<p>So I just got into Cal for Chemical Engineering, but I'm in sort of a dilemma. I realize Berkeley has a #2 ranking in Chem Engineering and UCLA is around #20-30. </p>
<p>What does the ranking really mean? Is there such a big difference between #2 and #30? </p>
<p>Berkeley engineering has a reputation of being notoriously hard, and since ChemE is one of the harder engineering majors, I'm really worried about the competition and how hard it will be.</p>
<p>UCLA's environment and campus is amazing. I know I will probably have a better time in LA but I don't know if it's worth turning down Berkeley. </p>
<p>I'm not super smart so I think UCLA will be better for me, but since I got into Cal, it's hard to simply turn it down, when I know I can graduate with a Berkeley engineering degree and get a job much more easily than if I graduate with a UCLA degree. Is this true?</p>
<p>One, berkeley chemical engineering is not in berkeley engineering. chemical engineering is in berkeley chemistry (woohoo!!)</p>
<p>Two, note that chemical engineers tend to not get a graduate degree because a bachelor’s in chemical engineering is most of what you need for that industry. You can get a graduate degree if you’re more interested in the research and teaching aspect though. So the main point is that with chemical engineering, your college of choice for your bachelors will be fairly important (versus me majoring in chemistry, in which a graduate degree is a necessity and therefore the graduate school for me is more important).</p>
<p>Three, you got into both schools. congratulations. visit both and look at the communities. Another factor is whether your like it or not. UCLA is in westwood, which is upscale, like another palo alto, and preppy. it’s also in socal, which is far more driving-based. Versus Cal, which is in an urban environment, diverse, very fun, and fairly down to earth. it’s both liberal and in the bay area, which means that cars don’t have as much power as pedestrians, buses, and bikers.</p>
<p>Finally, I should point out that roughly half of the chemical engineers in the college of chem switch out. Just to put it one way, the entering class is about 200 students, 100 in chemE, 70 in chem bio, and 30 in chem. The class that graduates, including transfer students is about 80 students, with roughly equal numbers in chemE, chem bio, and chem. Cheers.</p>
<p>Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t tough it out. The college of chem is really a wonderful college with a lot of resources and some of the closest faculty relations you can get at cal simply because the CoC is so small. I’m merely pointing out that a ChemE degree at Cal is difficult to obtain, and that it will require a lot of work and talent.</p>
<p>In terms of courseload, EECS probably has more stuff. difficulty is hard to gauge because it’s kinda subjective.</p>
<p>In terms of support from the college and departments though, ChemE has much more support. EECS majors get lopped with all the engineers, but chemE majors get more support under the CoC. my roommate is EECS, and he only has a faculty adviser meeting once a year, whereas CoC does two faculty adviser meetings, one each semester. paperwork also gets processed faster in the CoC than the other colleges due to the smaller size, so you don’t get hit so much by the bureaucracy.</p>