<p>Hi, I'm going to be a freshman majoring in EE at UCLA this fall and right now I'm planning in a best case scenario on taking:</p>
<p>Chem20A
Eng Comp 3
Math 32A
CS31</p>
<p>I was wondering what are some good alternatives, in case I don't get all my classes, and also should I take a cluster?</p>
<p>That’s a good schedule for an engineer. Although they recommend you only take three classes per quarter (for your first quarter), Eng Comp 3 is not much of a big addition, since it’s only reading + 3 essays basically. </p>
<p>Alternatives for you would be… if you couldn’t take Math 32A, you can take Math 33A or Math 33B.</p>
<p>I’m not an engineering major, so I can’t comment on your schedule. I have some knowledge of clusters though.</p>
<p>From my friends’ experiences with clusters, they recommend to take a cluster only if you’re HIGHLY interested in the subject. While it’s convenient to complete many of your GE/writing requirements, you may have a more difficult time with the classes if you don’t enjoy it. Their general reputation is that they are harder and have more work than individual GE classes. They are also offered at certain times during fall, winter, and spring, so you’ll have to work your schedule around it. I’ve had friends who LOVED their cluster and other friends who were eager to leave it after fall quarter. I personally enjoyed being able to take a wide array of GE classes from architecture to geography. </p>
<p>In the end, it’s up to your personal discretion. It might also help to check out the reviews for your cluster’s professors at bruinwalk.com.</p>
<p>well none of the clusters look that interesting to me so I probably won’t take any. Is physics 1a a good choice for freshmen year?</p>
<p>I don’t recommend on taking a cluster. Clusters among Engineering majors are just unheard of, at least to the best of my knowledge. It’s because these clusters are time-consuming and usually harder than individual GE classes.
And also, clusters are meant for Letter of College and Sciences, and not under School of Engineering, so not all of the clusters may count toward your HSSEAS GE requirement.
</p>
<p>Otherwise your schedule looks pretty good. EngComp 3 is easy. Depending on which professor you get, you usually just read a book or watch a movie and write an analysis or reflective paper on it (usually 3-4 papers).
And here’s the courses for each quarter that HSSEAS recommend you taking:
[B.S</a>. in Electrical Engineering Curriculum](<a href=“http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/curric-11-12/28curelec11.html]B.S”>B.S. in Electrical Engineering Curriculum)
Of course you’re starting with Math 32A, so you’re already ahead, but that looks a doable schedule. You can swap something for Physics 1A if you like, since you’ll need to finish the Physics courses before you can actually start on your major EE courses.</p>
<p>So if I do follow that schedule, then 2nd quarter could I take EE 3 alongside physics 1a?</p>
<p>^ Yep that’s good, I think EE3 is the only EE class that you don’t need any requisites, and no other classes depend on it, so you can literally take it anytime you want. It’s just a 2-unit seminar-like introduction to general EE, it’s pretty easy.</p>
<p>could it be a good idea to take EE 3 first quarter and then eng comp 3 second quarter then? An earlier introduction would probably be better wouldn’t it?</p>
<p>Yes, but EE3 is never offered in Fall lol. It’s usually only offered in Winter and Spring (2nd and 3rd quarter).</p>
<p>Yea, That eng comp 3 class is different per every professor, like i had a hard grader and lots of drafts of essays to do that were graded then the finals were also graded too lol. It was pretty time consuming while doing that and cs 31, especially since office hours collided with the eng comp class. and yea EE3 is only offered winter and spring. It is not recommended for engineers to take clusters. Engineers only need 5 GE classes and they are suppose to be spread out to lighten work load. You don’t want to quickly complete it. So clusters aren’t a good idea, just take regular ge, not part of clusters.</p>