My son was very fortunate to have be admitted to UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, and Cal Poly SLO for Electrical Engineering.
UCLA - Wow! It would be hard to decline that. But then again, Cal Poly seems to have a great program, a relaxed atmosphere, and a lot of interesting labs.
What do people on this thread think? Is it crazy to consider any of these schools over UCLA?
Hi! Congrats to your son. I’m a second year EE at Ucla and a Ucla Engineering ambassador. Those are all fantastic EE schools. I was deciding between all of them except for cal poly which I didn’t apply too. Giving you my personal opinion Ucla is the strongest of the 4. It has the greatest networking (we have 2 dedicated career fairs just for engineers). There is awesome campus life that comes with being a PAC 12 school. We have many student clubs that are funded as well and are connected with industry sponsors.
@10s4life My DD was accepted to UCLA for EE too. Is it a good atmosphere for women? What is the male to female ratio in EE at UCLA? Is there a lot of camaraderie and support?
We have a similar stress-full choice, UCLA Aeropspace Eng or UMich Aerospace Eng…help! I could be more proud of my son, but now, which to pick! MI has done a great job of sharing their program, but UCLA we don’t feel we are learning enough about, any feedback anyone?
We are fortunate enough to be faced with a similar choice in Mechanical Engineering: UCLA or regents scholar at UCSB. The regents scholar perks are appealing and UCSB seems more focused on undergraduate education and research than UCLA. Plus only 70 ME’s in the class of 2022. UCSB lifestyle and culture vs UCLA’s reputation? What would you do?/
What’s UCLA focused on if not undergraduate education and research? That’s kind of all there is.
70 ME’s is a nice number. UCLA’s number is probably around 90, which isn’t that much bigger.
I would pick U MI over UCLA any day - unless your kid hates the cold.
@glido It’s great for girls. No one makes a big deal out of it at all. There’s definitely more guys than girls but not noticeably so. It’s very cooperative. From the moment you go to discover Engineering Dean Wessel (dean for academic and student affairs) emphasizes how Engineering here is a team sport. Students need to learn how to collaborate in order to be successful in industry. If I didn’t work in groups there is no way I’d get my homework done in a reasonable amount of time lol
@SandAndSeaGal Wow those are great options. First I encourage you to come to both Bruin Day and Discover Engineering. Those events really show off the prestige and resources our engineering school has. But why Ucla vs UM? Ucla is very well connected in the aerospace industry. Raytheon, Lockheed, and Northrop are all corporate sponsors of Ucla Engineering. They also have dedicated recruiting sessions just for Ucla students. I have a freshman friend that landed a NG internship for this summer and that was all through a Ucla career fair. The campus life is second to none as you get to mix with non engineers as well. We also have many lab courses for both our Engineering and physics classes. They’re applicable in industry too as some of my lab reports have been used as technical writing samples when applying for internships.
@asdflksad22 Both good options. First what makes sense financially? If that’s not an issue then I highly recommend Ucla. Our campus life is very similar to UCSB. Plus you get better recruiting. Undergrad education and research both are top priorities here and UCSB can’t really compare with the amount of innovation coming out of la.
Definitely UCLA!! On nearly every list of public universities, UCLA is right behind Berkeley, which is the #1 public university in the world. Always ranked higher than Michigan. A degree from there will follow your child forever. Also an amazing school during recruiting.
imitationgame - why?
It’ll be hard to pass UCLA for Cal Poly, they are two different tiers.
I think it comes down to: