About this major
Mechanical Engineering is a versatile field focusing on the design, analysis, and manufacturing of mechanical systems. Students learn to apply principles of physics and materials science to create and improve machines and tools across various industries.
Student Experience
Academic Balance
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.
It’s definitely more project based, I wished I had done more projects than classes as I learned much more through doing than lectures.
That it’s definitely a hard major but really fulfilling for those who actually want to do it. It’s also has good career outlooks
A LOT OF PHYSICS. be prepared to do physics constantly
While it may seem like hard work, it definitely has its payout as many times you will be able to build your own technical projects and showcase what you build.
I think mechanical engineering is just a cool major to start with. It introduces you to so many engineering concepts, mainly because mechanical is the most broad in my opinion. Honestly, I just think engineering is awesome, so I might just be biased.
I think you would learn more doing projects than in class.
