San Luis Obispo, California - Computer Engineering Department

Prospective Students

New Student Day

The Computer Engineering Program combines the software related development of Computer Science and the hardware related development of Electrical Engineering into a comprehensive course of study that will give you a more diverse background for today's demanding job market.

Many of our graduates are recruited on-campus by companies seeking future employees with a background in both software and hardware development.

General Info

The Computer Engineering Program began in 1988 as a interdisciplinary major offered between the Computer Science Department and the Electrical Engineering Department and is fully accredited by ABET. In addition to the B.S. offered in Computer Engineering, the Computer Science Department offers a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Computer Science; the B.S. degree for Computer Science is accredited by CSAB. The Electrical Engineering Department offers a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering; the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering is accredited by ABET.

Students

Student admissions to the programs are highly selective. 80% of those admitted are first-time freshmen, while the rest are transfers from the community college system. The qualifications of the freshmen students accepted for the 2003-2004 academic year were an average high school GPA of 3.81, and an average SAT score of 1253. The beginning of Fall Quarter 2003 saw an enrollment of 509 students in the Computer Engineering Program, more than 100 of whom were incoming freshmen. The undergraduate student body is comprised of roughly 84% men and 16% women.

Curriculum

In general, our aim is to produce highly skilled practitioners of Computer Engineering. Students must take a broad range of liberal arts, science, and mathematics courses. Almost every major class requires assignments and projects to be run on computers. All Computer Engineering courses include a thorough coverage of concept and theory, and 21 of the major courses have laboratories.

An informal philosophy of the university is to "learn by doing". The application of this philosophy in our teaching pays great dividends to the students when they seek employment after graduation. The campus runs one of the largest cooperative education programs in the West. The program is designed to meet unique educational needs of students by providing practical work experience directly related to academic fields of study and career objectives through alternating periods of on-the-job training in business, industry, and government with periods of classroom study.

Placement

To view the 2007-08 Graduate Status Report from Cal Poly Career Services, please click here.