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05-12-2008, 10:16 PM
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#2131 | | New Member
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 2
| I got into bioengineering program in UCLA and UCSD. I heard that BE in UCLA is relatively new and less integrated. Some students even dropped this major since it is not fully developed. In some classes, students do not even have text books in UCLA. So is it true? Compared to UCSD who believes its bioengineering program ranks national 2, does UCLA have that bad program? Are there lots of internships for bio in UCLA? I am still looking forward to going to UCLA since it has nice campus@ | 
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05-13-2008, 12:43 PM
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#2132 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,171
| I agree, I think if you want BioEngineering you should go an established school like UCSD. UCLA is still at a nascent stage regarding the major, and one of my friends who is a BioEngineering major is finding difficulty getting classes and thinks that he made a bad decision regarding the major. | |
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05-14-2008, 01:30 AM
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#2133 | | New Member
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1
| UCLA Engineering: How Much Value?
Hi everyone
I am writing because I feel extremely disenchanted with my education here. I'm a 3rd year engineering student and have a 3.3 gpa. I wake up every day, saddened by the thought that I will soon be in Boelter Hall. I put in hours of work each day, to get slammed by intellectual snobs/profs in the form of low grades on my assignments. It's gotten to the point where I truly hate, yes I said hate, going to class and hearing professors babble. I have experienced two seperate engineering majors here, and have not met one professor who I truly thought was a good teacher. I do not feel as though I've learned anything very useful, except in Bristow's "Technical Management Breadth" series. I am depressed by the fact that I have to do calculations every single day of my life. In fact there's not a single thing in my life while I'm on campus that does not make me genuinely sad. I also become angry because I feel like I'm being cheated out of my time here, receiving a lousy education from profs and TA's that really couldn't give LESS of a rats ass about anyone here but themselves and their research.
UCLA has presented me with a 3.3 GPA in engineering, as well as several high paying internships at various engineering and petroleum firms throughout California. Cool. Despite this, everyday I spend in Boelter is hell. I am very serious. All I really want is to learn something meaningful and useful from someone who truly cares about the students, and in 3 years I have not found it at this place.
Often times I wish I had gone to Berkeley. At least when you go through hell there, you can brag about how you survived arguably one of the toughest engineering programs in the world, and grad schools know that. I get the feeling UCLA is ridiculously challenging, although professionals and prestigous grad schools view UCLA as a second rate undergrad. So where's the value? Hard work, mediocre rep. Or am I just plain wrong? This is definately a possibility.
Does anyone feel the same way I do? | |
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05-14-2008, 02:02 AM
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#2134 | | Junior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 209
| Don't think you're a troll because you used coherent sentences and expressed a true concern.
Depends on your major.
When you mentioned Petroleum, there's only two majors that the downstream companies hire, mechanical and chemical. I don't think you are in chemical because most of the chemicals know life as a ChemE is hard and it's not easy however they bond together over it. Mechanical is huge, no sense of camaraderie in my opinion.
Get use to the fact that you get up at 8am to get to Boelter and leave by 6pm, it's a job at times. Does it suck? Yes. But if you stop complaining, do something about it and stop claiming "i'm working while facebooking," things will get better. I try to avoid checking my gmail/fb/etc while at Boelter, faster I get things done, faster I can get out. I don't like the "dungeon" and I'm pretty sure you don't either, so delay the facebooking till work is done to get out.
Flopsy or GrassPuppet can probably cite you the link where Dean Boelter wanted engineers to only have 2 hours of free time per day.
College is a time where you grow up. You set your responsibilities, your goals, yourself basically. You learn to deal with things you don't like (get it done with and get the hell out), and learn to develop a passion for things you like.
In my case, I hated some aspects of chemical engineer (being stuck to a production plant for instance). I took civil/environmental engineering classes, loved them, did well and got a job in that field, I use both chemical and environmental engineering aspects in my job, absorption and strippers (take your dirty mind out of the gutter) to remove pollutants.
Edit: You make friends also to pass the time, usually in the same major as you because they know what you are feeling. 3rd year is the transition from lower division to upper division. You can no longer just repeat/rinse methods to get As, rather, you must truly understand the concept and apply it to get a good grade (majority of times). Also, find something you love to do to balance with the mundaneness of engineering.
Read Tremblay's advice, it helps: Systems Career Check - Departments - UCLA Magazine Online
- TB54
Last edited by TB54; 05-14-2008 at 02:07 AM.
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05-14-2008, 02:37 AM
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#2135 | | Member
Join Date: May 2006 Location: YRL (^_^)
Posts: 471
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by TB54 Flopsy or GrassPuppet can probably cite you the link where Dean Boelter wanted engineers to only have 2 hours of free time per day. | It was BoelterHall that pointed it out. Quote: |
Originally Posted by BoelterHall For anyone wondering how much work is expected in engineering courses at UCLA, here is a message from Steve Jacobsen, former Associate Dean. Quote:
You have earned the privilege of being a HSSEAS student. However, you must continue to earn that privilege.
The faculty, students, and staff are here for one purpose - to help to educate the students of HSSEAS. But the students of HSSEAS are mainly responsible for their education. The faculty can point the way; but the students must do the work. Generally, for each hour in the classroom the student should work at least an additional 3 hours engaged in self-study (readings, homework, projects).
Faculty design homework and projects in order to engage students in the learning process and to help them to become effective learners, engineers, and computer scientists. The homework, projects, and examinations are not merely for the purpose of assigning a grade! The faculty of HSSEAS expects that each of you is here to be engaged in the learning process and to do your best to become an effective engineer and/or computer scientist.
| That means if you're enrolled in 16 units, which is standard for the four course load in the engineering curriculum, you're expected to work 48 hours per week on your readings, homework, projects and studying. That means you have 64 hours per week to study, do work, and be in class (around 10-11 hours daily assuming you take the seventh day off). Assuming you sleep a healthy 8 hours per day, you get 5 hours of free time assuming you don't eat. You probably lose 120 minutes to meals, and 30 minutes to shower and groom yourself. Also probably 30 minutes in walking back and forth from class.
Net free time under these conditions is probably 2 hours. (academics M-Sat) I guess this is what they expect out of an average engineering undergraduate?
Just some trivia.  | Source: CourseWeb@HSSEAS | Academic Integrity Policy | |
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05-14-2008, 02:37 AM
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#2136 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,377
| Quote: |
UCLA has presented me with a 3.3 GPA in engineering, as well as several high paying internships at various engineering and petroleum firms throughout California.
| Awesome. UCLA has presented me with a 4.0 GPA in history however I haven't gotten one high paying internship or potential job w/ it. You have, what, 1 year left? If I could do it all over again I'd do engineering, hands down, because it really sucks having a degree that doesn't guarantee a job that is not only high paying and stable but also has great growth potential.
Lax says quit your *****in! | |
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05-14-2008, 03:09 AM
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#2137 | | Member
Join Date: May 2006 Location: YRL (^_^)
Posts: 471
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Lax Awesome. UCLA has presented me with a 4.0 GPA in history however I haven't gotten one high paying internship or potential job w/ it. | The world isn't fair Lax! I say quit your *****in! | |
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05-14-2008, 03:19 AM
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#2138 | | Junior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 209
| I actually loved UD history classes, especially eccentric Corey (did well in her class too). If I had an option to take a 5th year and a minor, I would do history as a minor just for kicks.
If you're sick of engineering, do what I want to do.
I was planing to be a dim sum cart pusher for 3 days after I graduate. I'll go work at Empress Pavillion in SGV. Shu mai, har gow, char siu bao anybody? Don't need to pay me in money, I'll take egg tarts/turnip cake as payment.
- TB54
Last edited by TB54; 05-14-2008 at 03:28 AM.
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05-14-2008, 12:54 PM
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#2139 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Sherman Oaks, CA
Posts: 8,130
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by sadEngr UCLA has presented me with a 3.3 GPA in engineering, as well as several high paying internships at various engineering and petroleum firms throughout California. Cool. Despite this, everyday I spend in Boelter is hell. I am very serious. All I really want is to learn something meaningful and useful from someone who truly cares about the students, and in 3 years I have not found it at this place. | In any case, you're better off then ~75% of the Chemical Engineering majors at UCLA, and better off than ~75% of the Chemical Engineering majors at UC Berkeley for that matter. In absolute terms, the majority of Chemical Engineering jobs are closer to UCLA than UC Berkeley -- could they have been as available from Northern California? As for disillusionment with classes, you're in your third year and the worst courses are actually behind you, so don't worry. From what I've heard, the best Chemical Engineering courses are just ahead -- where you can design and implement your own projects and defend them to industry representatives -- they are what define the mythical esprit-de-corps among Chemical Engineering majors.  | |
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05-14-2008, 06:33 PM
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#2140 | | New Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 18
| " In any case, you're better off then ~75% of the Chemical Engineering majors at UCLA, and better off than ~75% of the Chemical Engineering majors at UC Berkeley for that matter. In absolute terms, the majority of Chemical Engineering jobs are closer to UCLA than UC Berkeley -- could they have been as available from Northern California? "
~flopsy
Could you elaborate on that? Those two sentences were rather intriguing! (for me atleast) | |
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05-14-2008, 09:00 PM
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#2141 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Sherman Oaks, CA
Posts: 8,130
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Vendetta133 " In any case, you're better off then ~75% of the Chemical Engineering majors at UCLA, and better off than ~75% of the Chemical Engineering majors at UC Berkeley for that matter. In absolute terms, the majority of Chemical Engineering jobs are closer to UCLA than UC Berkeley -- could they have been as available from Northern California? "
~flopsy
Could you elaborate on that? Those two sentences were rather intriguing! (for me atleast) | A 3.3 engineering GPA is between one and two standard deviations above the average engineering GPA at UCLA and UC Berkeley, which is in the 2.8-3.0 range. Most engineers get one paid internship in the field of their major before graduation, and are lucky to get several different internships at top companies in the field of their major. A cursory look at Chemical Engineering jobs in California reveals a majority are located in Southern California. California Chemical Engineering Jobs for Engineers Careers Employment Search | |
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05-14-2008, 11:25 PM
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#2142 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,171
| Lemme correct flopsy. Most engineers are lucky to get one paid internship in the field of their major before graduation. | |
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05-15-2008, 12:18 PM
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#2143 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Sherman Oaks, CA
Posts: 8,130
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05-15-2008, 02:25 PM
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#2144 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,171
| flopsy, do you go to fark | |
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05-15-2008, 05:04 PM
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#2145 | | Member
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Rockville, MD
Posts: 767
| hey it's hiro nakamuraaa | 
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