@10s4life Oh wow, thanks for letting me know! There is so much to learn and I’m so grateful for forums like this. Like you, I just want my son to graduate on time. If he chooses to study mechanical engineering, these are all the classes he needs to take, correct? https://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/curric-14-15/32curmech-14.html
@alicantekid You’re awesome! I truly appreciate yours and @10s4life’s help!!!
@jrncyn Yeah it is from what I can tell that might be an older catalog year but it should be pretty much accurate. You don’t need to worry about classes yet. At oriention your son will meet one on one with a New Student Advisor and the enginerring counselors will give a presentation. Once on campus you can always visit the counseling dept and they can help you make a four year plan. There’s a lot of support
@10s4life THANK YOU!
@10s4life that you so much for all the shared info over this entire process AND for your never wavering patience! i know you touched on this before, but can you confirm that you really don’t think the Honors program at UCLA is totally necessary? My D will be a Chem major and while I want her to set herself up in the best way possible for potential future PhD or maybe Med School programs, I also don’t want her to kill herself esp if the honors program is just meh. She worked so hard in high school, I really, really want to make sure she balances in a good amount of fun in college. Thanks for any added insight…
@crknwk2000 Here’s my reply to another user asking the same question. Basically you’re better off doing well in normal classes.
“One word answer and I stand by this: no.
It’s extra work for no prestige or recognition. You’ll end up with a lower gpa for nothing. Highly not recommended. College isn’t like high school where you need AP exams. Also there is no extra gpa points. Regular college is hard enough already. You’re better off getting a good gpa and getting Latin Honors.”
There’s a whole lot more to life and college than gpa like you said. Youll be a lot happier having fun. The most successful students aren’t the ones who study all day. It’s the ones that are the happiest.
Agree about honors. If you graduate from UCLA with an awesome GPA, no grad school is gonna nitpick your application because you didn’t do the honors program. Probably the thing most attractive about the honors program that grad schools will like is the research, and that’s something you can do without being in a formal honors program.
Way back in the day, students in honors used to get priority enrollment, which might have made it worth it, but since they took that away, there really aren’t any perks.
@jrncyn Here is a more up-to-date Materials Engineering curriculum from last year: https://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/curric-18-19/90matlscur18.html
How long are major breaks in the UCLA academic school year? By major breaks I mean summer, thanksgiving, winter and spring break. Thanks
rejected ;(
any suggestions for waitlist letter? should I use all 7000 characters??
@letsgorams School starts in sept. Thanksgiving is Thursday and Friday of thanksgiving week. Winter break is mid dec to Jan for about 2-3 weeks. Spring break is 1 week between winter and spring quarters. Summer is mid June til mid sept. Schedule is on the UCLA registrar website.
does anyone know how many students are invited to interview for the alumni scholarship? and out of those, how many are picked for the actual scholarship?
@GrumpyOldEngr Please let me know how the interview was! I’m very nervous about mine and not sure what to expect.
“To the class of 2023, I would start using facebook for college purpose like checking school facebook events, student group facebook page, and form a study group. From my personal experience, I find it very useful. A lot of students think that they don’t need facebook in college because they don’t care. The school facebook pages and facebook groups has tons of resources. Students will need to use facebook throughout their college career because sometimes if students need to buy textbooks or selling tickets or looking for department resources.” If you guys have not gotten a facebook yet, I would encourage to get one and learn how to get familiarize with the social networking website including the privacy settings.
@10s4life Thank you for the great info. I would like to know your take on Freshman cluster programs and living learning communities. Are those helpful and ennhance UCLA experience? Thanks again
^^^ Agree. And may clubs and organizations you join in college will use FB groups as a way to communicate and send messages to members. Clean up your old FB account or create your college FB account now.
@idontkno i wouldn’t take a cluster. Sure it fulfills writing 2 and an extra Ge but they tend to be long, and a lot of work. They are also on weird time slots and can mess up other classes you wanna take. I’d personally take an extra class but choose what GEs I wanna take. Either ones that are super easy or actually interesting to me.
Living learning communities can be good if you wanna be surrounded by people in that community all the time. I lived in a normal dorm and got to meet all kinds of people. I’d live in a normal dorm
@10s4life Sorry if it’s alrwady been asked but do you know anything about the pre-med track and environment at UCLA? In terms of competitiveness, getting internships/extracurricular opportunities, etc.
@10s4life Thanks for the helpful insight