UCLA Chemical Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
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<p>Hi, I have a few questions about UCLA's Chemical Engineering department. </p>

<p>How is UCLA's Chemical Engineering program? I realize it isn't ranked that high, but what is its ranking exactly? Does ranking really have that big of an impact on finding a job or getting into Graduate School? Do graduates tend to get jobs right off the bat, or do they have trouble finding jobs? Would a premed student have difficulty completing his/her requirements with CHE as a major? Is it generally hard to keep a high GPA when majoring in Chemical Engineering?</p>

<p>Any stories/comments would be appreciated.</p>

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<p>I would like to know as well :)</p>

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<p>yes i am wondering as well. I’m debating between ucla and cal right now, both as a chemE major. i have the same questions as dxcdivad. for example, cal’s college of chemistry is ranked 1st and chemE is ranked 3rd.
i really like ucla’s atmosphere and environment but berkeley is just too good too pass up, with its academic excellence especially in the chemical fields (which i may be interested in). What i don’t like about berkeley is its ghetto environment, with dirty streets and homeless wandering around. another thing is (yeah i’m a bit weird) its too “foresty” for me, too many trees that it looks like i’m walking through woods or something as opposed to a college</p>

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<p>lol the UCLA chem department is the worst on campus…by worst i mean it is the** most hated by students**…the classes are insanely difficult, the professors try to mess everyone’s grade up and are unhelpful and mean…the advisors for that department are useless…if u guys want chemE to be ur job (ie ur not a premed) then go to CAL, hands down</p>

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<p>^ I don’t quite know if it’s most hated by students, but I hate the Chem department. There’s a couple of saving graces in that department, but I feel like it’s not really worth it. The professors in general are alright. (Mix of bad and good). But the advisers and staff… yea… I’ve found them to be the stereotypical bureaucratic worker. Not fun when you have administrative stuff to get done. </p>

<p>While Chem is not quite the same as ChemE, most of the lower division classes requirements for majors in both departments fall under the Chem department, you may have to deal with the Chem department a couple of times.</p>

<p>But, about the ChemE department, they <em>seem</em> good (but keep in mind, I am not a ChemE major). I’m in the AIChe (ChemE club) here, and there’s been quite a bit of opportunities to meet with alumni and professors (I’ve even played pool with some of them a couple of times) and even network with industry recruiters. (I don’t know how many people actually get jobs from this though.)</p>

<p>Don’t let my opinions about the Chem department discourage you though. I think the reason why most students <em>seem</em> to find Chem hard is that most of the lower division is taught much like a weeder course. =/ I assume as you you get closer and closer to the upper divisions, it’s more about real learning than trying to get people to give up.</p>

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<p>IMO, i have found the chem department administration to be very helpful…</p>

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<p>ChemE’s definitely seem like they have a great set of industry relationships that help them get jobs - it’s definitely not easy, but most of my ChemE friends have jobs etc. (BP is big in SoCal, etc.)</p>

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<p>i’m wondering how ucla chemE compares with berkeley’s chemE. i know berkeley’s chemE ranked much, much higher than ucla’s but that probably brings more competition and difficutly? so would ucla’s program be less intense as berkeley’s but still give a pretty good education?</p>

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<p>naw it’ll be very competitive at ucla too…with UCLA chemE u have to take something called the chem 20/30 series which has all ur cutthroat premeds/prepharms…also the chem dept at ucla is very disliked by almost everyone…if ur thinkin about having chemE as ur job…i would go to berkeley, might as well get the most for all the hard work you will be doing</p>

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<p>I thought most premeds (because of all the lifescience majors) took 14 series and engineers took chem 20/30?</p>

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<p>The 20/30 series is not going to break or make you in chemE. Those classes may be a bit stressful depending on the professor and the sheer number of premeds that take your courses with you, but overall, people do quite well in the 20/30 series in chemE. It’s all about if you put in the work and effort to get those A’s and B’s. </p>

<p>What is hard about chemE is the arrangement of the upper division curriculum. If you happen to not pass a certain upper division course in a particular quarter, it can set you back a whole year because those courses are usually offered only once a year, and everything is built upon the concept of a series, where without one class in the whole chain, you can’t really move forward. Then again, the upper divs seem to get easier to pass as time goes on (pass means get at least a C). It’s those elusive As that everyone wants that is so hard to get right now.</p>

<p>Rankings: Does not really matter at our level because nobody really gets their hands dirty with chemE except during internships, research that has been done for more than a year (no washing dishes!), and jobs. UCLA engineering is built on the belief that theory is more important than applications early in the game; hence, the first 3 years spent here is focused on sharpening fundamentals in mass transfer, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, math, etc. Rankings, based upon how many research papers are churned out per year and how much money is in the department for research, is what determines what is #1 for right now. I just like that UCLA is near Carson City, and a lot of internships are here for ChemEs to do.</p>

<p>I don’t actually know a lot of premeds in chemE in my year, but I know that the year below me has a few premeds. I think that engineering is a great foundation in general for an undergraduate degree, but the emphasis on getting the grades for premeds really wears out the purpose of taking courses and retaining knowledge. I can’t even begin on ragging how many premeds lack basic logic because they are so good at memorizing and spitting out the right answer, but have no way to work around why that particular answer is the correct answer. Then again, engineering has its fair share of idiots too, but somehow, the level is raised a bit higher, even for “idiocy”.</p>

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<p>Also, Cal is a great school overall, and their college of chemistry kicks serious ass in making its students work hard for the grade. However, college is what you make of it, so if you decide to go to one school or another solely for the name, you may or may not regret it depending on your adaptability skills. </p>

<p>For dxcdivad:
How is UCLA’s Chemical Engineering program? </p>

<p>Well, I guess I went over it briefly in my above post, but I have to admit that the program could use a lot more work in getting its students prepared for using its concepts. If you don’t have an internship or a research position (that involves actual work) lined up, you are not going to be able to use what you learn in class in the real world. My real complaint is how the professors in chemE don’t really give a darn about whether the students are “understanding” the material; they think “understanding” means acing a test, and I can’t even tell you how many times a professor has asked a question about previous material taught in another class to the students, but only to get silence and embarrassed stares back. You can ace a test, but know absolutely nothing of real value about a class. Professors in chemE are busy, intelligent, and humorous people, but they are detached from the students. There are a few exceptions to this, but I think the majority of chemEs can agree with me about this particular trait.</p>

<p>Also, I talked about how the structure of the curriculum really puts a crimp on schedules. You have to take courses at a certain time, so really, you are going to be in classes with the same people (and I mean the SAME people) for the next 3 years (freshman year has a lot of mingling with other South Campus majors). Pro: you learn to love your chemE friends that go through the same type of sh%$ that you do. Con: The grading hierarchy gets established pretty quickly because the same people will ace/fail the class. So yeah, grades can hit a plateau.</p>

<p>As for internships, there’s a lot in terms of oil and energy (Conoco Phillips, BP, Chevron), and a lot of smaller companies want full time employees. Biotech companies hire too (Amgen, Baxter, Bayer, etc), but the money maker is in oil right now. My year has a fair number of people with jobs/internships. but there’s also a sizeable number with nothing to do during the summers except take summer school. The stereotype that GPA doesn’t matter for engineering does not apply for undergrads; UCLA is a school filled with high school overachievers and valedictorians. Hence, GPA and the resume matters in luring people to consider you for internships. However, I know a lot of people with high GPAs in chemE who can’t get an internship due to their personality skills; they tank in interviews and are nervous/twitchy/etc. So for internships, as long as you are a great “package” (decent GPA,decent activities, and good interview skills) you will land an internship surprisingly quickly. </p>

<p>I realize it isn’t ranked that high, but what is its ranking exactly?</p>

<p>Look on above post</p>

<p>Does ranking really have that big of an impact on finding a job or getting into Graduate School? </p>

<p>Well, UCLA has the name that draws in large companies. Grad schools don’t really care; if you are good in your courses and have something published, you are great material for grad school.</p>

<p>Do graduates tend to get jobs right off the bat, or do they have trouble finding jobs? </p>

<p>Not a graduate (soon though!) and yes, there is trouble getting jobs. However, the problem is the economy, and not really the nature of chemE jobs. As long as people still need fuel for their daily needs, and people are still dying , there will always be a role for chemEs. Also, a lot of chemEs work in jobs that are not in line for the classical chemE job. But yes, a fair chunk are going to grad school to avoid the working world or are just going to grad school because there are no jobs lined up for them.</p>

<p>Would a premed student have difficulty completing his/her requirements with CHE as a major? </p>

<p>Not really; we have a biomedical option within chemE (option is a fancy way of saying curriculum) that allows you to graduate with the major while taking a large chunk of classes needed for premeds. However, some classes are missing from that option, so a bit of clever planning is needed. Difficulty completing the whole thing in four years? Yes, if no summer school is taken. No, if you plan well and are good at juggling your time.</p>

<p>Is it generally hard to keep a high GPA when majoring in Chemical Engineering?</p>

<p>“High” is subjective, no? I think the average GPA (cumulative) is 3.2 for chemE at UCLA. Not too low, and obviously not very “high”. But the vast majority of people in my classes are extremely intelligent, and we all know how to play the numbers and grades game, so it’s not as if we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we continued to go through with the curriculum. However, worrying about your GPA is going to get you to depression land fast if you are the type to brood over things, and honestly, as long as you have two of the three things most sought out in a chemE student (GPA, charisma, and a resume that makes people gasp over how many activities you manage to fill up your days with and still get a decent number of hours of sleep), the GPA hurdle is going to be minor. However, it seems as if you’re going premed, so maybe you’ll become those awfully nervous premed students who moan over every single point lost (they irritate the heck out of me). </p>

<p>Sorry if this post is not very helpful; I know May 1 is the deadline for the notification of where you will be attending, so I hope this post clears up some questions that you may have had regarding UCLA.</p>

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<p>@ mnop444:
I think the Chem department at UCLA is pretty chill; it’s the students who make it seem like its some sort of horrible monster that’s out to kick their butt. When I took the 20/30 series, I took it in line with all the biochem and premeds, and I got As in all of those courses. I think the premeds wear themselves out worrying, and end up doing worse because of all that stress they put on themselves for every little point. </p>

<p>Example:</p>

<p>When getting the first midterm back for an O-chem class, the premeds (who sat right up front and were the ones with ridiculously detailed class notes) complained about how many points were lost (average on that midterm was 68%?) and how they were going to not get a solid A. The nonpremed engineers and other South Campus majors, who sat in the middle and back, just kinda chilled and took their grades in stride. The premeds keep talking about how only 20% will get As, blah blah blah etc. Let’s just say that the premeds were talking about losing 5 points, and I lost (a large constant multiplied by 10) amount of points. </p>

<p>End result: I got close to 100% on the final, and got the grade I wanted. I later went to pick up my final, and chatted a bit with the professor. A large number of the premeds got A-s and B+s, and then there were some surprise whoppers who looked like idiots from their midterm scores (me) and who just knew when to kick in and work hard at the right time. So yeah, I wouldn’t have given that grade to me just because I knew when to work hard for the final, but the professors are pretty good about gauging how much the student “knows” the material (I put down “know” in quotes because I find that the same problem in chemE exists in chem in terms of having real “knowledge”). The same professor also complained about the same people who go into office hours to argue about points and to ask stupid questions, and how he was worried about the future of US medicine if these people actually make it to the medical field. </p>

<p>So, are A-s and B+s worth the hours of stress and public moaning and groaning of grades? I don’t think they are, but then again, I am being subjective because the chem department has been good for me. They were fast with recommendation letters, and WGY rooms never stifled me the way some Engineering IV rooms do.</p>