flopsy

The professors know you're not there to do research, and full-fledged graduate students from other universities look down on you.

GrassPuppet

Is that so?

BoelterHall

How does the program work? Masters in 1 year ... so just about 10 courses? How can you fit in a TA-ship into that?

GrassPuppet

So that means you have two academic years to complete the requirements.

PeerAdvisor

I think you have ESAP confused with the Departmental Scholar program. Departmental Scholar is when you pursue bachelor's and master's degree programs simultaneously. This is not really done anymore, in part because of the cons you mentioned.

ESAP is different than this. Like flopsy said, if your major field upper division GPA is above 3.5 and your cumulative GPA is above a 3.5, you are guaranteed admission to the Master's program of your major. This is EXACTLY like if you had just applied for grad school and got accepted except you don't have to take the GREs or go through the long arduous process of applying to grad school.

Therefore, benefits: it's automatic admission into grad school, you don't have to apply which saves you a lot of time and money and if you decide to go to UCLA, you will be exactly the same kind of grad student as the one who applied and received admission

Cons? I can't think of any. I suppose the only con would be if you didn't want to go to UCLA in the first place but you decide to go since you got in on ESAP and it's the easiest route to go. But really, there are no major cons if you want to get a Master's in your field from UCLA.

electrifice

I have to take CS32 because it is required for EE's. I'm really thinking about taking it at a community college this summer to get it out of the way. Is that advisable? CS31 was a lot of work, and I've heard CS32 is worse...

grapesoda

CS 32 is a lot more work, especially the last two projects. However, it was a lot more fun than CS 31, so I didn't mind it at all. If you're not too into CS or really don't want to spend time on rather long projects, though, then taking it at a community college isn't a bad idea.

TheIcon

Hello. UCLA Admit here, MechE, junior level.
I was just reading up on the Mechanical Engineering curriculum online via
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Curriculum

Electrical Engineering 100 --Electrical and Electronic Circuits 4

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 102 -- Mechanics of Particles and Rigid Bodies 4

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 105D -- Transport Phenomena 4

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 182A -- Mathematics of Engineering 4

According to the curriculum, I'm supposed to enroll in the courses listed above...for first quarter, junior year. The problem is, I am currently taking Circuit Analysis 1 at my current school. Will this be transferable, or do I have to take EE100 when I get to UCLA?

How would you rank the difficulty of the above courses, and does the schedule seem feasible?

BoelterHall

TheIcon:

EE 100 is essentially Circuit Analysis I. I'm not sure if you can transfer that.
Your other courses are okay. I would rank the difficulty a 7/10, which is about standard compared to what you will take.

105D is the most challenging of all. Though what you learn in transport is not as detailed as the transport series ChE take, there is a lot of important theory in the course. I think this is the course where you finally see the importance of numerical methods, derivations, FEA in the analysis, instead of theoretical and hypothetical situations, or find the formula and use it. Mass transfer is very weak in the book you use.

182A is easy if you just want an A and surface knowledge, but challenging if you want to understand everything. The most important theory you learn there is Laplace transform.

102 is boring .. at least to more than half of my class. Some problems can be challenging, but it's okay.

EE 100 is okay. The beginning of the course may be trivial to you if you have to take it. Hardest part is probably Fourier analysis.

If you want me to rank the difficulty of individual courses:
EE 100: 7/10
MAE 102: 5/10
MAE 105D: 9/10
MAE 182A: 5/10

TheIcon

Thank you.

Shux! I was hoping I'd be able to transfer the circuits w/ lab class.

Is it advisable to follow the plan on the curriculum, or should I take a different route?
Is it generally harder to get into upper division classes, or are there enough sections of a course to accomodate everyone?

I have my lower division prereqs done, will it be difficult for me to graduate in 2 years

GrassPuppet

TheIcon,

I suggest you take 3 classes your first quarter, just so you can adjust to the quarter system and/or the amount of material covered. After that you can decide if you'd like to take up to 5 classes per quarter. Just saying.

TheIcon

How difficult is it to study in the dorm room over the course of a quarter? Do friends stop by way too often, are the buildings very noisy, how easy is it to get a good night sleep, how often do students stay in laboratories overnight finishing up their projects?

GrassPuppet: I understand your perspective. I was hoping to do just that, but, I don't want to fall behind. According to what BoelterHall mentioned above, I might be unable to transfer Circuit Analysis I.

barqer

Major: Traditional EE

Hi guys, I'm on track to graduate next spring.

However, I'm planning to shelve CS32 until next spring. What would happen if I got a D?

Would I be forced to stay another qtr, or would the department let me slide since CS32 is just a "major prep" course?

Thanks

GrassPuppet

barqer,

You can still graduate with a D.

barqer

Thanks GrassPuppet,

I feel alot better about my CS-phobia.