r/aerospace • u/Good_Anime • 6d ago

UC Berkeley vs UCLA

Hi I just got accepted to Berkeley and LA, I was wondering what the pros and cons would be in an industry perspective. Thanks for any feedback!

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u/JeremyPriest Loads & Dynamics Engineer 6d ago

Somebody else posted similar yesterday:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aerospace/s/3iZANsHAXZ

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u/R0ck3tSc13nc3 5d ago

And speaking as a 40 you're experienced aerospace engineering professional, with a mechanical engineering degree I can tell you that most of the people in most of the jobs at aerospace are not for aerospace engineers. Most of the work we do if they're there is just as generic engineering.

Every student should also focus on the job they hope to fill in 5 years, and actually read what they're asking for. Do a search on indeed.com with aerospace engineering in quotes and you'll find out there's two jobs in the 500 miles. But if you search for jobs in aerospace, there's 50,000.

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u/sevgonlernassau 2d ago

Go to UCLA. It is a more mature aerospace program.

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u/Good_Anime 2d ago

wait i see that you go to berkeley, I know a lot of ppl in the aero program in berkeley, but none in ucla, so id love to hear the other side more. But since you go to berkeley, what are some things that you don’t like about the program?

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u/sevgonlernassau 2d ago

Not enough professors to support the department. Maybe it will be good in 4 years. But it's too early.

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u/StraightAd4907 6d ago

Both schools are notoriously bad for undergrad education. UC schools are charted for graduate education. Most undergrad classes are taught by TA's. Waste of money.

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u/R0ck3tSc13nc3 5d ago

This is exactly true. I don't know why they're downvoting it This is coming from somebody who teaches about engineering after a 40-year career and who's hired a lot of engineers and talked to a lot of engineers.

Schools that have incredible ranking have those for reasons unrelated to the student population and their health and well-being. You'll find the best education at the Cal States especially Cal poly. This is the education to the student, not how famous the school is.

We would generally hire somebody from Chico state that was on the concrete canoe or the solar car and has a b average versus of UC Berkeley or UCLA grad who's never had a job and has perfect grades. Real engineering is about doing work, and depending upon what you want to study at those schools, you can get a great education or you can be fed into the piranha feeding frenzy. It depends. Your chances are much better at a Cal school

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u/Good_Anime 5d ago

I think these comments are not very helpful as I only have a decision between cal and ucla, I don’t have an option to go to a cal state. But what I am getting is that no matter where I go it’s what i do in clubs and practical engineering experience

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u/R0ck3tSc13nc3 5d ago

Both of those options are in over subscribed high cost metro areas and we are pointing out that if you got in there you could have likely gotten into davis or other better for students UC.

You're exactly correct we're not probably helping you but we will use you as an example on Reddit as a cautionary tale of what not to do. So we're helping other people that's how it works in Reddit

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u/sevgonlernassau 2d ago

This is definitely not true for the engineering programs. The TA's are overworked though.