<p>Are you specifically questioning about the computer engineering program, or just engineering in general? Also, I find that sometimes people get computer engineering mixed up with computer science, which are both fairly disparate from one another. Computer science = programming where as Computer Engineering = Electrical Engineering with emphasis on computer hardware. </p>
<p>Being in the CS department, my knowledge is mostly limited to CS courses, although I have taken some basic intro EE classes. For the most part, I have found Viterbi students to be fairly smart. Our CS department is top notch - in the 3 years we have participated in the Southern California Programming Contest, we have routinely beat the likes of UCSD, UCLA and Harvey Mudd, losing only to Caltech (no explanation really needed there). </p>
<p>As for the professors, they are best described as available. My current prof holds office hours every day, for several hours a day. So, contacting him for assistance is NOT an obstacle. The classes themselves are around 50 people, but significantly decrease as you get into upper division. The labs for these classes are usually around 15 people. </p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you’ll be interested in grading too. From my experience, most Viterbi classes wind up with an average 2.5 - 3.0 GPA. But really, it depends on the class. My last CS class had a student average of 76 - a C (2.0). Anticipate less than 20% of students getting above a 90.</p>