Cal Poly Recognized for its Beautiful Campus

High school counselors around the country think Cal Poly has one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, according to a national survey conducted for Kaplan Publishing, best known for their test preparation books for the SAT, GMAT and LSAT exams.

Kaplan Publishing recognizes Cal Poly as a top school in the category "most beautiful campus in a suburban or rural setting" in its 2004 edition of The Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting
Colleges.

Editors: Please feel free to use the following information and quotations for publication. If you would like more information or photos, please call the number at top on the right.

• The two-page profile on Cal Poly in the Kaplan campus guide includes university statistics, as well as an analysis of student life inside and outside of the classroom.
  
  
• It notes the university's nationally acclaimed engineering, architecture and agriculture programs.
  
  
• The results in this year's guide were determined by Kaplan's 2004 National Survey of High School Guidance Counselors.
  
  
• Market Measurement, a national market research firm, collected data from a random sample of public, private and Catholic high school counselors for the survey.
  
  
• The Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges, 2004 Edition is now available in bookstores.

Quotes:

"The combination of Cal Poly's outstanding academic reputation and our incredible location makes the university highly sought by prospective students. We are in the foothills, only minutes from the scenic Central Coast beaches. The city of San Luis Obispo offers the safety and friendliness of a small town, yet we are only a few hours from both Los Angeles and San Francisco. We also have a number of wine vineyards, which parents enjoy when they visit. Our weather is nearly perfect year round. It really is an ideal location. In fact, we receive 30,000 applications each year, from which we can admit only 3,600 new students."

Jim Maraviglia
Executive Director
Cal Poly Admissions and Recruitment

"The beauty of the Cal Poly campus is universally mentioned in feedback we receive from alumni. Our remarkable surroundings have a tremendously positive impact on students and they carry this emotion with them after they leave. This contributes greatly to the fondness our alumni have for the university and keeps them coming back to visit us, because we are so fortunate to be located in such a beautiful and charming area. It's a very positive part of the entire Cal Poly experience."

Kim Gannon
Director
Cal Poly Alumni Affairs

"When I applied to Cal Poly, I also applied to another coastal school. I visited the other school first, but it wasn't very clean, with litter around. Then I went to Cal Poly and the pristine conditions had huge
appeal."

Lynnette Ward '87
Corporate trainer
Venice, Calif.

"I have quite a reel of Cal Poly visions in my head, a wonderful kaleidoscope of memories of that place, like the panoramic view of ocean fog sweeping through and over the Seven Sisters peaks at sunset."

Kevin Falls '78
Fox Studios writer-producer
Sherman Oaks, Calif.