flopsy

This thread is dedicated to students admitted to the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS). Ask me any questions you have about the nine undergraduate majors, the competitive classes, the student-run activities, engineering "life" and anything else.

Slak

how would you rate it? In terms of opportunities available, and level of student interaction

ahhh

1. How is the bioengineering program? I've heard it was relatively new, and how does it compare to that of UCSD's?

2. What are the average grades in engineering? Would one still have a chance at medical school admissions if one takes bioengineering?

3. Do most engineers also lead a good social life?

4. Is it easy to switch out of engineering into the college of letters and sciences? I read on the Berkeley forums that you had to have a good GPA to switch out or else you're stuck, but the people who have good GPAs won't want to switch in the first place.

5. Are there any honors programs that we can apply to?

cjdoor

is ucla engineering a hellish academic experience like i hear cal is like?

also in general, are student relations favorable, or is it super competitive between each other?

drkshadow25

1. How good is their material engineering major?
2. How hard is it to transfer from one engineering major to another??

safewayrules

hey flopsy i really like what u r doing in CC

can u rank the engneering majors

ameer

how does its electrical enginnering progoram compare to cal's EECS?

flopsy

I would rate the opportunities avaible an A, because of the caliber of employers hiring UCLA engineers for jobs and internships. Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, IBM, Intel, etc. all come to the quarterly career fairs, and drop by Boelter Hall on their own time once per quarter as well. I would rate the level of student interaction a B- because the engineers typically run in different circles. Computer Science majors tend to go to class, then go home and study 4-6 hours unlike most UCLA students who usually participate in campus events. There are three ways to meet new students in the HSSEAS: talk to people in discussion section, which works 25% of the time, join ESUC or another engineering club, which works 50% of the time, or speak Chinese/Korean, which works 75% of the time.

flopsy

1. The Bioengineering program is three years old, and is less fully-integrated than UCSD's. It's not in the Top 15, but I think it's in the Top 30. Right now Bioengineering is the most competitive engineering major to get into and also to stay in. The major is also undergoing curriculum revisions to separate it more from the Biomedical Engineering major.

2. The average engineering grade is slightly higher than a B- (2.80).

3. No (unless you count the Triangle Fraternity).

4. Yes, it's very easy to switch out of the HSSEAS into the CL&S at any time. There are no requirements (besides filling out forms)... I've heard about the UCB Engineering major "trap", and no, it doesn't apply to UCLA.

5. No, there are no honors programs in the HSSEAS. Not that there isn't enough work to do already...

flopsy

That depends on two things: how passionate you are about your major, and how rigorous your high school was. It is by no means a hellish experience for me, but it is for some other Computer Science/Electrical Engineering majors I sit with who can't change majors into Political Science because their parents forbid them from doing so. If you worked hard in high school and took many concurrent math/science courses you should fit right in. Also, UCLA's Computer Science program is very similar to UCB's Computer Science program.

On a scale of competitiveness I would rate it 8/10. People don't help one another unless approached, but people don't go out of their way to mess with other people's programming assignments or anything. It's more an issue of self-centered apathy than cut-throat-ness. We're not pre-meds.

flopsy

1. UCLA Materials Engineering isn't very highly ranked. For some reason I don't see it anywhere in the rankings. It's also pretty small.

2. It's very hard and the standards are high across the board. The Office of Academic and Student Affairs treats all students applying to change majors into engineering equally, whether they're already current engineering majors or not.

flopsy

Rank them based on what criteria, exactly?

flopsy

UCLA is ranked 11th, while UCB is ranked 4th. UCLA doesn't offer a de facto EECS program, but it offers EECE (Electrical Engineering - Computer Engineering) which has more of a hardware/device emphasis than EECS does.

Neji

how does the Aerospace Engineering program rank amongst other colleges?

flopsy

UCLA Aerospace Engineering is unusally strong because of its proximity to and investment from the federal defense contractors in Southern California. UCLA is ranked 12th, while UCB is ranked 18th and USC is ranked 21st.