<p>Hi so i'm currently having trouble about deciding which school to go to for engineering. I'm thinking about doing electrical engineering, but may switch to some other form of engineering in the future. Right now I'm leaning more towards either UCI or SJSU, but I'd like to get other's opinions on which college's engineering program is better.</p>
<p>I currently live in the Bay Area, so the thing with SJSU is that it'd be close by and more convenient, but I'd take what college will give me the best education and opportunity as priority. If anyone could also provide any info on how life is like at any of these schools' itd be greatly appreciated as well. </p>
<p>I'm also thinking about appealing to Cal Poly SLO, but should I even bother with that?</p>
<p>I am doing electrical engineering at UCSB. I am in my 2nd year. It is a great school with an up and coming program. Many think our school is full of crazy partiers which is true but our engineering program is completely different and it is no pushover. After you make it through the weeder math and physics classes freshman year, you begin taking EE classes sophomore year. The professors move at a very fast pace and expect a lot from you. If you are serious about EE and doing well, UCSB is a great school. I am only in my 2nd year but I am starting to build some very cool gadgets. If I were you, go to UCSB. There is no other school like it and our EE program kicks ass.</p>
<p>Is the electrical engineering program packed there? And is the general engineering program there strong if I wanted to switch to a different branch of engineering, possibly chemical or computer. UCSB sounds interesting, and it’s where my sister says I should go to as well, but I’m planning to visit all three colleges soon.</p>
<p>It depends on the year for how many people are in the major. My year was under enrolled but the year before me was not. You don’t start taking EE classes until your 2nd year anyways. Freshman year is mostly chem, physics, math, and basic programming classes. Most CE’s take the same classes as EE’s their first two years anyways. As far as I’m concerned UCSB has other very strong engineering programs too. I was originally going to do ME but chose EE because I liked E and M more than mechanics. UCSB’s college of engineering is also ranked 2nd out of all UC’s so it would be the best choice for you if you are interested in prestige and overall academic rigor.</p>
<p>Oh alright thanks, so I got some time to decide for sure atleast. UCSB sounds promising, and you’ve definitely made me want to go there now instead of the other two. At first I always thought Irvine was on top of UCSB for engineering, thought that it’d be an easy choice for UCI.</p>
<p>Does anyone have info about SJSU and UCI though, specifically SJSU since there’s less specific info. Is it as good as some people make it seem, with all the internships and everything? And how’s the learning environment at a state gonna be compared to a UC?</p>
<p>All I know about SJSU is that it has a decent engineering program, a pretty lame campus/surrounding area, and is a commuter campus.</p>
<p>UCSB is better in every category I mentioned. The only thing that could be better about SJSU is that it MIGHT prepare you a little more if you wanna go straight in to industry after school since UC’s are geared a little more towards grad school/research. But most people here at UCSB go in to industry after graduation, so it does prepare you well. I tend to think that CSU’s, except for Cal Poly, exaggerate the “we prepare you for industry more than UC’s do” stuff.</p>
<p>So I’d say visit both schools one after another to see the differences; they are completely different schools.</p>
<p>Well my plan right now is to get a bachelor’s in engineering, work for a few years and go back to get an MBA, but since both schools seem to work well with people who go straight in after graduating it doesn’t seem like there’d be too much of a difference in that department. Yeah I’ll be visiting all three of the schools within the next two weeks, so hopefully that’ll make my decision easier.</p>
<p>I really like UCI. I’m in civil engineering, but I know a few electricals…one of them worked at Boeing with me after graduating for awhile and then went to grad school at UCLA and another one works at Northrop (both companies are in driving distance). There’s plenty of good opportunities here.</p>
<p>"All I know about SJSU is that it has a decent engineering program, a pretty lame campus/surrounding area, and is a commuter campus.</p>
<p>UCSB is better in every category I mentioned" Have you been there for yourself? If not you really shouldn’t be making the claim.</p>
<p>Come on now, that’s a little harsh. I’d say SJSU’s engineering program is good, better than decent. The campus and surrounding area are not “lame”. I agree that UCSB campus and surrounding area are better, but “lame” isn’t accurate. Chico and Fresno are lame. SJSU is in downtown San Jose, it’s not bad, much better than people think who haven’t seen it for themselves. Downtown SJ has been completley transformed from 20 years ago. There are now a lot of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, movies theaters, etc. And of course home to the awesome San Jose Sharks.</p>
<p>Yes it does have a lot of commuters, the majority of students in fact. But it does have an awful lot of students who live on and around campus. Also has a pretty strong greek system FWIW.</p>
<p>Can someone on this thread who is at ucsb, or ucsd, or uc davis tell me the class size of the freshman/soph core classes, such as calc, chem, physics?</p>
<p>Are they all lecture halls? If so are they taught by decent english speaking profs ?
What size are the labs? and how many students in those? Is extra help available tutoring, or other support?</p>
<p>My son was not accepted into engineering at these schools but was told he could transfer into ME after completing at least one quarter in good standing, or apply to the department after completing a year of the core requirements.</p>
<p>He is weighing these schools out for ME while also considering Gonzaga, Rose HUlman…
and he does want a engaging curriculm…not just all lecture halls?</p>