While the schools are large, the engineering departments are much smaller. Depending on the school, the first year math/physics/chem classes may be large, but then as they get into the engineering classes they’ll be more like 80-100 students. They’ll often be seeing the same kids all the time too since they have such a structured curriculum for engineering, so it won’t be quite as impersonal. Lab classes will be much smaller and can be 20 students or less. The ME cohort varies between schools too - for example, I think UCSD has about twice as many ME students as UCLA. Several of the research labs at UCLA provide research opportunities for undergrads if that’s something he might be interested in. As mentioned by others, Cal Poly is also a great option for ME at a lower price than the UCs.
2 Likes