 91%
Social Sciences 33 +1 42% / 58% 0% $45,522 26 100%
Sociology 58 — 31% / 69% 0% $75,585 86 95%
Spanish 8 +6 25% / 75% 0% $64,734 73 —
Early Childhood Education 50 — 4% / 96% 0% $54,410 52 90%
Art and Design 61 +1 21% / 79% 0% $87,876 94 86%
Graphic Communication 80 +1 14% / 86% 0% $87,135 93 94%
Music 9 — 44% / 56% 0% $49,856 39 —
Theatre 9 +1 22% / 78% 0% $35,963 7 94%
⇅ Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
College of Science and Mathematics 532 40% / 60% 1% $75,586 95%
Chemistry 27 — 48% / 52% 0% $62,604 70 96%
Earth Sciences 30 +1 50% / 50% 0% $67,842 78 100%
Mathematics 66 +2 50% / 50% 0% $78,202 88 100%
Physics 32 +2 72% / 28% 0% $114,864 99 90%
Statistics 46 +3 63% / 37% 4% $97,279 97 96%
Biochemistry 29 — 34% / 66% 0% $72,627 83 96%
Biology 153 — 35% / 65% 1% $73,422 84 90%
Ecology 1 — 0% / 100% 0% $61,634 68 —
Microbiology 20 — 20% / 80% 0% $80,920 90 100%
Kinesiology 76 — 29% / 71% 0% $63,287 71 100%
Public Health 52 — 17% / 83% 0% $64,332 73 —
⇅ Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
Orfalea College of Business 804 57% / 43% 1% $101,666 100%
Business Administration 747 +1 55% / 45% 1% $102,603 98 100%
Economics 57 — 79% / 21% 0% $89,394 94 96%

Rankings

Fun and Games

Ski Bums and Surf Bros Top Recreation
Surf

Engineering

Farming with Numbers Biological & Agricultural Engineering
Roots Run Deep
Resistance Is Futile Computer Engineering
Bricked Microcontroller Brigade

Computer Science

No, I Can't Fix Your Printer Computer Science (Eng)
Co-op Purgatory

Life & Natural Sciences

Better Eating Through Chemistry Food Science & Nutrition
Hot Pocket PhDs

Business & Economics

Show Me the Bushels Agribusiness & Economics
Pork Belly Portfolios

Arts

Sleep Deprivation by Design Architecture
Blueprint Masters

Professional

The Hard Hat Caste Construction
The Owners of the Site Trailer
The "Actually Knowing How to Build It" Crew Manufacturing
Polytechnic Powerhouses