<p>I'm transferring from a Community College, but I'm still undecided on where to tranfer...</p>
<p>UCI is more theory oriented as opposed to Cal Poly Pomona, which has a more practical aproach from what I understand. I like both schools though.</p>
<p>For civil engineering, which school would you recommend?</p>
<p>if u want to work right after college, it really does not matter as long as you pass the PE exam. If you wanna go to grad school, then choose UCI.</p>
<p>Would it be a good idea for a civil engineer to go to grad school? I would focus either on general CE or maybe structural eng. I heard some say it is, some say it isn't.</p>
<p>From the people I've talked to, the choice for going to CP Pomona vs. UCI is also split, which makes my decision even harder...</p>
<p>I ran into an old friend tonight who is a civil engineer. She says the jobs in civil engineering are more than plentiful and high paying. You can easily be hired right out of undergraduate school and advance quickly. There is a real need in this area.</p>
<p>For structural engineering, grad school it's definitely very beneficial. I've talked to a few recruiters from structural firms in the past and all of them were looking only for students with a graduate degree or planning on pursuing one. For other civil engineering specialties, it's a bit more debatable. </p>
<p>I haven't seen a place where you can focus on general civil engineering though. You usually have to pick between structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, transportation engineering, construction management, environmental engineering, or hydraulics/water resources.</p>
<p>engineering is one of the few remaining good programs left at cal poly pomona. you must, however, weigh the value of the pedigree versus the individual major. nobody places irvine and pomona in the same conversation at the university level. make some campus visits. talk to faculty and students. do your homework on facilities, F/S ratios, read web sites like <a href="http://www.studentsreview.com%5B/url%5D">www.studentsreview.com</a>, and make a more informed choice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice all, and the website drj, I've never seen that before and I just read some interesting reviews on it. Many students who reviewed Cal Poly seemed to give negative-average reviews about university as a whole (most said they would never go back), but students in the engineering department said some good things. The engineering students also emphasized the way the school prepares you for a job right after graduation. </p>
<p>UCI on the other hand, had the opposite: positive reviews for the school overall, but negative things to say about engineering and other technical majors, since the school is more focused on theory and research. </p>
<p>I'd rather go to UCI (I like the name better), but it does seem like CPP is a better choice from what I can tell.</p>
<p>Like you suggested, what I'll probably do next is keep talking to people and reading more into it to refine my decision....</p>
<p>If anyone else has any additional advice, it would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>just a reminder for readers that the negative comments are about cal poly pomona, not cal poly SLO, which has way higher ratings everywhere you look at both the department and university levels.</p>
<p>if you choose irvine, join some engineering clubs that bring in speakers and schedule field trips into the real world. that will help.</p>
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UCI on the other hand, had the opposite: positive reviews for the school overall, but negative things to say about engineering and other technical majors, since the school is more focused on theory and research.
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<p>I'm a senior Electrical Engineering student at UCI. For lack of a better word, UCI engineering blows. </p>
<p>Unless you want to go to graduate school, I would stay away from UCI's program because it has very little emphasis on practical applications of engineering. You learn to analyze (somewhat), but you don't learn to design. And you almost never learn about modern technology.</p>
<p>Also for such a prestigious research university, you'd think they'd have more than two 1K ohm resistors (very poorly stocked) and that they'd would have electronic testing equipment that wasn't so old as to have floppy drives and serial outputs.</p>
<p>I think most people are disappointed with UCI's engineering. I recall during one of our labs a conversation started about what everybody were going to do after graduating from UCI and a good share of people were going into business/med school/law because UCI had sucked the love of engineering out of them.</p>
<p>a great message explaining that you need to closely examine the intended major and not just the university as a whole. ideally, you want strength at both levels.</p>
<p>The UC's do not reserve the state of the art and best equipment for undergrad teaching purposes. The nice stuff is in a professor's lab and for his lab to use (post docs and grad students). It's his research money (grants) and the money that is used for undergrad teaching labs is often decades old because it used just for that purpose. The real advantage of a UC for engineering isn't really in the class material but if you are aggressive and motivated, you can do research with top faculty and develop your skill set and analytical thinking skills from them. Most jobs know there will be some training to do, but, you can't train raw intelligence and motivation. If that were the case, then everyone could get a job at McKinsey.</p>