<p>I really want to attend UCLA in the Fall of 2012 assuming I get in… but I’ve heard the 4 year graduation rate for engineers at UCLA (and UC’s in general) is atrocious. I not sure if I can attend now becuase my parents wouldnt be too fond of paying another 50k for a 5th year oos. </p>
<p>So how hard really is it? Is it hard getting the classes you want? Or are some people just lazy and take it easy by taking fewer classes? And will AP credits help shoulder part of the load a little in helping my graduate?</p>
<p>People who take more than 4 years to graduate probably did one or more of the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>decided to take a lighter load (3 instead of 4 per quarter)</li>
<li>committed to undergraduate research for more than a year</li>
<li>took a co-op position</li>
<li>studied abroad</li>
<li>switched majors late</li>
<li>did not take summer school</li>
</ul>
<p>Oh, God. How will I convince my parents to let me do all this to graduate within 4 years. I’m an international and they’ll just think I want to stay there to party and stuff.</p>
<p>If you plan you’re schedule out it’s not hard getting the classes you want. It’s possible you won’t get the class one quarter but you could just take it later. Most people don’t graduate in 4 years just because they don’t take 4 classes a quarter which you have to do almost your whole college life if you don’t take summer school.</p>
<p>It’s really not that bad. Lots of engineers graduate in 4 years (or less) without much of a problem. BoelterHall listed all the main reasons why engineers might stay longer, but most of those are governed by choices that students make during their undergraduate career.</p>