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You might want to PM NorthernCalif_Dad. His son plays there.

Also, RHP05Parent's son will go there next year.

I'm not sure I'd call them a top-25 team, but they are certainly a very solid program, competitive at the highest levels of college baseball. Beautiful town, great school.

First, I would certainly defer to those mentioned in the post above who have sons there or on the way.

My son had some significant contact with the school though and I would note my impressions:

First, with no disrespect, I would not call Cal Poly a top 25 school. Don't recall them being ranked or in the tournament in any recent years. They were a D-2 for much of their history. They have typically had a tough go with Long Beach and Fullerton in the conference, along with UCSB and UCI of late. Plus with traditional powers such as USC and Stanford, among other on the West Coast, Cal Poly has been a bit in the "background" so to speak.

However, they do seem to be up and coming and are having a great season this year. The head coach, Larry Lee is in his third year, I believe, and appears to be a great coach and real gentleman. His top assistant is Jerry Weinstein, who was with the Dodger organization for many years. Appears to be a great guy and I'm told is as knowledgeable a baseball coach as there is.

I cannot see how you could go wrong in this baseball program from my observations.

San luis Obispo is a great little college town and lots of great "outdoorsy" stuff to do. It's also in a beautiful location.

Academics are excellent. They do have a somewhat odd twist in that it is deemed an "inverse" curriculum in that you start immediately as a freshman in your major and you MUST declare a major from the start and it is very difficult to change majors. There are a few majors (architecture was my son's interest) which seem completely incompatible with playing sports. We were flat out told that there was virtually no way to take certain majors (architecture and engineering come to mind) and play sports there.

On campus housing is very limited. Typically to freshman only, but there is abundant housing right off campus.

I think the school is an absolute great choice so long as the major you want will be compatible with playing ball there.

Absolutely great school. Superb baseball program run by Larry Lee. He is a friend of mine, and has certainly turned the corner on his program. Don't know what position your son plays, but they have argueably the best pitching coach going in Jerry Weinstein. Yes they are a Top 25 program and are currently ranked by several agencies. I spent this past weekend watching them play Cal State Fullerton, and won 1 of 3. Losing games 1 and 3 by scores of 3-1. Beautiful campus, new stadium that is awesome. Although it doesn't hold many people, I believe around 3100. They are going to be expanding, so they can possibly host a super regional. As Heybatter has stated earlier, they have an inverse curriculum where you do all your core major classes first, then general ed. You must declare your major as an incoming freshman, there are no "undecideds" here. There are certain "team" rules that must be followed by the team as far as class is concerned. You must sit in the front of the class, no hats to class, GPA is closely and I mean closely monitored. The town is beautiful, and a college town, lots to do. The coach has no pull as to who gets in or not, where other coaches will take a chance on a "marginal" student, because he is a tremendous athlete, Coach Lee does not. This school is totally academics first, then athletics. You will get in on your own merit, pure and simple. Last year they recruited quite heavily in the JUCO range, to push the program to another level. This coaching staff is absolutely superb. My son has been going to their camps for years, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Walawala - actually never spoke to anyone directly in engineering, but did meet with the architecuture dept. at Cal Poly and were told specifically it (sports and arch major) could not be done. It was not as if you were "banned", it was just that, at a minimum, in architecture, you have labs most every afternoon and have baseball practice or games every afternoon, so with that time conflict, there is just no way. We were told the same by the arch depts. at USC, Washington, Cal, UNLV among others.

I do agree that I have seen students in engineering and sports and my hat is off to them, they must have a clock with more than 24 hours in the day .

I also stand corrected on SLO being ranked. this year they are in the top 25 in the USA today poll . But rankings aside, as I mentioned in my previous post, I cannot see how you could go wrong with this school or its baseball program. Top notch all the way IMO.

Walawala - Just replied to your PM. My son does attend the school and really enjoys it. As far as a top 25 team. They ranked as high as 19 in one of the 4 major polls, but I think it would be more fair to call them a top 40 team, but they have steadily improved each year. I also attended the Fullerton series and they averaged nearly 3000 a game for that series and close to 1000 any other time. That is one of the top attendendances for a west coast team.
I have heard many times on this board, pick the school first and the baseball program second. I can honestly say, baseball or not, this was the right choice for my son.
Oh yea - Make sure you attend WOW - Week of Welcome. It is a one week orientation before school starts and well worth it.