[13][14][12] In the 2024 U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, the College of Engineering is ranked 9th overall (tied with Cooper Union) out of 210 public and private undergraduate engineering schools in the U.S. where doctorates are not offered.

For fall 2018, the college admitted 45.3 percent of its total freshmen applicants who held an average unweighted GPA of 3.74 (out of 4.00) and SATs of 1249 (out of 1600).

[2] At the time, the Engineering Center (the current two-story portion of Building 9) had not been finalized and it took two more years, until 1959, to complete.

[18] In 2012, the College of Engineering under the leadership of Mahyar A. Amouzegar launched the first issue of its magazine, Xpressions of Xcellence, renamed in 2019 as "CPP Engineering" Admissions to Cal Poly's College of Engineering are on a rolling basis along with all other colleges at the university.

According to the California State University system students in engineering, technology and computer science represent the largest sector of enrollment with 23% of the student body in those areas.