IAMA graduating senior at ucla. Ask me anything.

<p>Feel free to ask me anything whether you are in high school or already at ucla.</p>

<p>Throughout my 4 years, i've tried to experience as many different things as possible. If you have a question about anything specific, I probably have some sort of knowledge on the topic.</p>

<p>heres a bit more about me:</p>

<ul>
<li>computer science major</li>
<li>accepted as out of state applicant</li>
<li>paying in state-tuition now</li>
<li>was part of the greek system (fraternity) for 2 years</li>
<li>interned at various tech companies</li>
<li>received a full time job in the silicon valley </li>
<li>travelled abroad</li>
<li>lived in dorms for 1 year + summer school</li>
<li>lived in apartments for 3 years</li>
<li>3.1gpa</li>
</ul>

<p>edit: I don't know anything in regards to financial aid. I never applied to fafsa or have any scholarships.</p>

<p>Hi, I appreciate your help. Could you please give us some info regarding the CS major: the workload, research opportunities, etc.? Is the honors program available? DD is accepted for CS with Regents and we need this info. Thanks.</p>

<p>I’m going broad type question here…I know there are a zillion great things at UCLA, but honestly what was not so great about UCLA for you? The over-positive marketing gets old at this point, I’d like to know what issues kids run into there.</p>

<p>Favorite pass time or place you liked spending time at while studying at Ucla? What did the Greek system do for you that was good and that was not so good?</p>

<p>Did you have any difficulty getting classes (overcrowding, etc)? Did you have any trouble graduating in for years/so most people in engineering graduate in 4 years? Also, did you have to take summer classes to graduate on time, or do you think you could have done without them?</p>

<p>As you can tell, I’m worried about not graduating on time and accumulating debt… the summer question is mostly because I plan to do internships or research over the summers.</p>

<p>There are some really good questions here. I would like to see the answers to all of them! I have one too… Do you think that it would be at all possible to double major or minor in Computer Science while majoring in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering? I was accepted for Mechanical Engineering, but I am beginning to realize that to be an innovator, which is what I really want to do, I am going to need experience in computer science.</p>

<p>@alegreto</p>

<p>All of the engineering majors at UCLA have a very heavy workload. CS is often recognized as one of the harder majors, but that is usually because many people find programming difficult in general. If your DD enjoys or is good at programming, CS may be an easier major than the other engineering fields. They will be exposed to long 20+ hour projects within the second quarter at ucla, so they will have plenty of time to figure out if it is the right major. Many people switch in and out of majors. </p>

<p>Each quarter is 10 weeks long with Finals on the 11th week. Midterms can start as early as 3rd week, so classes move very fast. </p>

<p>Research opportunities can definitely be found, but they are up to the student to independently search for them. Rarely, but sometimes, the professor might offer research positions if they performed above all others . I’ve had this happen to two of my friends in CS classes.</p>

<p>There is not an “honors” program for Computer Science, as the normal coursework to graduate is already extremely rigorous. There are however “honor societies” where you may only be admitted with a particular GPA. For example, the Computer Science honor society called UPE requires a 3.5 GPA and Junior class standing… [Upsilon</a> Pi Epsilon at UCLA: Home](<a href=“http://upe.seas.ucla.edu%5DUpsilon”>http://upe.seas.ucla.edu) . These societies are more like social clubs really, with the added benefit of adding it to your resume, and also networking with others.</p>

<p>CremieuxR, Hi thanks for taking questions. I noticed that you said “many people switch in and out of majors.” So is it easy to change your major/do a lot of people do it?</p>

<p>And then, from your observations, do most people graduate in four years? Thanks. Please let me know at your convenience.</p>

<p>@CADREAMIN</p>

<p>Many things I dislike about UCLA.</p>

<p>1) every quarter, it is becoming more and more difficult to enroll in your required classes. from what I’ve heard, this is apparent in all majors, not just engineering. Last year I was enrolled in a class that had a maximum capacity of 50 students. On the first day of class, 120 students showed up, with 70 students asking the professor to be enrolled… Incredibly, the professor petitioned for a larger lecture hall, and even hired another TA so that all 120 students could be enrolled in his class. In most cases, the student will have to suck up a bad class schedule or take summer school.</p>

<p>2) bad professors. this is unavoidable. i’m not sure which is worse, professors that can’t teach, or professors that are rude and ignorant. Luckily, you can usually check on [BruinWalk:</a> Find what matters on and around the campus](<a href=“http://www.bruinwalk.com%5DBruinWalk:”>http://www.bruinwalk.com) to find reviews of the professor and try to avoid bad ones. But this goes back to #1. You won’t be able to enroll in all good classes… so every quarter, you will have 1 ****ty class out of 3.</p>

<p>3) ucla is a big school, and you won’t get any special treatment. I often wish I went to a private school because some of the things that happen. I once forgot to pay for tuition for the next quarter and received an email saying all my enrolled classes were dropped. After they were dropped, I tried contacting my counselor and there was a 1 week wait to meet with a counselor.</p>

<p>@etg2013 </p>

<p>Favorite pass time/place:
I did not own a car my freshman year so I signed up for a zipCar membership. This allowed me to travel to hollywood, santa monica, venice without depending on the bus. I especially enjoy moves, both independent and hollywood blockbusters. Being in LA, I always had an amazing selection of movies to watch. If there were any “limited release” films, the Landmark Cinema or ArcLight would almost always have it showing. Movie premieres would often be hosted in Westwood, so it can be pretty easy to see celebrities on the red carpet, though I’m not into waiting outside for 3 hours to get a glimpse of ryan gosling. Some girls camp out for that **** though.</p>

<p>Greek System:
It was interesting to experience all the fratty stuff from the in-house parties to festival events with sororities. I was basically force fed new connections every day. Like many other guys, I mainly joined to meet girls. I was not that into all the brotherly “bro” stuff that went on and eventually quit because I didn’t feel like I was getting enough out of it. I did make a few good friends, one which is still my roommate. Something I noticed after I quit was that while my old fraternity brothers were still polite to me, I was no longer invited to their parties and hangouts. There is definitely a bit of fictitious bonding going on, but you can also meet some great friends. Don’t expect to like everyone that is in the same house as you.</p>

<p>@storme</p>

<p>Classes are becoming MUCH more difficult to enroll in. Every quarter it becomes more difficult. I took a total of 5 classes over summer school. I would not be able to graduate on time if I did not take summer classes, but then again, there were many quarters where I took 3 classes instead of 4. Taking four engineering courses is very tiring though, and I don’t think I could have handled it as well.</p>

<p>A tip for summer school: if you are a freshman or sophomore, finish your lower division requirements such as math and physics at a local community college. You can transfer the credits and have the grade count as a “Pass” as long as you get a C or better. </p>

<p>My advice is to take summer school freshman year, then search for internships sophomore year. If you absolutely can’t find any, take more classes. Junior year you REALLY need to find some sort of career related experience, as it really helps for finding a full-time job your senior year. You should never really do “nothing” over summer break…</p>

<p>@StaigerTiger</p>

<p>There are no minor programs in Engineering. However as an Engineering major, you are required to fulfill the “Technical Breadth” requirement. This requires you to take 3 upper division courses of another engineering field, or under the technology management field.</p>

<p>In your case, you can take your 3 upper division courses in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering.</p>

<p>Furthermore, STRAIGHT computer science MAJORS, also have to fulfill a requirement called “Science-Technical Elective” which is 3 more courses in a science-technical field. Both electrical and mechanical engineering are accepted. The full list can be located here: <a href=“http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/undergraduates/cs-department-curriculum-updates/CS%20Sci-Tech%20List-current.pdf/at_download/file[/url]”>http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/undergraduates/cs-department-curriculum-updates/CS%20Sci-Tech%20List-current.pdf/at_download/file&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>@xzyabc44</p>

<p>It is easy to switch in-between Engineering majors. It is some-what easy to switch OUT of engineering as long as your GPA fulfills the requirement of the new major. It is quite difficult to switch INTO engineering. I believe they require not only a gpa requirement, but that you also finish a specific set of lower division courses before you can be admitted into the school of engineering. This is difficult because it is hard to maintain a high gpa while taking the lower division engineering courses! I am unsure about switching majors entirely outside of the engineering realm.</p>

<p>For non-engineers, graduating in 4 years is standard. Many “north” campus majors can graduate in 3 years easily. I have friends that double major in two different north campus majors and they take fewer classes than engineers while also graduating earlier.</p>

<p>Many engineers graduate in 4 years, but like me, they took a few classes over summer school to catch up. Many students take 4.25 years to graduate, and it is not uncommon to have to take 2 additional quarters to graduate.</p>

<p>I only know 1 person in my class that graduated 1 quarter early for computer science. He works at Facebook now.</p>

<p>@CremieuxR</p>

<p>Sweet, I’m glad I will be expected to take a wider variety of classes. I didn’t think there were any engineering minors, but at some schools computer science isn’t considered engineering exactly so I wasn’t sure. Is it possible to double major with Electrical/Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science? It would be awesome if they would cover each other’s breadth requirements. Thanks for the answer!</p>

<p>@CremieuxR Thanks for the lengthy and thorough response. Also, from your observations, is there any major you’d recommend that has a high starting salary, has a good number of jobs and is relatively ‘popular/easy’ at UCLA? Please let me know when you get a chance. Thanks so much.</p>

<p>are the girls good looking? compared to USC and other big schools?</p>

<p>@ StaigerTiger</p>

<p>They will not let you double major engineering fields. This would probably take you 6 years to graduate. However, UCLA has three types of CS majors.</p>

<p>Computer Science: Core CS classes + 3 Extra CS Electives + 3 Science Technical Courses
Computer Science Engineer: Core CS classes + 6 EE Courses
Electrical Engineer/Computer Science: Core EE classes + 6 CS courses</p>

<p>If you majored in Mechanical, you can take 3 CS classes as your technical breadth.</p>

<p>@xzyabc44 If I were to redo my undergrad and choose an easier major, it would definitely be either Economics or Business Economics.</p>

<p>Almost all my Econ friends graduated early, or are staying the full 4 years and just taking random classes for fun. I have a close friend who was an EE major for 2 full years. During the summer before his junior year, he realized he hated EE and changed majors to Econ. Starting fresh as a junior, he not only graduated in 4 years, but also landed a job at a Big 4 Audit Firm and makes 50-60k.</p>

<p>This isn’t to say that getting a successful job after graduating as an econ major is easy though. It is probably much more competitive in landing a top job since everyone has top gpa’s and similar looking resumes. You have to be even more independent on searching for internships and work experience during the summers to get a good full time offer.</p>

<p>One also important note… econ girls are pretty cute.</p>

<p>@stantheman66 There are definitely tons of cute girls. You’ll often see random people getting wasted at a party during the weekday and then the same people studying in the library all weekend.</p>

<p>work hard, play hard.</p>

<p>I appreciate your advice. Believe it or not, I’ve been admitted to the UCLA College of Letters and Science with Pre Business Economics as my academic major. couldn’t have worked out better. I’ve always been interested in investment banking and I’d probably want to focus in the finance field a bit more, but business economics is similar at least. Thank you again CremieuxR for all your help.</p>