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<p>No offense, but this sounds a little like a set-'em-up type question. Of course, UCLA’s engineering recognition would dissipate farther from CA to the other states. It would pickup again, as you leave the states.</p>
<p>IMO they probably don’t see so many UCLA-educated engineers in the northeast.
I worked as an engineer in a large midwest engineering firm, eons ago, and I don’t recall any UCLA grads there.
I don’t recall any Berkeley grads either.
But basically all engineers know about Berkeley. And would know that UCLA is not Berkeley, so might presume that UCLA is a cut below. And, if they were located near one of the very strong state flagships, since locals generally tend to overrate their local product, may mentally place UCLA just below that. Or maybe equal, if they had a decent but less strong state flagship. That’s just my guess though.</p>
<p>Of course I never encountered a Tufts engineer either.
I imagine people in the Mass tech area know about it. Many educated people in the Northeast may have heard of Tufts, and a decent number will know it’s a good school with high admissions standards, but I don’t know that they’ll all know about its engineering program particularly. It’s not a famous engineering program like RPI, etc. A lot of engineers didn’t apply to high-brow high-dollar places, they went to their state U’s.</p>
<p>So I guess what I’m saying is lots of engineers in the northeast probably won’t have a very good handle on either school.</p>
<p>Maybe classicrockerdad has an opinion about this, his would be more relevant.</p>
<p>Monydad summoned me. I sometimes have an outspoken opinion on this stuff. </p>
<p>These are two very different schools. </p>
<p>I think UCLA is more rigorous, has a higher faculty quality, and is generally considered a top engineering school. </p>
<p>Tufts has a “more global” perspective. They will tell you that they are not hardcore. It’s a little different education. Frankly, from what I’ve seen, Tufts graduates would do well to go to graduate school. Some of the one’s I’ve interviewed really weren’t ready to work as engineers with just a BS. Some of it was attitude (not that hungry), some of it was that they didn’t do well in the technical part of our interview. I get the sense that it’s not as challenging as some of the hardcore places like UCLA. Many will go on to business school and be technology leaders. It definitely has more of the qualities of a liberal arts education. This could eventually be really good. It’s not a bad road to take, but it’s a bit unconventional. </p>
<p>if you go to UCLA, you will have no trouble getting a job back east if you do well at UCLA. We don’t recruit there because January in Boston is a hard sell in southern California. You would actually have to apply for jobs back east. But you will be noticed. Everyone knows UCLA produces some talented engineers. </p>
<p>I spent a week at UCLA and one thing I really noticed, and how could one not notice, is that everybody looks fantastic. The gym was always full (they have windows). People seem to put a lot more into their appearances than they do around Boston. Maybe it’s because Hollywood is nearby, I don’t know. If you can keep from getting too distracted, and concentrate, it could be really a good education. </p>
<p>But after you’ve been working for a couple of years, nobody at your company will care where you went to
college, they will only care about how well you perform at your job.
So the college matters mostly for your first job. And the biggest differential there is what recruiters come to campus.
My company recruited out of region only at a subset of the the famous engineering schools, but for the most part recruited regionally.I think that’s pretty common. My guess is not that many northeast firms will recruit at UCLA; they would feel they can get equivalent “product” closer to home and may have a low yield of applicants who are willing to give up their suntans and invest in a winter jacket. I imagine the local Mass & some New England firms recruit at Tufts, but I’ve no idea who else does. You might ask them.</p>
<p>(note: this was cross-posted with classicrockerdad, FWIW)</p>
<p>Ok, I’ve sent in my deposit to Tufts but thanks for all of your help. I realize that UCLA is probably more well known for engineering but I feel like the small class sizes, job opportunities in the northeast, and close proximity to home were ultimately the deciding factors. </p>
<p>Congrats on being a Jumbo!</p>
<p>Congrats, @fpsdoug46. Best of Luck, you’ll be fine…</p>
<p>I just wanted to check what the enrollments would be for UCLA’s most popular engineering program, EE, and to see what the class sizes were for the 30 or so classes the U offered for this Spring Quarter. The problem with as much up-to-date info is possibly that a few classes have not been updated. After class description, is a number x/z, which would be enrollment/enrollment-cap, or x-y/z, for a range-of-class-size/enrollment-cap. If there isn’t sufficient enrollment in a class, it could be cancelled at UCLA; at a private like Tufts, even if one person enrolled, the U would probably be obligated to not cancel.</p>
<p>Here’s the 30 or so classes for EE and enrollments, numbers 100 & > are upperdivision:</p>
<p>EL ENGR 2 PHYSICS-ELCTRC ENGR, 59/138, With Discussions
EL ENGR M16 LOGC DSGN-DGTL SSTM, 5/0, With Two Discussions, Doesn’t state Cap Enr
EL ENGR 99 STUDENT RSRCH PRGRM, 0/0, 2 Tutorials (Meeting w/Faculty), Maybe not updated
EL ENGR 101B ELECTROMAGNTC WAVES, 87/128, With Discussions
EL ENGR 102 SYSTEMS AND SIGNALS, 115/140, With Discussions
EL ENGR 103 APPLD NUMERICL COMP, 73/115, With Discussions
EL ENGR 110 CIRCUIT ANALYSIS II, 115/110, With Discussions
EL ENGR 110L CIRCUIT MSRMNTS LAB, 7-18/20, Six Labs
EL ENGR 113 DIGITAL SIGNL PROCS, 55/150, With Discussions
EL ENGR 113D DGTL SGNL PRCSG DES, 22/25, With Accompanying Lab
EL ENGR 115AL ANALOG ELCTRN LAB 1, 7-17/18, 4 Labs
EL ENGR 115BL ANALOG ELCTRN LAB 2, 10-12/14, 2 Labs
EL ENGR 115C DGTL ELCTRNC CIRCTS, 77/75, With Discussions
EL ENGR 115D DSGN-ELCTRNC CIRCTS, 20/23, With Discussion
EL ENGR M116C COMPUTR SYSTMS ARCH, 0/0 for 2 Lectures, One Cancelled, Probably not updated for one that’s open
EL ENGR M116L DIGITAL DESIGN LAB, 17/22, 6 Labs listed, 4 without enrollment
EL ENGR M117 NETWRK-PHYSCL LAYER, 0/0, Again, probably not updated
EL ENGR 121B PRIN-SEMICON DEVICE, 62/71, With Discussions
EL ENGR 128 NANOELECTRONICS, 10/39, With Discussion
EL ENGR 129D SEMICNDCTR PROCESNG, 8/39, With Lab
EL ENGR 132A COMMUNICATN SYSTEMS, 89/108, With Discussions
EL ENGR 141 PRINC-FEEDBK CONTRL, 52/96, With Discussions
EL ENGR 162A WIRELESS COMMUNICTN, 22/36, With Discussion
EL ENGR 163C INTRO-MICROWV SSTMS, 0/0, Cancelled
EL ENGR 164D MICRWV WIRLSS DESGN, 7/12, 2 Labs
EL ENGR 170C PHTNC SNSR&SLR CELL, 10/30, 1 Recitation
EL ENGR M171L DATA COMM SSTMS LAB, 23/20
EL ENGR 173D PHOTONCS&COMM DESGN, Lecture 1, 14/12
EL ENGR 173D PHOTONCS&COMM DESGN, Lecture 2, 14/12
EL ENGR 176 PHOTONICS IN BIOMED, 11/27, With Discussion
EL ENGR 199 DIRECTED RESEARCH, 13 Tutorials </p>
<p>Clearly, the upperdiv electives aren’t as heavily enrolled as upperdiv reqs. UCLA Is requiring more research among its undergrads now with the implementation of capstone (major-based research) majors and individual class-based research. </p>
<p>This is very good info, people should have this information.
and OP congrats on your decision, and thanks for letting us know!</p>
<p>I was doing some info searches of the CS major at UCLA, and found that the EE major at UCLA is also a Capstone Major, which generally means that the major is research/project based, instead of most other majors having class-based research/projects (instead of major). Within EE at UCLA are three options: the EE, the Biomedical E, and the Computer E pathways. </p>
<p>Just saw this thread.
Congratulations on your acceptances, and decision.
My vote would have been on Tufts.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Sorry, @fpsdoug46, I’m just trying to document some things for future reference.</p>
<p>Here is a summation of the [Captone](<a href=“http://www.capstones.ucla.edu/criteria.htm”>UCLA's Capstone Initiative | Assessment) Initiative at UCLA.</p>
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<p>All nine of the E majors are Capstones with what they [entail](<a href=“http://www.capstones.ucla.edu/seas.htm”>UCLA's Capstone Initiative | Assessment)for them.</p>
<p>I think the UCLA administration should shake up the Social Sciences crowd as only 2 of 15 majors are Capstone, with one certification pending. </p>
<p>But not every student wants to do a “capstone” type project,.and this effort crowds out more courses that they would actually prefer to take instead. It might prevent someone from completing all the course the requirements for a double major, for example. Few schools have a mandatory project of this kind. At most of the schools I’m personally familiar with, there is an option to do independent research that a student who wants same may elect.Those not inclined, don’t. In most of those cases, only a minority of the students elect to do this. They’d rather take more courses.</p>
<p>The same can be said for engineering. When I was in school, eons ago, we were told engineering companies were concerned that engineers were coming out without enough specific advanced subject knowledge, and there was a movement to actually make the undergrad degree a five year program. With the fifth year consisting of what most Master of engineering programs consist of : yet more advanced courses, plus a 5th year design project. This Capstone project in 4th year has value, but it obviously crowds out advanced courses that, back then at least, employers actually wanted students to have under their belt.</p>
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<p>I think it would be good for those in more academically based majors to do the Capstone. I read a story last night of a couple of students – I believe in history – who wanted something more professionally minded so they huddled with a mgmt prof, and did marketing research.</p>
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<p>I would agree…</p>
<p>However, I’m not sure if it is mandatory for E majors. Most of the people I know from the U are social science majors, which is why I poked some fun at them in this or another thread, stating that UCLA should require capstones of all ss majors (heck, but I am an independent observer, here, lol.)</p>
<p>I’ll ask around to see what % do capstones in E, if they are optional. But all UCLA E majors generally push U-enforced unit caps, and for EE, they even go over them because they have so many APs. And UCLA’s E majors on the average tend to stay longer also, despite possibly being eligible to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>Here’s the [article](<a href=“Newsroom | UCLA”>http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/at-the-end-of-a-long-road-the-157020</a>) I referenced, which was from four years ago. The student I referenced was actually an environmental science major who apparently was tired of going out in the field.</p>
<p>Things have changed, as there are more capstone majors now with certifications pending.</p>
<p>Here are some key quotes from the linkage:</p>
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<p>Here’s a two quarter Capstone sequence in [ME & MAE](<a href=“http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/newsroom/featured-news/archive/2011/new-mechanical-engineering-capstone-design-sequence-builds-camaraderie-and-competition-among-students”>http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/newsroom/featured-news/archive/2011/new-mechanical-engineering-capstone-design-sequence-builds-camaraderie-and-competition-among-students</a>).</p>
<p>Here are the capstones in EE, and their pathways related to EE, and the sub-pathways of EE; Biomedical E, & Computer E, and associated [link](<a href=“http://www.ee.ucla.edu/academics/programs/b.s.-in-electrical-engineering-program-requirements/pathways”>http://www.ee.ucla.edu/academics/programs/b.s.-in-electrical-engineering-program-requirements/pathways</a>), I’ll put the capstones in bold: </p>
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