UCLA vs UCSD Engineering-- Program difficulty between the two?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
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Hello Bruin Engineers,

I was recently accepted to UCLA for electrical engineering and find myself in a very difficult conundrum. My thoughts have been oscillating back and fourth as I’m having a hard time deciding between UCSD and UCLA EE. To some, it may seem like an obvious decision—go for the slightly better engineering school in UCLA. Then again, my situation may differ from those of others’.

Throughout high school, I was a pretty diligent student. I wasn’t naturally smart, but extremely hard working and got A’s in all my meaningful classes like Calc AB, APCS, and AP physics(also got a 770 on SAT math reasoning and 800 on Math ll). I did, however, get 2 B’s (and my only B’s) in Calculus BC. This makes me question my mathematical abilities and whether or not I can perform at the superior level I want to be at. My main goal as an undergrad is to score the highest GPA possible so I can possibly pursue my M.S. in EE at premiere engineering schools like Berkeley, MIT, or Stanford. I know GPA isn’t everything, but drawing from my research, all these schools pretty much require at least a 3.6 to 3.7 undergrad GPA to even have a legitimate shot. And according to websites (let me know if this is true), a 3.7 at UCSD looks better than a 3.5 at UCLA for GRADUATE school admissions purposes.

This begs the question: how much harder is EE at UCLA compared to EE at UCSD? Is there a noticeable difference in difficulty? A link by the UCSD website indicates that the average engineering undergraduate GPA there is a 3.14 (hehe, how fitting). What is it at UCLA? I would really appreciate it if current or former engineering students could give insights :slight_smile:Considering the prestige level is not really a factor in graduate admissions, I would much rather get a higher GPA at UCSD than at UCLA, if it means maximizing my chances for top-notch grad schools. If UCSD isn’t that much more difficult than UCLA, then obviously going to the latter would be the better choice. But I would think UCLA is harder?

I would really appreciate any of your guy’s help!

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Btw, I didn’t get the UCLA engineering likely letter (sent to the top ~ 30% of admits), but did get accepted. So I’m not your upper tier UCLA admit. IIRC, I have a 3.9 UW, 4.3 uncapped weighted, 2200 on my SAT’s, 800 Math ll, and 750 Physics. I’d say I’m about average and tentatively feel I can get mostly A’s and B’s in college.