<p>hey, im starting to narrow down my choices to these two schools
im interested in majoring in mechanical engineering and i was wondering what advice people could give me on each schools program or just the schools in general</p>
<p>i got into scu's engineering program, but the school isnt cheap and i dont expect to get much financial aid, but i do know that there is a lot of internship/coop opputunities in the area and family is near by, if i also find out that engineering isnt for me, i can hopefully get a great business degree from their business school this isnt a + or -, but i am jewish and idk what it would be like to go to a jesuit university</p>
<p>santa barbara admitted me, but only into their letters and sciences, i have requested to be readmitted into their engineering school and that is currently pending, its right on the coast and much cheaper than scu, but idk if ill get into the engineering school even after taking a couple of lower division courses, im not a hardcore partier, but the school's reputation doesnt bother me too much either</p>
<p>any advice on either school would be greatly appreciated</p>
<p>btw , i also got into chico w/ honors and ucsc 3/2 dual degree with berkeley, if you think im missing something about either of those, please put in your two cents</p>
<p>i totally agree, but i would like to graduate in mechanical engineering which ucsb isnt letting me do right now, i emailed their dean and he says take lower div. classes and petition jr. year, but there are no guarantees - have a backup</p>
<p>is risking not even being admitted into the school of engineering worth it?</p>
<p>whats shying me away from ucsc is the transfer, they say you need to maintain a 3.2 in your lower division engineering courses and then apply for a transfer
berkeley's average transfer admit rate is 3.8..., and ive sent 3 emails to 3 seperate people at ucsc in the last 2 weeks and they have all failed to respond to me</p>
<p>this just seems like a way for ucsc to get people to enroll at ucsc and my guess is that you could apply for a transfer anywhere being that i can't find any information on berkeley's website about this program</p>
<p>dont get me wrong, i loved ucsc when i was there, but i dont want to be stuck with an econ major if i dont get admitted for the transfer</p>
<p>You need to nail down the details of the UCSC program; since they talk about "expected to maintain a 3.2" does that mean that if you do the admission to Cal is automatic? You can't go on guesses or hunches here, you really need to find an authoritative source or ask a person who knows. Their web page says
[quote]
When the application is received by the Office of Admissions, additional information about the dual-degree program will be sent to the applicant, along with a request for the applicant’s specific choice of majors at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz. Admission to the campus does not guarantee admission to the dual-degree program.
[/quote]
Did that say anything about it? </p>
<p>You can also contact UCSB and find out how many people are accepted who apply to change to engineering from L&S, but my expectation is it isn't many or a high percentage. The engineering programs are in demand, and the UC schools have to keep room for the CC transfers. Which brings up plan B, if you really want to go to UCSB. There is a backdoor way in to UCSB in which you go to Santa Barbara CC for 2 years and then get guaranteed admission into UCSB. You live in Isla Vista (where the UCSB kids live) the whole time. They have the guarantee program for engineering majors. Since it only requires a 3.0 for admission the odds are much higher of succeeding in that path than by enrolling in UCSB as a frosh and hoping to transfer. See my post on the backdoor way into UCSB in the UCSB forum; also take a look at UCSB</a> Admissions</p>
<p>Santa Clara is a fine school, but quite different from a larger UC. If finances are an issue, which they seem to be, then it might not be the best route. You're paying top dollar for what is a decent education. Since you say family is near SCU, why not go and visit? Buy lunch in the dorms, sit down at a table and introduce yourself, try to get a sense of what it would be like to be a student there.</p>
<p>I should add, too, that it sounds like you're maybe not all that committed to engineering in the first place. Have you spoken with working ME's or have other reasons to believe the career is a strong fit for you? I bring this up because nationally between 1/2 and 2/3rds of all people who enter college as engineers end up switching to something else. So maybe you're going thru a lot of worry needlessly.</p>
<p>BTW were you admitted into engineering at Chico?</p>
<p>thank you for the thorough post
i recieved the "additional information" regarding the 3/2 degree, it simply congratulated me and that in summer, they give an orientation to admitted students, like i said, ive sent 3 emails to 3 different people in the past week, and no one has responded to any of my emails, ill be down there in a few weeks, so ill be sure to try and talk to someone in person</p>
<p>regarding scu, im going down there on the preview day and talking to people at the eng. dept there, and spending a few extra days down there too</p>
<p>I don't want to say im committed to engineering, but i dont think many seniors in high school can either, i just say so because i love math and i love building things, my favorite classes in high school have been either math classes or design classes. right now, i enjoy ap physics, and id like to keep up my enjoyment of math and creating things</p>
<p>from what my ap physics teacher (graduated from cal poly as env. engr) describes, he says you dont really know if you are committed until you start studying statics and thermo. ive spoken with aero engnrs before and to me it sounds interesting and keeps you busy, i also know that studying engineering doesnt mean i will become an engineer, my ap physics teacher got 1 as i already said, my honors pre calc teacher graduated with an engr. major, a neighbor graduated from WashU with an EE, but now he is running his own company that has nothing to do with engineering and hes doing very very well</p>
<p>i'd like to say im committed, but never taking a statics course or studying thermodynamics too intensely, i dont want to make any false assumptions</p>
<p>btw, i applied and was admitted undeclared to chico</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't want to say im committed to engineering, but i dont think many seniors in high school can either, i just say so because i love math and i love building things, my favorite classes in high school have been either math classes or design classes. right now, i enjoy ap physics, and id like to keep up my enjoyment of math and creating things. from what my ap physics teacher (graduated from cal poly as env. engr) describes, he says you dont really know if you are committed until you start studying statics and thermo.
[/quote]
Although this is diverging from your original question about which of the 2 you should pick, I'd say I only partially agree with your teacher. </p>
<p>It's true that its hard to have direct experience as an engineer as a HS student; you can't volunteer like you can at a hospital. But you may have friends with parents who are engineers you could talk to, many HS's also have a career class where one assignment is to interview someone in an area you're considering. The point is I see the committment as deciding its what you want to do and committing to doing the work to get there. So I don't agree its just when you take thermo you decide if you're committed. Thousands of kids pass it every year, because they understand its going to be hard but they buckle down and do it anyway.</p>
<p>And make no mistake. Engineering starts out hard, it stays hard. The national drop-out rate, as I said, is well over 50% at most schools. And I think most of those kids could have made it if they wanted to. But passing the courses takes a lot of time and work. Since you're UC eligible you've taken a foreign language, and you know that it requires steady committment; you can't learn Spanish unless you practice some every day. Calculus, engineering, physics, same thing. You need to spend the hours every day it takes to complete the work. A lot of kids decide it isn't worth it; a few procrastinate and find out they can't learn it all the last 2 weeks of the quarter.</p>
<p>dude, going to UCSC then Berkeley seems like a GREAT opportunity.... I'd be all over that one. Blows away your other options. I mean, you won't get more job opportunities in the country than out of Berkeley engineering (except possibly MIT but only on the east coast, and Caltech if they need a genius).</p>