<p>Thinking about what EE pathway to choose and I’m sort of torn. Any EE majors here who’ve decided on something other than the integrated circuits pathway? I was leaning towards Solid State now that I’ve taken EE121b and enjoyed it, but it seems like the classes are really tiny and have a tendency to be canceled as a result - which worries me 
I was really liking signals but after ee141 with tabuada and his really long project, I really wanna stay away from Matlab project work. Antennas and Microwaves is tempting but I hear the professors of this area aren’t that great. Heh any suggestions/advice?</p>
<p>oo nevermind! Totally overlooked the MEMS pathway :)!</p>
<p>What majors in engineering (non-med) are parked at a computer for most of its work?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>cs/cse/eecs</p>
<p>is PIC10 and cs 31 pretty much the same?</p>
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No, CS 31 goes much more in depth into several core concepts, whereas PIC10A teaches very little about a larger number of concepts. CS 31 tends to be more time-consuming and has a harsher curve.</p>
<p>The only majors related to engineering that I would consider UCLA for would be EE or CS or CSE. These majors are quite strong at UCLA and the job opportunities are good, since UCLA nowadays is really closely affiliated with broadcom, qualcom, cisco and such. However, if you’re considering other engineering majors such as mechanical/aerospace, UCLA is definitely not the place. Someone in this forum said that UCLA’s aerospace engineering program is strong due to its ties with the aerospace industry. A couple decades ago this would have been absolutely correct. However, recently, UCLA has shifted its focus to IT and telecommunications and such fields related to EE and CS, while connections with the aerospace/defense industry has died off by quite a bit. Even companies have expressed this opinion. The fact is, internship opportunities will be scarce at best for an MAE student and you will be lucky to obtain one decent internship before you graduate, just like someone else said in a previous post. </p>
<p>As far as education goes, EE and CSE and CS are quite hard, but once you graduate you will be recognized as someone who went through a good program and be regarded highly. On the other hand, for mechanical and aerospace, this is not the case. Today, UCLA MAE is considered sub-par in the outside world (it could be different for the academia) while the training is just as tough. Though you will work hard for a decent grade, the training and education style is far from ideal. Overcrowded labs and over-rushed pace prevent students from really learning and allowing the material to sink in. While many students feel that they understand the material and could possibly score decently on exams if they study hard enough, most aren’t aware that in reality, they only touched upon the surface of the material due to the rushed and “stuff it down your throat” education and will most likely forget what they learn within a couple of weeks. </p>
<p>Just to clarify in case someone starts making personal attacks, I am not a loser who likes to rant and complain. I was ranked among the top 20% of my class (I checked with the engineering school before graduating) and I am now studying at a very prestigious institution for a graduate degree. I obtained three summer internships during my undergrad career, one at an engineering lab, one at an IT company, and one at an engineering company. However, these were obtained mostly by utilizing personal connections and the school did not help much. After graduation, I attempted to obtain my final internship before I went to grad school, only to find that there were no opportunities for UCLA grads. My interview skills weren’t bad (I checked with various career counselors) and I was quite well prepared, the problem was that I did not get any interviews to begin with for jobs related to my major. In the end, I settled for a consulting job over the summer. What I mean to say is, while my friends at WPI or other institutions faced the issue of choosing between the 75k per year job or the 70k per year job, I could not even find an engineering internship. In the end, since someone was talking about it in a previous post, if you were to choose between UCLA and USC for mechanical/aerospace engineering, then by all means go for SC if you have the money. At USC, the difficulty will be much easier but you will learn the material better simply due to a superior education style. More importantly, after graduation, your program will be better recognized by the industry and give you a leg up when seeking employment.</p>
<p>^ Interesting perspective.</p>
<p>All of my ME/AE friends got offered full-time jobs at Pratt&Whitney and Lockheed. But again, I only have 3 ME/AE friends who are graduating this year, and they are in the top 10% of their graduating class.</p>
<p>Another friend interned at Raytheon (ME) in Santa Barbara.</p>
<p>I didn’t know professor selectionw as so important. Generally, what professors should I try and request as an incoming engineering student?</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.bruinwalk.com%5DBruinWalk%5B/url”>http://www.bruinwalk.com]BruinWalk[/url</a>] is your friend.</p>
<p>I really recommend incoming engineering students to sign up/apply for any of the offered mentorship programs on campus. Different clubs such as TBP, ESUC, SWE, AICHE, UPE all have mentorship programs that aim to get new students situated at UCLA. Your mentors will tell you which professors to avoid and which to take and other helpful hints that will save you lots of time (and in some cases, your grade).</p>
<p>do u apply/join these clubs after ur first semester has started or before school even starts?</p>
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<p>If you’re referring to opportunities at the top companies, then it is somewhat difficult but not impossible. Lots of internship requisitions have been taken down or filled, but there are still internships available. Only the top students will fill the limited positions. In top, I mean having high GPAs, having superior skills which match the project the hiring manager wants the intern(s) to perform, or personal connections. </p>
<p>In regards to high GPAs, I mean 3.8+ if you want a high chance to land an intern right now at a top company by this method. It’s really competitive. You might disagree, but this is my view.</p>
<p>I agree with your view on the top internships being more accessible with GPAs of 3.8+. However, not only the “top” positions were scarce in our cases, but “any” position was scarce at best. True, we have only ourselves to blame that our GPAs werent above 3.8. But at the same time, ours weren’t that far away either. My GPA personally was above 3.6 and some of my friends 3.7, which definitely placed us among at least the top 1/5 of the class. If a school’s reputation and connections can only send their GPA 3.8 students (which I assume would be the top 1/8 or 1/10) into the industry, then it doesn’t speak too highly of that school’s place in the minds of industry recruiters does it? Plus, if we really weren’t qualified in terms of our personal achievements, then we wouldn’t have gotten into some of the top ranked national graduate institutions. What I’m saying is that, UCLA MAE once had a tradition of close bonds with the mechanical/aerospace related industry and provided its student many opportunities, but that is no longer the case today. From what I hear from my Cal Poly friends, even the Cal Polys nowadays are more able to do so and send many students every year to the industry as co ops or interns. Hence, for a industrial minded individual, UCLA MAE might not be the ideal place to do undergrad if that is the highest education level they have in mind. However, for someone who has an academic/research mindset, this may be different.</p>
<p>Forgot to mention. When we applied back then, we started applying since September of 2007 instead of applying after the requisitions “filled up”</p>
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In most cases, you will apply in the first few weeks of your first quarter. You should receive emails before you start the quarter about such programs and links to the application.</p>
<p>so if I’m planning on getting my masters anyway, UCLA wouldn’t be a bad choice for engineering? Specifically, I’m thinking about switching to Civil Engineering at UCLA but I haven’t really heard anything about the CE program other than it’s a lower tier at UCLA. Does that mean it’s bad or does that mean it’s just not as hard as the other disciplines in terms of curriculum? Also, does the fact that UCLA’s undergrad isn’t really highly hurt my chances at getting into grad school at somewhere like Cal?</p>
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<p>I agree with you. UCLA engineering does not have the best connections with the industry as of today. Just recently, they established an internship clearinghouse, but that is a joke. You have to go out and find the requisitions rather than have companies hand you offers.</p>
<p>Once you chose UCLA, the only thing you can do is try your best, get good grades, and establish the technical skills that industry wants. It’s not that most Cal Poly students get jobs and hardly anyone at UCLA will get one.</p>
<p>That’s why people say if you don’t plan to pursue higher education after your B.S, go somewhere besides the UCs. I think most people have heard of it.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I gotta make a decision soon so if one or even a couple of UCLA engineering students could help me out, that would be great!</p>
<p>My choices:
UCB for Molecular Cellular Biology (but I will be switching to computer science)
or UCLA for Electrical Engineering (with 8.3k per year “Dean’s Scholarship”)</p>
<p>My questions are:</p>
<p>1) I heard the Dean’s scholarship actually makes it easier not only price-tagwise but also in terms of getting to do research with professors and job searches later. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>2) How is EE at UCLA in general. Mostly, I’m thinking about
a) How are the opportunities for UCLA students after they graduate?
b) How well-respected is EE at UCLA.<br>
c) How is the life at UCLA as a EE major?</p>
<p>3) Although I took BC Calculus this year, my teacher was a total flop, so I feel really unprepared for multivar, linear algebra or whatever. I want to retake Calculus in college.</p>
<p>Is this recommended? Will this put me behind my peers?</p>
<p>4) In this situation, what would you pick?</p>