UCLA Engineering Q&A

<p>flopsy, we all appreciate your time to write us back. i checked out the link you gave me, yet the title on the page (<a href="http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/usa/branch-rankings.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.infozee.com/channels/ms/usa/branch-rankings.htm&lt;/a&gt;) says US Graduate Top Engineering School Rankings. aren't the rankings strictly for grad school?</p>

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Can you show me those rankings? All the Electrical Engineering university rankings I've seen list either the top 15 or top 25, and UCD doesn't appear on either list. Also, in the last six years I've yet to discover any online news reports of new inventions/patents or faculty distinctions from UCD's EE department hitting the science/tech headlines. :rolleyes:</p>

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Yes, the rankings I referred to (the U.S. News rankings) are strictly for graduate school. However, to my knowledge there exist no undergraduate rankings for Aerospace Engineering. Speaking of which, there's never been any specific engineering ranking focusing on the undergraduate level, for that matter -- all the specific "departmental rankings" are graduate-only. Nevertheless, I think this is the best we have to work with. :rolleyes:</p>

<p><em>crossposted from UCLA vs. Cal</em></p>

<p>Is the engineering program at Berkeley significantly better than UCLA, to the point where it would be stupid to turn down Cal for LA? Does that mostly affect grad students, or is it an important factor for undergrads too?</p>

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I have no personal experience with the UCB engineering program versus the UCLA engineering program, but I affirm that it would not be "stupid" to turn down the former for the latter. I know anecdotal evidence doesn't go a long way, but I know many people who got into both schools for engineering and chose UCLA for Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering or Computer Science. My current roommate turned down UCB Industrial Engineering and Operations Research for UCLA Electrical Engineering because UCLA was a better fit for him and he wanted to move from NorCal to SoCal for his career. Yes, UCB's edge in overall engineering is an important factor for undergrads -- after all, the quality of the graduate program trickles down to the undergraduate program via the teaching advisors in your discussion sections and/or the amount/quality of research opportunities available in laboratories. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>thanks 4 ur quick reply.......i'm interested only in a MS......however, if funded, might go ahead with a Phd.......funding is highly unlikely at umich.....fees not that big a problem honestly........but comes as a criteria when u go to judge the overall worth of a coll........weather again is a minor prob........will take time but will ultimately get adjusted to it.....looking forward to your reply........thnks...</p>

<p>btw.......u din't asnwer my query as 2 which uni shud i select.......or shud i wait 4 ucsd....plz do reply.....m in a lot of mess.....</p>

<p>how about the EECE and CSE curriculums? are they just as challenging as the EE curriculum where you'll have to study a lot over the weekend?</p>

<p>basically, is it hard to have a social life studying engineering?</p>

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If you're interested only in obtaining an M.S. degree, tuition fees are genuinely not a problem, and weather is an important factor in your decision, then I would first eliminate UPenn, UC-Boulder, Polytechnic University-Brooklyn, VaTech, Cornell and Michigan because they don't satisfy all of your criteria. Thus, I think you should select one of either CMU, UCLA, USC, UCSD or GaTech. (Cornell and Michigan are excellent for EE, but if you can't stand the cold of the Northeast, then...) I can't make the individual school decision(s) for you because I'm only an undergrad student and you're already a grad student, but narrowing your list down to these five is the best I can offer. :rolleyes:</p>

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Yes, the EECE and CSE curriculums are just as challenging as the straight EE curriculum. You'll be taking almost identical lower-division courses (the CS31 series, the Math 31A series, the Physics 1A series, etc.) and about 1/3 of the same upper-division courses, no matter which of the three majors you opt for (e.g. the EE 101 series, CS 131 and various CS electives). No, it is not difficult to have a social life studying engineering. Just micromanage your daily schedule and hang around in the dorms -- you won't have to go out of your way to meet people. My roommate is a straight EE major, yet he hangs out with his friends every weekend and goes snowboarding because he always burns the midnight oil on weekday nights. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>so i was accepted into ucla as biomedical engineering major. A few questions to ask.</p>

<p>1) do job recruiters look for this major much?</p>

<p>2) would i be better off going to la under this major or choose UCSD instead(being that it is ranked 3rd)</p>

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You would be better off choosing UCSD Biomedical Engineering instead; it offers a stronger, older program than UCLA's relatively new Biomedical Engineering major and from what I've heard, it experiences more recruitment from the local "Biotech Valley" down there than UCLA does here in Los Angeles. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>thanks for your input flopsy, but i do think that i will choose la over sd, i plan to change my engineering major anyways and i love the la area much better than sd.</p>

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In that case, if you plan on changing your major from Biomedical Engineering into something else (engineering or otherwise) then yes, you would be better off choosing UCLA/Westwood over UCSD/La Jolla. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>i got in as a bioengineering major. Is that any different from biomedical engineering?</p>

<p>and yeah i will be changing to a different engineering major (if i do choose to change, not sure yet)</p>

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Despite the similar names, Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering are actually quite different majors at UCLA. Bioengineering has its own distinct "Introduction to Bioengineering" lower-division track, followed by numerous Bioengineering-only classes and tons of Life Science requirements on the side. Biomedical Engineering is a specialization track of Electrical Engineering, where you take the traditional Electrical Engineering lower-division courses, followed by Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Life Science electives in the junior/senior years. By my estimates, Bioengineering has only about ~100 undergrads, but Biomedical Engineering has about ~300 undergrads. :rolleyes:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/curric05_06.html/HTML/bioengcur.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/curric05_06.html/HTML/bioengcur.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/curric05_06.html/HTML/elecbiomedcur.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/curric05_06.html/HTML/elecbiomedcur.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>which major is geared more towards actual engineering work. I plan to work in some sort of engineering work after undergrad and go back to grad school a few years later for mba.</p>

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Both majors are equally suited towards actual engineering work. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>Hey Flopsy. You know how you said AP stats will give me no credits for EE. Over at this site <a href="http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/APCreditEN.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/APCreditEN.htm&lt;/a> it says stats will give me 4 unassigned units. Does that mean anything? What does unassigned credits maen anyways?</p>

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I honestly don't know. My best guess is that the "Unassigned 4.0" credits for AP Statistics and other "unrewarding" AP tests mean that you start as a freshman with 4.0 units already on your transcript, such that your total unit cap gets extended from 213.0 units to 217.0 units. :rolleyes:</p>