UCLA vs GIT vs UofT vs Imperial

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello everyone. </p>

<p>I am an international student (Canadian citizen) and I got accepted to all these schools for Electrical Engineering, and I'm having a hard time choosing which one to go to.</p>

<p>Criteria I am considering:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Academic prestige -- I am most likely going to do graduate studies so I want to know which institution's undergraduate students are the most competitive at top engineering graduate schools. </p></li>
<li><p>Quality of education -- The best overall. I am aware that these are all public schools so the class size might be large. Though large classes don't necessarily mean bad quality, I hope for a smaller class so I can have sufficient communication with my professors. Also, I want to know which institution assigns mostly professors and not grad students to teach classes.</p></li>
<li><p>Majors -- It's highly possible that I might do EE major and another major or minor. What I have in mind now is EE + business, but who knows.</p></li>
<li><p>Job placements & Internship opportunities -- Same as criteria 1: which institution's students are the most competitive in the eyes of employers?</p></li>
<li><p>Top notch facilities and faculty.</p></li>
<li><p>Location -- I would love to have good weather, but having lived in Toronto for most of my childhood, I don't quite mind winters and snow etc. Academics are the priority.</p></li>
<li><p>Cost -- Though my parents wish me to select the best possible university so that I needn't worry about cost, my conscience tells me that I should still save as much as possible. Thus I want to know the most optimal choice. </p></li>
<li><p>College life -- I want to study hard in university, but also have great fun. I want a very good studying environment, but not one where people have to study like hell every single day. Nor do I want a "party environment".</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Imperial is a conditional offer and I need to thus fulfill my conditions before I can consider it, so I'll need to put a deposit at one of the other three before May 1st. Now the decision is mainly between the other three but feel free to comment on Imperial too.</p>

2

<p>Bump…</p>

<p>Any opinions and advice everyone?</p>

3

<p>Seems like UCLA is a pretty good fit, except for the fact that they don’t have a business major. However, UCLA is known for having a very strong EE department. I feel like maybe George Tech’s EE specific reputation is better, but UCLA is better all around. I also feel like your quality of life would be better at UCLA. It’s definitely not a “party all the time” kind of place but people have fun.</p>

<p>Have you had a chance to visit any of these schools?</p>

4

<p>Thank you very much for the feedback. </p>

<p>And unfortunately no, I haven’t been able to visit these schools since I’m an international student currently in China…</p>

<p>I’ve heard that UCLA’s EE is the best engineering major there. I saw from somewhere that its EE is still ranked 19 for undergrad whereas GIT is 5. Is the gap between competitiveness of GIT and UCLA graduates for grad school and employment significant?</p>

<p>Also, do you know how difficult is transfering from UCLA to Cal, which has an overall better engineering reputation?</p>

5

<p>

Grad schools will not prefer either college (or practically any other undergrad institution you choose to attend, such as Berkeley). </p>

<p>The opinions of employers may vary. GeorgiaTech would definitely not be a boost in China, however. UCLA is better known internationally.</p>

6

<p>I’ve visited GT a couple weeks ago and I was extremely impressed. The campus is in the midtown Atlanta but when your’re on campus, it does not feel like your in the middle of a big city. The facilities are nice and the labs are state of the art. They are even building a brand new undergraduate center, which will be huge! </p>

<p>I had the opportunity to talk with an engineering department advisor and he said that GT is more rigorous and challenging than any other school. But it is worth it because GT’s engineering program is very prestigious and more importantly, most students are able to take advantage of co-op, internship opportunities or research programs with professors and Fortune 500 companies, which will give you a competitive edge while looking for a job. Apparently people get their degree in a little bit more than 4 years because of internships. </p>

<p>However, talking to alumni and current students, they say that once you get to your junior year, you will not have a life. All the time you have will be spent on academics. It gets really difficult and it’s hard to even keep a decent grade. However, they say to not let this intimidate you because the professors are very helpful and they are willing to spend time out of class to assist you.</p>

<p>I live in CA so I would go to UCLA. But in these recent years, I’ve been hearing some bad things about UCLA. Apparently, the professors suck and do not care about students… Also, I don;t know how much the CA budget cuts will affect tuition and education. GT considers themselves as semi-private, because a lot of its funding comes from private companies/donors/research. </p>

<p>It seems like GT will give you a bang for your buck because it is cheaper than UCLA for out of state tuition. UCLA, in my opinion, could be a better school overall because of its campus life, food and its even male to female ratio :slight_smile: But keep in mind, GT produces the most female engineers. UCLA is more diverse as well.</p>

<p>To answer our question, transferring from an UC to UC is more difficult than community college to UC. I’d say the acceptance rate is no greater than 20%.</p>

<p>Both schools will prepare you well for jobs or graduate school, but in the end, it’s up to you to work your ass off and do the best you can do.</p>

<p>Good luck- i hope you go to U of T cuz that’s where im going!</p>

7

<p>Thanks for all the feedback! </p>

<p>Well I guess now I’m basically deciding between UCLA and UofT, cuz I think GIT is too “specialized” for my tastes. </p>

<p>First I want to know for EE, which one is better? UCLA or UofT?
UCLA has a strong EE department (strongest of their engineering courses), but UofT has one of the best engineering programs in Canada. US engineering should be generally better, so I’m not actually sure how to compare the two.</p>

<p>UofT has a very high global ranking according to many rankings, but those are more based off grad and research right? I’ve heard that UofT undergrad isn’t that good, but I need people to comment on its educational quality. The class sizes are ranged between 40 and 120 (according to the engineering guide in the admission packet I received). Of course UCLA is a large public school also so I assume its class sizes aren’t much better. </p>

<p>Of course UofT will be much cheaper than UCLA but I’m hoping to get into US grad schools so would I be at a disadvantage if I come from a Canadian university?</p>

<p>P.S: @ ashih92, I’ve heard from my GT freshman friend that GT guys are not concerned about the heavily unbalanced male-female ratio, since they simply go to emory for girls lol.</p>

8

<p>Go to Toronto. It’s silly to spend all that extra money to attend a school that is a peer. Save your money! Toronto is a wonderful city.</p>

9

<p>Hi rjkofnovi!</p>

<p>I’ve seen you many times on the Umich thread, and I’ve been lurking there until I finally went to register for an account. </p>

<p>I was waitlisted by Umich…Umich was my top choice. If I get off the waitlist then I guess all cases would be closed and I’ll go for Umich. I just simply love Umich, too bad the admission office didn’t do well this year…</p>

<p>Alright anyways, before that comes true, can you tell me whether graduating from UofT will be at any disadvantage in getting into top US grad schools compared to UCLA?</p>

<p>And would you please comment on the undergrad teaching of UofT? Loads of people say its undergrad isn’t very good…and UofT is so easy to get into compared to US universities:(</p>

10

<p>I’d do Imperial.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Just one rung down from Oxbridge in reputation</p></li>
<li><p>Significant respect as a rigorous science university (the MIT of the UK)</p></li>
<li><p>Major pipeline to respected employers</p></li>
<li><p>Highly diverse and international student body, more so than any of the other choices you have (weighted heavily Asian)</p></li>
<li><p>London is incomparable, and Imperial gets reduced or free access to most events</p></li>
<li><p>Only downside is that ICL is simply unknown outside of Europe.</p></li>
</ol>

11

<p>Yes placido240 I agree with you on all of them. But the 6th one is my major concern and is why I’m relucant to go to imperial…I want to do grad in US and ICL’s deficient prestige in US doesn’t seem appealing. Also I’ve heard that imperial students have no life, dunno if that’s true. </p>

<p>Anyways, I hope to direct this thread towards the other 3 now since I have to put a deposit on one of those three before I consider imperial (which is conditional offer). Do you have any ideas on the other three?</p>

12

<p>You’d know more about your local U…</p>

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<p>Among your choices, I don’t think it would matter. If you included MIT, it would. </p>

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</p>

<p>GIT has around 15K undergrads, which is smaller than UCLA’s 26K, which I’m sure you know about. </p>

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</p>

<p>I wouldn’t recommend this. JCB keeps referencing a star grad of Cal who graduated with a BS in CS-EE/BuAd & has a Harvard JD/MBA who’s apparently into private equity now.</p>

<p>The bus side will pull you away from engineering, and will affect the number of engineering classes that you take at the U. Add, that most engineering students take a decent amount over the minimum credits to graduate, say, ~ 200 credits at UCLA, instead of the bare min, 180 (or barely above taht floor). </p>

<p>If your intentions are to go into bus, that’d be one thing. But you probably need as many engineering classes to be more competitive in the job market… in engineering. JMO, with at least some basis of objective truth…</p>

<p>Add that grad engineering admissions might view your app and note your having combined bus and engineering and question your intentions of going into pure engineering. </p>

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</p>

<p>Don’t worry about that. If you’re a star, you’ll get grad offers, no matter where you do undergrad.</p>

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</p>

<p>UCLA’s EE faculty if pretty renowned as undoubtedly GIT’s would be also. The graduate rankings haven’t caught up to UCLA’s faculty – we can say UCLA’s engineering faculty is probably pretty undervalued. UCLA’s engineering school is highly selective also, as competitive as Cal’s wrt pure stats. But GIT will undoubtedly offer you a more pure engineering experience and is also undoubtedly competitive.</p>

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</p>

<p>The thing that’s good about both LA and Atlanta, is that both are large cities, and one won’t get that insular feeling by only being surrounded by fellow students from the college you attend. Add your feelings of the UofT that you know about.</p>

<p>Regarding ashih92’s comments:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Ridiculously false…</p>

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</p>

<p>UCLA students are graduating ahead of sched…</p>

<p>Tuition won’t go up significantly because such an increase would > cost for non-residents, and if UC wants more NR’s, then that would be a stupid move to place a significnat markup. </p>

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</p>

<p>I have to wonder about a Californian attending any other school outside of CA other than Ivies, MIT, or other real elites. For a lot of these types, it’s probably that they couldn’t get into any of the UC’s.</p>

13

<p>Other three?</p>

<p>Personally, I’d do Georgia Tech, as it is focused on and known for engineering and has a pipeline into engineering employers for years. Also, the degree is highly respected among grad schools. Over the next four years, I see UCLA and the whole UC system coming under extreme budget pressures, making professors unhappy and students desperate and administrations cranky and unresponsive. In the next generation, the UCs will slowly lose the air from their reputations; I feel GTech’s reputation will always be solid and respected.</p>

14

<p>placido240:</p>

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</p>

<p>We’re all entitled to our opinions… but there are just some things that make their rounds on these boards; everyone catches onto them, and passes them forth as fact.</p>

<p>For instance, one is “go to the least competitive u for pre-med because grades matter most and prestige of degree doesn’t.”</p>

15

<p>UCLA is very expensive from out of state and is not better than GT or UofT, so I would cut that one.</p>

<p>If you are at all unsure of what you want to major in, I would be very careful with schools in the UK, especially in England. The curriculum is not known for flexibility.</p>

<p>That leaves GT and UofT. I would give a slight edge to GT, but considering the cost difference and your interest in a broader school Toronto is probably the best bet.</p>

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<p>Do well at Toronto, and you can go anywhere. I suggest you take this discussion to the engineering forum at at CC. I think you’ll get better informed opinions there:</p>

<p>[Engineering</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/]Engineering”>Engineering Majors - College Confidential Forums)</p>

17

<p>Out of the 4 schools, I’d pick Ga Tech</p>

18

<p>I know that Waterloo gets you more Co-op experience but I think its overdone. The first work term starts four months after classes. </p>

<p>UCLA the budget cuts are scare me and tuition is expensive </p>

<p>I too have been admitted to these schools but UCLA is out due to tuition cost, though I want to work in the US
Now I need help deciding between Waterloo and U of T any ideas?</p>