UCLA vs UMich vs UCSD for engineering

<p>Ok, so here's my dilemma...</p>

<p>I've been accepted into the engineering schools at UMich, UCLA and UCSD. I've been living in a tropical climate all my life, and I don't think I will enjoy the Ann Arbor weather. That said, UMich's engineering program is ranked far higher than UCLA. I will probably do chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, materials engineering or engineering physics.</p>

<p>How strong and how respected is the engineering program at UCLA? Is the difference in rankings significant enough to choose UMich over UCLA and UCSD? Will engineers from Michigan have better research opportunities and job recruitments than engineers from UCLA? Lastly, what is the culture like at UCLA and UCSD as opposed to UMich?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>You don’t sound like you are sure what you are going to study. I would suggest you to visit UCLA and UCSD campus to see what you feel.</p>

<p>Same here!!
I didn’t apply for UCLA, but I’m deciding between Engineering in UMich or UCSD!
I have visited both campus and made a list of pros and cons, here it goes:
(they are SO different that it’s really hard to compare, but I’ll try)</p>

<p>UCSD:
pros - weather, nice people, more sense of community, lot of research from freshman year, cool campus!
con - less prestige, less tradition</p>

<p>UMich:
pros - better rankings (prestige), better structured school, college town
con - COLD!!! too big, maybe it’s harder to get involved, stand out, get attention… i don’t know if they stimulate research for undergrads as much as UCSD does!</p>

<p>bottom line: it depends on what you are looking for in a university!</p>

<p>Name recognition varies by region. Both UCSD/UCLA and UMich are going to be recognized all over the United States, but it is likely that the UCSD/UCLA names will hold more weight on the West Coast whereas UMich will hold more weight on the East Coast and Midwest. Also, the area that you go to school in will probably be the area that you do internships in (unless you go out of state for summer internships), and your internship could potentially lead to a job. </p>

<p>So you might want to consider where you want to live after graduation.</p>

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<p>It is a strong and well respected university, but it depends on what particular field of engineering you’re interested in. </p>

<h1>16 Best Engineering Schools</h1>

<h1>18 Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical</h1>

<h1>34 Biomedical / Bioengineering</h1>

<h1>24 Chemical</h1>

<h1>20 Civil</h1>

<h1>13 Electrical / Electronic / Communications</h1>

<h1>24 Materials</h1>

<h1>18 Mechanical</h1>

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<p>I would say, only if the ranking difference for your program is greater than 10, this may become a minor issue. I have a feeling you’ll be in good shape at either of those schools. </p>

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<p>Not so sure, but they are huge universities so I would say there is no real unified culture. UCLA has much better weather than UMich, but I believe Ann Arbor is a very nice place as well.</p>