UCLA Engineering Q&A

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
281

<p>I'm not sure but during my orientation session (Fall 2005), my counselor said that if you didn't get a 5 on BC, you have to take the diagnostic exam no matter what (FOR ENGINEERING).</p>

282

<p>ohh okay. I think they might have changed it this year. I got a call and they said if i pass the AP exam i dont need to take the diagnostic exam and I'm majoring in EE.</p>

283

<p>


[ol][<em>]Yes -- a 4/5 in AP English Literature.
[</em>]Haven't taken anything past Chem 20A, sorry.
[<em>]16 units. Some people (especially engineers) take 12 units, though.
[</em>]No, Math 31B would not be boring -- I found it to more in-depth and rigorous than the integration I learned in high school... Most freshmen transition into Math 32A just fine. :rolleyes:[/ol]</p></li>
</ol>

284

<p>A 4 in AP Lang won't do it?</p>

285

<p>Hi there, I graduated in June 2005 and I was majoring in EECE. I just want to tell you guys "MY" life before graduation and the prospective after graduate on top of Flopsy's word. </p>

<p>Flopsy said EECE is as tough as EE or CS or CS&E. Well, I changed my major from CS&E to EE in my junior year. (Yes, they approved it and sent me a "congradulation" letter like i was admitted to the college as a freshman) My GPA at that time was 3.67 as i believed.</p>

<p>However, EECE, in my points of view, is tougher than straight EE and CS or CS&E. You will have to take the toughest classese from both the EE and the CS side when you are majoring in EECE;
CS 111 - operating system. DAILY quiz, weekly homework, 2 midterms, 3 computer projects and 1 finals. That is a 4 units class, but me and my roommate felt that it should be 10 units instead. My classmates at that quarter took only 2 classes!!! Me and my roommate, 4 classes and we got bad grades. Don't think of taking this class at UC Irvine during summer and get an A. UCLA CS department no more allow that. </p>

<p>CS M152B - be prepared to sleep in the lab if one or two of your partners are not performing well. </p>

<p>CS 180, M152A && EE 115C, 103, 113 can be tough depends on who you take. </p>

<p>Depends on how smart you are and how good you make friends with in your freshman and sophmore years, don't expect too much social lives. I stuided 40 hours in my friendman and sophmore year and i got decent grades (allow me to switch engineering major). I studied 60+ hours in my third, forth, and fifth year and just okay grades. The major reason is because those who do badly in freshman and sophmore years drop out and go to L&S, plus new transfer students from the community colleges. The transfer community are mostly international students. Some of them are very smart, and some of them are interested only in studying. I know plenty of them. Most of them want to stay in the US after graduate. To secure an employment opportunity, they got to have good grades. Classes are graded by curve so you are fighting with them for good grades. Last year college of engineering valedictorian is a girl from Hong Kong, 4.0 GPA in EECE. She slept 3 - 5 hrs daily except weekend!!</p>

<p>Students are selfish to each other unless your are in a group. This is the side-effect of curve grading. UCB and USC is no more or less different. Cantonese is flying around in the USC canteen (my working fellows told me that), means that you better know how to speak cantonese in order to be in group to get good grades. It is worse in UCB, I think students commited suicide there due to the pressure from study? One of my wokring fellows transfered from USB's CS to UCSC's because he couldn't stand the competition atmosphere there.</p>

<p>One very positive thing in UCLA... You will get a good job as long as you have decent grade. Compare with my other friends graduated from UCSB or UCD, most of us from UCLA engineering school got a job in the technical industry rapidly after graduation. Well, I got an internship in my senior year (5th year) of study, I kept that internship position after I graduate. After 2 weeks of job hunting, I was hired as a developer in a consultant firm. Decent pay, not too bad. I quitted the job and moved to San Francisco the beginning of this year for some family reason, I got a new job in a tech. company as a tech. consultant/engineer. My friends from UCLA mostly got a job > 50K a year. So, come to UCLA if you don't want to study like hell in UCB, want to see how your Burins will win the NCAA Champions (look at the S there), want to explore the EXCELLENT westwood neighborhood, brilliant climate, great campus ... </p>

<p>anyway, at least for CS, EE, and CS&E, it is competitive to study engineering at UCLA for sure. I don't know why the program is still only ranking around 10th -20th, but from the comments of my current employers, UCLA engineering graduates are smart and hardworking. We can be even smarter than someone who gradauted from those prestigious private universities. So, join us and live it, love it. </p>

<p>Oh, to the post above, only AP Calculus AB or BC counts. Writing also counts towards passing the subject A exam. the word "counts" refer to "equivalent to a course offers at UCLA and can fulfill the enginnering core requirement". For example, you get a 5 in AP physics, that you get 4 units but, still, you have to take all the physics cources listed in the syllabus. Calculus AB 3 or above substitues Math 3A, BC 4 or above substitutes Math 3B. (Math 3A and 3B are required for all engineering majors in the syllabus). You get credits/units for other AP exams, but they are not substitiable for any course listed on your syllabus.</p>

286

<p>Vict, what kind of gpa in EE would be considered decent grades by employers?</p>

287

<p>Some employers don't pay much attention to the grades and pay more attention to the fact that the person graduated in the particular engineering program at at a particular high-end college such as UCLA. If they're familiar with the school and the program there, they already know that if the person gets the degree at all, they had to have made it all the way through the rigorous course requirements. The high-end schools weed out the low performers and the people not interested, capable, or willing to do the work and maintain the focus. This is why their candidates are valued more highly than some other schools. The application of the curve both in admissions and on an ongoing basis, is a simple but effective weedwhacker. </p>

<p>I'm guessing that flopsy, vist, and others can confirm that there are probably no real lightweights that can make it all the way through the UCLA Engineering program.</p>

288

<p>That GPA thing is another big topic. Generally, you can put your cumulative GPA or Major GPA on your resume if it is 3.0 or above. You usually won't receive recruiter's challenge when you have a 3.3 GPA or above. You will qualify for most of the big companies' minimum requirement (which means an interview opportunity) when you have a 3.5 GPA or above. </p>

<p>My experience-- I got a question from a recruiter from a medium-size company "What classes you got a C?". On the other hand, I got an on-campus interview opportunity from microsoft, which i didn't do very well. As long as you have a cumulative GPA 3.3 or above, you will be fine. I remember 2 companies require a minimum GPA requirement for EE grad at 3.5, which is exceptional. </p>

<p>It doesn't mean that you will be unemployed for having an under 3 GPA. It just take a longer time. Some employers don't consider about your GPA but what school you graduated.</p>

289

<p>


Confirmed. That's why UCLA Computer Science has a 1/3 attrition rate, and so many students switch to a CL&S major like Mathematics or Economics after taking CS 32/33. :rolleyes:</p>

290

<p>Do you know if Math31A/B or Math3A/B (which one do people take AFTER getting a 5 on CALCBC AP exam?) is usually filled up pretty quickly? Or is there plenty of space for course adjustments after the orientation?</p>

291

<p>There are usually several Math 31A/B sections every Fall quarter, which are enough to satisfy the entering freshman class. When I attended one of the last Orientation sessions I was still able to pick and choose between Math 31A/B lectures... I don't know about Math 3A/B, though. People usually take Math 32A after getting a 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam. :rolleyes:</p>

292

<p>It must be my bad; there is no 3A/B. I got a 5 on AP Cal BC (6 years ago) and go straight to 32A by skipping the 31 sequence. I graduated last year. When you go straight ahead to 32A by skipping the 31 sequence, you will see a lot of sophmore... </p>

<p>I have seen plenty people failing the 31B class and have to retake. Now, you may worry that you are not capable to do well in the 32A class because you skip hard 31B class. YOU SHOULD NOT WORRY!!! Other than the B+ in 33B, I A the rest of the Math classes, even in the upper division Math. </p>

<p>I am not putting down students from L&S. Students from the EE and CS "department", not just the EE and CS major, both need to take the upper division math class(es), your classmates are students studying applied Math, pure math.... you may wonder how you can survive in the math class(es) when all your classmates are math major. The fact is, the As are all going to the engin. students. You can see how well-trainned you will be if you make it to the upper division in the college of engineering.</p>

293

<p>Hi. I'm currently a Computer Science major at UCLA as well. I was wondering if it'll be smart to take CS111 and CS M152B (aka EE 116D) at the same time? What's the workload on CS M152B because I haven't heard anything about it, but I did hear that 111 will be quite tough. </p>

<p>I know the registrar has updated and currently it says M152B isn't being offered. I was just wondering if it'll be smart to take it with CS111 at the same time if M152B decides to open up.</p>

<p>What about CS111 and CS118? I heard 118 isn't that hard, but I haven't taken 131 yet, so I'm kinda worried about missing out on the necessary shell scripting languages for the classes and it might take me a while to catch up. That and I've heard the 118 projects will take a while to complete, so taking it in conjunction with 111, will it be that bad?</p>

<p>Here's my background if it helps: I'm going to be a 3rd year student in the Fall, but I'm not experienced with Linux/Unix or shell scripts. I've completed the lower div CS classes and the only upper div CS classes I've taken/taking are 151B, M152A, and 161 (so not really any coding involved in any of those classes).</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

294

<p>


Hmmm... I don't think I can offer an advanced sophomore/junior like yourself any new advice because I haven't taken CS 111 or CS M152B (taking them this fall), but I wouldn't recommend taking them together because, from my CS M152A lab partner who just took CS 111 this quarter, it's like taking two regular upper-division CS classes combined. If you want experience with Linux/Unix and shell scripting I highly recommend taking CS 35 this fall, which is a seminar course designed by Prof. Eggert that prepares you specifically for CS 111 and CS 131 (and possibly CS 130). By the way, CS 131 isn't very hard -- just time consuming... Also, you don't need to know shell scripting for CS 131, but familiarity with the Unix prompt is important. :rolleyes:</p>

295

<p>Anyone know how many people decide to change from Bioengineering to some other major? Just curious to know if it's a really difficult program as some people say it is.</p>

296

<p>No idea... I don't know many Bioengineering majors, let alone those who switched. :rolleyes:</p>

297

<p>Hello, I was wondering if it is better to choose the biomedical option or the computer engineering option if you major in EE? Which has better job prospects? If you choose the biomedical option do you "have" to work in the biomedical industry?? Thanks.</p>

298

<p>Haven't I already answered this question? There is no better EE option than the one you personally prefer and do better in -- you're basically asking whether orange is a better color than purple... As a side note, most Electrical Engineering recruiters don't care what option you chose for your major -- they won't know unless you specifically list it on your resume, since your HSSEAS diploma will only say "Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering" and nothing else. In the current California job market, your option won't restrict you whether you're straight EE, EEBME, or EECE -- you'll be hired just for being an Electrical Engineer. :rolleyes:</p>

299

<p>
[quote]
Originally posted by flopsy
1. UCLA Materials Engineering isn't very highly ranked. For some reason I don't see it anywhere in the rankings.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Flopsy, I thought Materials Engineering was in the top 20. This website says it's #19.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/2006/US%20News%20Graduate%20Rankings.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/2006/US%20News%20Graduate%20Rankings.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

300

<p>I stand corrected... being ranked #19 is pretty good.
My rankings sources usually list only the top 15 engineering departments. :rolleyes:</p>