University of California -- Los Angeles

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Electrical Engineering
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Vietnamese Heterosexual Male

Summary

My first year I was part of IEEE where they host different projects and I was part of the Open Project Space my first year where did a few little projects. My second year, IEEE had a separate project called Advanced Projects where we focused on using RS chips and ultimately built a quadcopter for the capstone project. My third year I was part of Formula SAE, which is a racing club and I did some data acquisition stuff for them. Towards the end of my third year, I was part of the Rocket Project and I did data acquisition for them as well.

Background

Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Vietnamese
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: Public school in Southern California with a graduating class of about 850 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Electrical Engineering
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: My first year I was part of IEEE where they host different projects and I was part of the Open Project Space my first year where did a few little projects. My second year, IEEE had a separate project called Advanced Projects where we focused on using RS chips and ultimately built a quadcopter for the capstone project. My third year I was part of Formula SAE, which is a racing club and I did some data acquisition stuff for them. Towards the end of my third year, I was part of the Rocket Project and I did data acquisition for them as well.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
I think almost every single one of those clubs contributed to my development as an engineer. Each one of those was pretty valuable in giving me the skills and experience that is desirable for people looking for potential employees.

Academic Experience

Can you describe the weekly coursework for your major?
In the Electrical Engineering coursework, we mostly have lecture classes and each of those classes will have problem sets. We only had a couple of classes that had labs with them. The major graded assignments were midterms and finals. I actually transferred to the Engineering School so I took more engineering classes per quarter than the average student.
Was it difficult to transfer into the engineering school?
I knew I wanted to transfer before I even came to UCLA, so I as soon as I came I tried to find what resources I needed to transfer. Essentially, what you need is at least a 3.4 GPA for your math and science classes. I fulfilled that requirement, so I was able to participate.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly academically?
The course load at UCLA is very theoretical. There’s not a lot of hands-on knowledge which would be beneficial for the people who want to work in the industry. Apart from that, if research is what you’re interested in, UCLA is the perfect school because it’s a very theoretical, research-based school. There’s not a lot of hands-on experience, but there is a good theoretical background that you get.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly collaborative or competitive?
It’s fairly competitive. It’s collaborative in the sense that people would share notes and help each other with homework. But, everyone is still out to get a good grade in the class and there was a pretty tough curve in most of the classes where you have to fight for your place. It’s nice that even though there’s a tough curve, the people I was around still shared notes and would work together.
How accessible are your professors?
They’re very accessible. All the professors have office hours and will usually reply on the same day if you email them. Also, a lot of them would have a meeting with you if you went out of your way and asked for it.
What was your favorite class you’ve taken for your major?
I think my favorite class was my digital logic design class. It was really interesting because I got to learn the fundamentals of what goes on in digital logic.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I’ve always been interested in electronics and how they really work. What my impression of electrical engineering was before I entered was what you’d expect from a hobby electrical engineer where you worked with circuits and created term projects. When I worked in the industry, it wasn’t what I envisioned because you end up working a lot with computers and running simulations as a part of it. I’m definitely happy with my choice. I get to work on a lot of interesting things and it’s definitely a challenging and fast-paced environment.
How do you like the quarter system academically?
Honestly, if I had the choice, I would convert UCLA to a semester system. The quarter system is really fast-paced and it’s hard to feel like you learned anything by the end of the quarter because it feels like you’re cramming everything in. On the other hand, it’s really nice because the classes you don’t enjoy go by a lot quicker. It definitely is very fast-paced and feels like you’re running springs over the four years.

Reasons to Attend

1) There are a lot of things to do in L.A.
2) It’s a very big school, so you have lots of resources that can help you.
3) You can find niche groups that fit your interests because there are so many clubs.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) L.A. is a very crowded place, so if you don’t like city-life UCLA is not for you.
2) If you don’t like the quarter system, UCLA is not for you.
3) It’s a very big school, so it’s difficult to find very tight-knit groups unless you join different clubs that fit your niches.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: I lived in a university dorm in a triple.
Sophomore: I lived in a university dorm in a triple.
Junior: I lived in a university apartment with two double rooms.
Senior: I have an interesting living situation. There are four rooms in my apartment and each room has three people in it. There are twelve people in total.
Why did you end up living in that type of shared apartment?
L.A. housing is particularly expensive, but one of the main driving factors for this apartment was it was pre-furnished so we didn’t have to buy furniture. Housing around UCLA is definitely expensive and I’m already paying $750 per month even though I’m living with eleven other people.
How was transitioning from your hometown in Southern California to Westwood, Los Angeles in terms of location?
My hometown is only an hour south of UCLA, so it’s not much different in terms of the environment. One of the main reasons I chose UCLA was because it was close enough to home that I could visit whenever I wanted to but far enough that I could still be my own person during college.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
On campus and around campus is really safe. There is the blue light system all over campus and if you’re out late at night they have escort services. The further away you get from Westwood it feels a bit more dangerous, but in the immediate area, it’s pretty safe.

Social Opportunities

What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in?
There are a lot of different bars and clubs that we go to. If not that, you can always go to the frat houses. But, now that I’m in my fourth year, we go out to eat and chill at a bar. When I was younger, I would go to the frat houses more. I usually go out on Fridays. Thursdays are usually when the frat houses have their parties and Fridays and Saturdays are when anybody else would have their parties.
As a guy who’s not in Greek life, what’s the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
Even though I never joined a frat, I knew people who were in them and was able to go and party with them. Other than that, I wasn’t very involved with Greek life. If you know somebody in a fraternity, you can usually go to their parties.
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
Well, if you’re not into going to the frat houses or to bars, there’s always stuff to do in L.A. There are a lot of plays and concerts if you’re into that stuff. There’s great food, and there’s also trendy museums and different sightseeing areas.
How happy are you with the nightlife options at UCLA? Is there anything you would change if you could?
It seems like a lot of people are focused on going out on Thursdays and Fridays, so I wish that people would spend more time doing things on Saturday nights because I think that’s when most people are free. A lot of events are centered around Thursday and Friday night, so it’d be nice if there were more events on Saturday night.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
My closest friends are my roommates that I met during my first year and we really clicked and ended up staying together for the next couple of years. I also met a lot of good friends through the different clubs I was in.
How would you describe the overall social scene at UCLA?
Since it’s such a big school, it’s hard to say as a whole. It doesn’t feel like there is much of a unified social group unless you’re talking about going to the football games or another sporting event. That is when you feel UCLA is one social group. Apart from that, it’s pretty cliquey because you have so many clubs that are the different niches that people are interested in, so it’s pretty easy to segregate the school into groups. It’s not that the school isn’t inclusive, it’s just because there are so many different specific types of clubs that cater to specific needs.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I think UCLA is a very accepting school. It doesn’t seem like there is much of a difference between how race or gender identity would affect your experience at the school. There are diverse groups of friends and lots of different types of people here. [UCLA’s undergraduate population is about 3% African American, 28% Asian, 22% Hispanic, and 27% White.]
How would you describe the Southeast Asian community on campus? How strong is it?
There are some really big East Asian social groups on campus. I was never part of any of them because I focused my extracurriculars on engineering clubs, but there are really big resources and clubs if you’re looking for that.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
I think there is definitely a divide between people that are in Greek life and people who aren’t. I think if you’re not friends with anybody who is in Greek life, you’ll never be involved with that part of UCLA.
How has the size of your school influenced your social experience? [UCLA’s undergraduate population is about 31,000.]
UCLA’s undergraduate enrollment is fairly large compared to most other colleges, which is really nice because it gives you a really diverse student body that you can interact with. Whenever I’m in a class, there are always quite a few people that I could interact with to get help if I need to. The classes are pretty large and even in my upper-level classes there are always at least 20-30 people. With the large enrollment, even though the classes sizes are bigger, you have a lot more resources to work with and people to interact with.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
Not really. One of the things that was really helpful in finding internships and jobs was the career fairs UCLA holds. That was how I landed my first internship and got my full-time offer for after school. I think the career fairs were actually the biggest resource for me.
To what extent have you used the career office? How helpful were they?
I never used the career office, but they are responsible for organizing the career fairs which I found to be extremely useful.
Have you learned any computer programs or languages that will be helpful to you professionally?
In Electrical Engineering, we primarily work with C++ and MATLAB. MATLAB is the more important one. Throughout the coursework, there are different types of projects so you get a lot of exposure and experience with MATLAB which is pretty useful because it’s widely used in the industry – the same goes for C++.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how easy is the office to work with?
I use financial aid and I never really had to interact much with the office because my process was always pretty smooth.