Mechanical Engineering

UCLA is a great place to study mechanical engineering, despite it not being one of the top engineering programs in the country. Although many classes are lackluster and projects are rare, UCLA still offers abundant opportunities to develop your engineering skills. There are hands-on E1 labs, a complete makerspace and workshop, and tons of amazing clubs with motivated people.

I think the quality of mechanical engineering professors at UCLA vary wildly, from pretty terrible to phenomenal. If classes are the focus, I highly recommend someone to attend a university with better quality teaching that is more focused on undergraduates. However, the student body is very active and hard working, especially if your goal is aerospace/space industry, where there a lot of connections to be made.

Difficult, there is a lot of theory and not a lot of application, join clubs. They helped me the most.

Come in knowing that it is very math and conceptual heavy, but also brush up on your writing and presentation skills! Macbooks not recommended either…

I chose mechanical engineering because i was interested in studying a combination of design and technical skills that could be applied to physical products. I do think are many opportunities to learning technical skills in this major, although not that many are from school courses. I also thought there would be more opportunity to explore the design (including practicality and visual aesthetic), but i realize now that industrial or product engineering may be more focused on that aspect, not mechanical engineering. I think that you can definitely go into something more niche/specific, you just have to take initiative to do it yourself.

Heavy on hardware stuffs. If you love legos & tinkering, yes! You’re in the right place:))

I wish my school had better resources to support this major. We don't have the best equipment or access to machinery, so technical clubs often have to compete for space.

If you chose ME because you like robotics, I would recommend you do computer or software related engineering instead (unless you like designing the hardware etc).

DA BEST MAJOR like you can literally will anything into existence and learn about the various methods and ways to go about doing so. The workload is heavy and def takes a lot to study the curriculum but the result is supa worth.

The most challenging part has been the class work and balancing it between everything I do outside of class. The most rewarding part has actually been applying it during internships as well as feeling more confident in my engineering capability.

I've enjoyed the hands on work and being able to turn my ideas into physical products and be able to size and choose components based on MechE knowledge

Definitely join a team where you build something! Math isn’t everything.

I’ve been given the tools to be an engineer, but practical application is on the student to pursue.

The beginning of mechE is pretty easy depending on how many credits you come in with and consequently what classes you start with. This can ramp up quickly and leave many unprepared or blind sided after the first semester.

There is a lot of work and effort needed to get through Tech ME classes. However, if you work to build your understanding and not just check boxes, then you will be very prepared and confident in your engineering ability.