Cal vs. UCLA vs. USC (MechE)

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I'm having a hard time deciding where to go for mechanical engineering and I have to turn in my SIR in two days.</p>

<p>Is this a no-brainer? I know Cal is the best of the three (as per rankings); however, USC is a private school and I don't know how much that factors into job opportunities.</p>

<p>CAL is more convenient for me since it's closer to home; like 3 hours or so away.</p>

<p>Cal is also on the semester system which is what I'm accustomed to.
I haven't visited any of these schools, but that's really because I haven't had the chance.</p>

<p>If I attend UCLA as opposed to CAL, I would be on the quarter system which is faster, I would have to come home more times during the year, and UCLA is much farther from the bay area than Cal is.</p>

<p>Any suggestions??? Help!</p>

2

<p>This is pretty much a no brainer. You said yourself that Cal is more convenient in terms of location and semester system (which is much better imo than quarter). Also, Cal engineering is among the best in the world - you'd have to be crazy to pass it up.</p>

3

<p>haha... I passed up Cal engineering for UCLA (because it was far more convenient), but your case really does favor Cal a lot, so go for it!</p>

4

<p>Wow. Okay. I guess I should have made my decision a long time ago.</p>

5

<p>I'd go to Cal.</p>

6

<p>wait, if by Cal you men California Institute of Technology, then I just lost respect for you for even posting this thread, if by Cal you mean like Berkeley or something else [I'm from MD--JHU '12], then I'm sorry :)</p>

7

<p>Haha I guess you need further clarification. I mean the University of California, Berkeley.</p>

<p>Hey, I have another question actually.
Since I will be new to uppder division courses, and I'm not sure exactly how much of a leap it is, going from lower division to upper division. I'm a bit unsure about my course plan for the next two years.</p>

<p>If I post the list of courses required for this major at Berkeley, will somebody be willing to guide me in the right direction (as per what courses to take per semester)?</p>

8

<p>Upper Division Courses Units
Mechanical Behavior and Processing of Materials 3
Mechanical Engineering Design 3
Engineering Mechanics—Dynamics 3
Thermodynamics 3
Fluid Mechanics 3
Heat Transfer 3
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory 3
Mechanics of Materials 3
Experimentation and Measurement 3
Electric Circuits, Electronics, and Instrumentation 4
Technical Communication 3
Subtotal 34</p>

<p>Elective Courses Units
Basic Science Elective (Bio, Chem, or Phys) 4
Humanities and Social Studies Electives* 18
Mechanical Engineering Technical Electives 9
Unrestricted Technical Electives 3
Unrestricted Other Electives 13</p>

<p>*Six courses of at least 3 units each in humanities and social studies</p>

9

<p>vader1990, whenever someone says "Cal", they mean UCB. Caltech is "Caltech."</p>

<p>Cal is probably the best choice.</p>

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<p>I graduated from Cal's ME program last spring. PM if you want to go over what courses to take, or go over specific questions. In general, I would say the upper division courses are easier than the lower division ME courses. For example, E28 is a lower div ME course that is way way more demanding than anything you will see in upper div. E77 isn't so great either, tons of work there too</p>

11

<p>Thanks for chiming in. I sent you a pm vaderX.</p>

12

<p>hahaha lololol, I knew "Cal" couldn't be CalTech...lol...but I second guessed myself :)</p>

<p>Yeah, Berkeley is EPIC, go with that :)</p>

13

<p>I think it's funny that you're basing the next 4 years of your life on the responses from an internet forum. It's really too bad that you didn't visit any of the schools. One visit to USC and I knew I was going to be a Trojan...it just felt right. I actually have a MechE friend here at USC who turned down MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and every UC.</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck with your decision! :)</p>