All my Hard Work Paid Off

So I hardly ever write on this, originally made this blog because it was a class assignment. However, if you are researching online advice in regards to Cal Poly and comes across this, I do have to say that the education I got here was 100% worth it.

I am on to big things in my life. Throughout my college experience, I was able to do a writing internship, a marketing internship, and then finally an Environmental Engineering internship. I received and accepted a amazing job offer at the end of my internship last Summer, and could not be happier with the plans that I have laid out for my future.

If you are considering coming to Cal Poly for engineering, I say DO IT!!

Back With More Advice

So my mom keeps asking me to give advice to her friends kids who are going to Cal Poly. Therefore, I figured why not just post the advice on here for others to see. Cal Poly is a great school and has a lot to offer but it really does help to know of all your resources as soon as possible. Clearly, everything will change every year but for now here is some more advice I have for students coming to Cal Poly:

• Check and see if your department has free printing. As an Environmental Engineering student I get access to the Civil Engineering computer labs. We get free printing if we bring our own paper which can save you a lot of $.
  
• If you are in a smaller major at Cal Poly that has classes offered only once a year I suggest you meet with an adviser frequently to plan out your graduation. I've seen too many people have to stay an extra year because they have one or two classes left, so make sure you try to follow your flow chart or talk to advisers.
  
• Check out www.assist.org: First put in the institution California Polytechnic State University, then select Cuesta college.. this will show you approximately what classes you can take at Cuesta that will transfer to Cal Poly. I would double check them with your flow chart, for instance for me it thinks I'm still on an older flow chart so I don't even need all of those classes. A good time to take Cuesta classes is during the summer (if they offer them). This Fall semester of 2010 I'm taking CE204/CE207 at Cuesta (ENGR252A&B with Jeff Jones). Not only am I saving a lot of money and knocking out 7 units in one semester, but also the class is online so the only times I have to drive out to Cuesta are when I'm taking my tests.
  
• You also should consider taking some of your GE classes from community colleges over the summertime. I took an online Art History I class from Foothill College again cheaper and I personally think it's a lot easier. This will transfer over to be a C1 credit. Again make sure that you speak with Academic Records and the Engineering Advising Center to make sure that it will transfer. I believe they have a request form for you to fill out.
• Join clubs or at least a club in your major, this is a great way to connect with other students and industry professionals.
  

I will write more later but hopefully this will help someone!

Some of Cal Polys Best Studying Spots and Resources they Offer

It took me a while to figure out what all Cal Poly offers and which places are my favorite to study on campus. I'm sure I still have much more to find out, but I have some studying recommendations/information for people that are not sure where everything is:

• 2nd Floor Library- There are two really nice computer labs by the circulation desk that I love to study in. One is a Mac lab and the other is a Dell lab (I believe). The Mac lab has a lot of really cool software on it such as Adobe Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and much more. Theres lots of space between the computers which I like because I can have my papers out and dont feel crammed between the computers next to me.
• 2nd Floor Library- There is a circulation desk on the 2nd floor right by these 2 computer labs where you can rent laptops. Its really easy you just give them your poly card and they scan it and hand you a computer for 2 hours and then you have to return it (or re-check it back out). The people are really nice, and it's actually very simple to do which I didn't know about until this year
• All the PCs on campus have a lot of software already in them. One way this helped me is in my Statistics for Engineers class (Stat 312). I never had to download the program we use (Minitab) because I just go to the school computers and there already downloaded on there which can save some time or stress if your computer isn't compatible with the program (I have a Mac and Macs are a little harder to download Minitab on).
• The UU has a quiet room where I sometimes go between classes, its really nice and distractionfree usually people are very respectful in there and stay quiet. This is very nice, but also sometimes makes me sleepy because it sometimes feels almost too quiet!
• The 4th and 5th floor of the library are what I think of as the quieter floors. Some people say, the higher you go up the quieter it should be. Usually people that meet in groups meet on the 2nd or 3rd floor which have more large tables and are designed better for meeting groups.
• My favorite places to meet groups at the library are the 2nd floor by the coffee shop, there are some nice round tables (all of that is new as of this year, its so nice!), and the 3rd floor blueish (aqua looking) tables are my favorite.
• My favorite places to study bymyself are the 4th and 5th floor by windows theres usually some nice tables.
• If you forget a book or don't want to bring it with you to the library. A lot of teachers put extra books on textbook reserve on the first floor right by the entrance. This is very simple too, just go up to the desk and tell them the class you want the book for and they will see if they have it, and check it out for you on your Polycard. Different books have different lengths of time you can check them out, but usually its at least a couple hours.
• To print stuff at the library, it's a process thats a little confusing but not too bad. You have to put money on your campus express card (which is built into your poly card). To do this just get on your cal poly portal and I believe in the money section you can add money to it (I do this by credit card online). Then you can go to a computer and press print for whatever it is you want to print (usually several computers are hooked up to the same printer, so look around for which printer it is). Then wait a second until on the screen it will ask you to enter your Cal Poly username, then you walk over to the printer, swipe your poly card select the document you want to print and press print. It will tell you your balance and how much it costs to print the document. I think it's 10 cents a page for color in the Mac Lab I'm not sure how much for black and white.
• There are free tutoring services by the math and science departments that have posted hours up. Look around for signs or go to the Faculty offices for that department and ask them, there usually is some pretty nice free tutoring that is offered by some of the big departments.
• If you have the money, a great math tutor is Bill Condon, his number is posted up around campus in classrooms and hallways. I used him my freshman year for a little while and he is expensive, but it was well worth it if you can afford it. He charged $60 an hour but he graduated as a math major from Cal Poly and is very helpful he knows a lot of little tricks to help you remember things. He helped me with Calc I, II, and III.
• Math and Science workshops- If your course offers a SWS workshop you should do it! They are one unit workshops that you have to attend most of the time and are an hour and a half twice a week. It is basically just a student who has taken the class before who provides worksheets, answers questions, gives out practice tests, and just reviews over material from that class. Although its a lot of extra time, it makes you stay on top of the material and I have taken 3 of them (from the Chem 127 128 129 series), and it helped me a lot.
• Free study sessions online. On your Cal Poly portal under Registration at the bottom right corner you can sign up for free study sessions. These some people find very helpful and some don't. Every quarter I usually sign up for them and go to the class where a older student is there to help and there are other students usually not from the same exact class, but the same course that are there as well. I end up emailing and canceling by telling the instructor I'm sorry but I just can't fit it into my schedule if I find it to not be very beneficial to me. I think this is a great system and think its awesome that Cal Poly does this, but I think the SWS workshops are more beneficial than these. These are offered for more courses though, so definetely check them out!
• If you need to print anything professionally Cal Poly has a printing lab area in the 24 hour study room where they can do all sorts of things. I have gotten a manual I made in a class printed in a spiral bound with a clear cover. This can be costly but the people are usually very fast and it is very convenient. Also if you need to staple or hole punch anything, they usually are very nice and helpful and have staplers and hole punchers there that they let students use.
• Need a coffee while studying? Cal Poly just redid the 2nd floor of the library and there now is a Julians coffee on the 2nd floor. They also have some good baked goods there especially in the morning such as cinimon rolls and muffins and such. Also, campus market which is just up the road a little has a Julians coffee inside of it as well. There also is now a Starbucks in the UU (on the first floor). This usually gets pretty packed by early afternoon, but is a great place to have coffee.
• Copiers on campus are located all over. I know for sure there are some in the library I believe on every floor, as well as there are some in the UU (on the 2nd floor), and I know for sure that the Science building 52 has one when you walk down one of the halls. I think its 10 cents a page, but I could be wrong somewhere between 5-15 cents a page is what I would expect.

SWE Study Session This Weekend

This weekend is the weekend before finals! The library gets very packed and it can be hard to find a couple seats if you want to study with a friend, let alone find just one seat for yourself.

So, as a new thing for SWE I decided to rent out a nice room with big tables in the business building for people to come study. I am going to bring SWE's (Society of Women Engineers) test files for people to sign out and in tests as well as SWE is paying for me to bring some snacks!

If you are reading this and you go to Cal Poly you are welcome to come! The event is for people in SWE, but also people from other clubs at Cal Poly so any student is welcome! I'm excited about it it is going to be in the business building 003 room 111. I have the room on Saturday from 12-6 p.m. and Sunday from 12-6 p.m. as well! Come on by if you have time! I also have the same room reserved for next quarter at the same times as well (Spring Qtr).

My Favorite Puzzle

My favorite game to play is a game called SET. There is an online puzzle everyday at this link 

http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm   I play this game everyday, it is a great brain exercise to get me going for the day and I love it because it times you, so I try to do it in a fast time everyday. The game consists of a bunch of cards with shapes that are of 3 shapes (diamond, squiggle, oval), 3 colors (red, green, purple), and three numbers of shapes (one two or three). The point is to find a "SET" which consists of each element being the same or different but you can mix it up. For instance, a set would be something that consists of all the same colors, or all different colors but also all the same shape or all different shape and also all the same number or all different numbers. The confusing part is that you can mix and match such as having all the same number but all different shapes and the same number, or all the same shapes, all different numbers, and all different colors, etc. It is kind of tricky at first but once you pick up on it it's really easy and fun. The website has some instructions and the game is actually a card game that can be played with people at home too, I don't know many people that know how to play though so I stick to the online puzzle :)

Evening With Industry Last Night

Evening With Industry (EWI) went fantastic for SWE. I am very proud of everyone in SWE that worked to put the event on. Although I was a member last year, I had never been to Evening With Industry before and I found it to be very rewarding. Last night was a very pleasant way to speak with company representatives and not feel as pressured or crunched for time as I would at a career fair. 

The first hour was just meeting and greeting before dinner with all of the companies. At 7 p.m. the dinner began and each student was seated with a certain company. Last night I sat with Chevron, and enjoyed it a lot. The company representative I sat next to was a young man who had just graduated from Cal Poly in 2006. He seemed to be having a great time working for Chevron and it was nice having some normal conversations with him and getting a feel for EWI for future years to come. 

If someone is in engineering at Cal Poly (female or male) I would say EWI is the biggest and best SWE event to come to and they for sure should try to get a spot. Also various companies all together gave out over $30,000 in scholarships last night. Also awards were given to a teacher, and most outstanding scholar. So that the companies can look into attendees more, a resume disk was given to all of the company representatives with everyones resume who submitted one. I absolutely will be going back next year, what a great networking event. 

Fast Paced Quarter System

Here I am in my fourth week already back from Winter break and about to take a few midterms. The quarter system is generally 9-10 weeks of fast-paced classes.

I find a disadvantage to be that once I get a feel for a teacher, I finish the class and start fresh again so it is hard to adapt to each teachers teaching methods in such a short amount of time. Also, you can't slip, if you miss a class or quiz or don't stay on top of the homework it is very each for your grade to go from an A to several letters lower within a week. 

However, I would say an advantage is that you get a fresh start each quarter so you have many opportunities to make up for grades that may have not been so good, or take classes that interest you more. Overall, I still wish Cal Poly was on the Semester system, but after getting used to the quarter system it really isn't so bad.