USC, UCI, UCSB, or UCSD for engineering

mikemac
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:19:18 +0000

All the UC schools are going to be similar in terms of faculty. Frankly, though, I don’t think that should be a concern. Any school with an ABET engineering program has faculty perfectly capable of teaching undergrads.

If you think USC has smaller classes that could be a strong point in its favor. I have no knowledge of USC, but know that at the UC schools you are going to need to seek out things on your own. Nobody is going to come to you to suggest internships or research opportunities, if you get to know some profs its because you took the initiative to go to office hours, etc. There are abundant resources at UCs, but they only matter if take advantage of them.

Pick the school that you think will be a fit in terms of the people you meet. Which probably isn’t UCSB since its right on the beach and tends to attract a certain student, you live near a beach and don’t seem to like that atmosphere. UCSD has more of a commuter-school feel; its set in a wonderful town so a lot of students live at Pacific or Mission beach. But that means they drive into campus for class instead of being a bike ride away like they are at UCSB. Many students at UCI live on Balboa Island. Really you ought to visit all 4 and walk around; see if you can picture yourself as a student, try to chat with a few students, etc.

Im scared of competition and not keeping up with the material

Engineering isn’t easy for anyone. But it doesn’t take genius-level IQ to get thru, it takes normal intelligence and the ability to work hard. Something like 6-10 hours per week studying for each math/science/engineering class; some people need less, some need more.