UCLA vs UCSB (regents)

College Search & Selection
1

I’m mainly considering these 2 schools for Chemical Engineering. They came out to be around the same price. I’m looking for a school that will give me the best internship/research opportunities and future while still allowing me to enjoy my college experience. I’m only about 2/3 sure I want to stay with ChemE, so a good overall reputation would be appreciated. If you have any advice that’d be awesome!

UCLA:

  • love the campus
  • most prestigious and academically the strongest school
  • probably has more employers recruiting on campus, and I’d like to live in LA after I graduate
  • If I switch out of my major I have a highly ranked school to fall back on
  • I liked the vibe from students there
  • It can be difficult to get the classes you need and graduate in 4 years
  • I’ve heard that the chem department is extremely difficult at UCLA and some professors are terrible… I don’t know if that’s true or not
  • Seems overcrowded/impersonal
  • Expensive housing in the surrounding area
  • Not ranked as high as UCSB for chemE
  • No priority registration

UCSB:

  • also love this campus…
  • great chemE program
  • priority registration + 6k a year… but still same price as UCLA
  • more laid back than UCLA… easier to maintain a high GPA and stand out
  • friendly students and faculty
  • Not as strong academically
  • Has a bit of negative rep for being a party school
  • Let’s say I decide engineering isn’t for me… then what? Would I have been better off at UCLA?

Please feel free to comment on any misconceptions in my post if you’d like to address them.

I also got into UCSD and UC Davis, so if there’s any reason I should consider these schools too let me know!

2

Misconception #1… “easier to maintain a high GPA and stand out”… that is not at all necessarily true, especially in STEM fields, and especially in Chem E for which UCSB is one of the best in the country.

For engineering overall, UCSB, UCSD, and UCLA are all on the same level… they are all considered top-25 engineering programs. So if you switched out of Chem E into another branch of engineering, you would still be getting an equally strong education. For science in general, again, I would say they are all on the same level.

3

@harvardandberkeley I should rephrase that… less difficult to maintain a high GPA. I know that chemE is no walk in the park at any school, but I’ve heard that the program is notoriously hard at UCLA

I still don’t know if there’s any truth to that though

4

bump :–)

5

Bump

6

Most people say that UG school doesn’t matter, so just go for the one that you find:

-more affordable
-most welcoming
-has best environment
-able to get your classes (HIGHLY IMPORTANT)

If prestige matters more to you, then by all means choose UCLA. Just don’t start whining about the “could have been” of your GPA later, if you’re intentionally heading into a notorious program.

7

I think I’m leaning towards UCLA right now bc of the school’s reputation and the fact that it’s close to so many more internship opportunities than UCSB. I talked to their AlChE group and they said it’s actually not too hard to get your classes… almost everyone is able to enroll in the classes they want.