<p>I have got admission into UCLA & Hopkins. I am in a dilemma as I am unable to decide between the final two. I plan to Major in Mechanical Engg but want to keep my options open. I enjoy playing sport & am good in golf. I have recvd conflicting opinions about the pros & cons of both. I have been told that UCLA which is a public college has a very large student body with 7500 students in the freshman year itself(as against 1200 for Hopkins) that the class sizes in the 1st 2 years are 200+ & that it is difficult to get into classes ( and things may get worse with budget cuts) & that only 68% finished in 4 years as against 90% in Hopkins. In UCLA's favour is their excellent athletics background & warm climate. Wrt Hopkins the class sizes are much smaller and there is more interaction with the professors. The academic level is said to be more intense at Hopkins.. I am aware that both are excellent & I dont want to go into rankings only. Since I plan to Major in Mech Engg I want to know which has a better Engg school. Many say That Hopkins is primarily known for Biomed & that their Engg Deptt does not compare with UCLA's. Is that true? I have only a few days left to decide so I would be extremely grateful for your frank opinions.</p>
<p>Although all rankings are somewhat suspect, rankings of engineering programs are particularly suspect because they corrolate so strongly with the size of the program. Engineering programs, which require a lot of equipment and faculty, are expensive to operate so smaller programs that seek excellence tend to specialize in certain disciplines where they can compete with the large universities, while putting less money and emphasis (or totally ignoring) other subfields. So a school likes Hopkins can be #1 in biomedical engineering and very strong in related subfields yet have minimal presence in something like nuclear engineering.</p>
<p>Very large schools like UCLA, at least when the money was flowing more freely than today, could sustain strong programs in virtually all engineering disciplines—so they tend to have the highest overall rankings. But they also have the large class sizes and other issues you mentioned in your posting. Remember that the rankings are really more reflective of the graduate program (PhD program in particular) and the research and writing output of the faculty. Generally speaking, the larger the department, the larger the number of PhDs that are being awarded and the greater the output of research and publications. So with the notable exceptions of MIT and CalTech, many of the top ranked engineering programs are at public flagships as opposed to top private universities.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineering at Hopkins, while it is not going to recieve the type of institutional support that biomedical engineering does, has been part of the Whiting School of Engineering since its origins. It will be very small compared to UCLA but, from an undergraduate’s point of view, will offer several advantages. You will get to know the faculty well and, if you choose to do so, work with them closely in a way that is simply impossible at huge public university. If you were applying for a PhD in mechanical engineering and had the same choice of institutions, I’d say you were better off going to UCLA because of the size and specializations within the department. But as an undergraduate (assuming that the difference in cost is not determinative), I’d strongly recommend Hopkins. It is, as they say, a “hand-tooled” education.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, there are only a few score undergrads in the ME program at JHU. The program is very good, and the level of interaction with the faculty is high. </p>
<p>My son applied for civil engineering and was accepted (although is declining Hopkins in favor of another school), and was very pleased with what he found there. The programs aren’t large, and it may be worth a little research on your part to see if Hopkins’ program covers topics in which you’re interested. My son noted that the civil engineering program doesn’t cover certain aspects of the field, but he was okay with that since the program covered things in which he was most interested.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Bonanza, JHU’s Mech E program is actually one of its best engineering programs after BME:</p>
<p><a href=“http://premium.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings[/url]”>http://premium.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings</a></p>
<p>It’s ranked #13 in the country vs. UCLA at #18. Looks like a clear decision here for Hopkins. The other engineering programs are still good to outstanding. It’s just BME casts a large shadow. It’s like Wharton at Penn, School of computer science at Carnegie Mellon, or Engineering at MIT (the schools all have other great programs in addition to those tremendous programs or schools). Anyways, you would have individualized attention at Hopkins with absolutely tremendous graduate school placement. Imagine going to a school for four years, doing research on topics you found interesting in classes you could take without worry about enrollment capacities, and then getting a full ride to graduate school at Stanford or MIT for a masters or Ph.D. Quite a common occurrence at Hopkins.</p>
<p>My Dad has left the decision to me. However he feels that the engineering programme at UCLA is better equipped wrt size and specialisation and more versatile than that at Hopkins. Moreover he feels that I will have better options at other subjects at UCLA and that for recruitment Companies looking for engineers will not come to Hopkins for placements. As far as the rankings are concerned Hopkins has a higher ranking because it is the top in Biomed Engineering.</p>
<p>My dad went to UCLA for engineering programme and he said their programme is top-notch & very specialised. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>robot1, Hopkins’ engineering programs are just as good (if not better than UCLA’s), even discounting BME. See here for US News graduate program rankings for non-bme engineering programs that are common between the two schools:</p>
<p>[Johns</a> Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering](<a href=“Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering”>Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering)</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering: UCLA #24 vs. Hopkins #23
Civil: UCLA #20 vs. Hopkins #22
Electrical: UCLA #13 vs. Hopkins #25
Materials: UCLA #24 vs. Hopkins #24
Mechanical: #18 Mechanical vs. Hopkins #13</p>
<p>I’m not sure where your dad is getting this Hopkins engineering isn’t strong outside of biomedical engineering thought. Additionally, I work in California. Hopkins’ reputation truly rivals that of UCLA here (yes, even on the west coast since Hopkins’ third largest alumni group is based in San Francisco). But should you choose to go to the east coast or midwest, Hopkins’ reputation is more well-known than UCLA in consulting and engineering firms. The budget cuts are doing a number on UCLA. Hence the low four-year graduation rate at UCLA for a bachelor’s degree, ever increasing high faculty to student ratio, and increasing amounts of out-of-state kids paying full price. </p>
<p>Most importantly however, see employment rates for graduating students at UCLA versus Hopkins:</p>
<p><a href=“http://career.ucla.edu/Files/PDF/FirstDestinationSurvey/FDS_2010_091411.pdf[/url]”>http://career.ucla.edu/Files/PDF/FirstDestinationSurvey/FDS_2010_091411.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Parents/PGShighlightsClassof2010%20(3).pdf[/url]”>http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Parents/PGShighlightsClassof2010%20(3).pdf</a></p>
<p>UCLA has an unemployment rate of 19% for graduating seniors compared to 8% for Hopkins. This should tell you the difference in power between the degrees in this tough economy.</p>
<p>Job/internship opportunities are described in detail for Hopkins mechanical engineering here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.me.jhu.edu/internships.html[/url]”>http://www.me.jhu.edu/internships.html</a></p>