Are you planning to study abroad or transfer to Cali entirely? Cuz in most cases if you transfer be prepared to spend an extra 2 years for that one year. I'd stay in Sweden if I were you. Maybe it's different for international students but transferring from school to school in the states is generally suicide for your credits.

tredmasta

China152 Posts

August 17 2009 19:40 GMT

#22

Hey ZpuX,

I went to Caltech for 2 years, and personally I would not recommend it. Ridiculously expensive, unnecessarily difficult, and the profs don't care about teaching. Don't go there unless you want a huge hit to your GPA.

It's also extremely hard to get in as a transfer student.

ZpuX

Sweden1230 Posts

August 17 2009 19:40 GMT

#23

I plan on only taking one year, we have a few courses we have take to get our master degree, but if I can find similar courses and if my school accepts them as exchange courses it wont mess with my credits at all. Also, during our 4th year we have alot of "free to chose" courses, which means I can read pretty much everything I want to. I'm also already taking extra classes so that I can get more free time off of my studies in the USA. My biggest concern was how easy it is to get accepted at the university (seems to be fine), and how much it would cost, but seems like I can overcome it somehow.

LosingID8

CA10824 Posts

August 17 2009 19:42 GMT

#24

check out USC. it's a bit more expensive than UCLA or Cal though. our graduate engineering programs are overall very good, but i'm not sure about mech specifically.

Braintricks

137 Posts

August 18 2009 18:17 GMT

#25

Eh, if you're also interested in having a good time, I'd look into UC Santa Barbara. Only second to Berks and UCLA really for engineering and the latter is debatable. Plus, you'd be getting the stereotypical on the beach sunshine filled California you've always dreamed of. And mad sick parties yo.

searcher

277 Posts

August 18 2009 18:38 GMT

#26

Having been to Stanford and Caltech for several summers, I'd say that Caltech is the best engineering school in the US. MIT has better job prospects, but it seems to have lost touch with the substance of science, and is more concerned with its image and fancy architects and humanities and media. You can tell that Caltech has always been about nerds doing things they love and nothing else. Plus there are plenty of opportunities to work at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab if you decide to head in that direction.
Stanford is nice too, a much larger, self-contained campus with plenty to see and students of specialization. A nice culture too that owes much to the impeccable weather, I would choose Stanford if you want to avoid the sprawling eyesore that is LA.
Then again both schools are exceedingly difficult to get into, regardless of how good you are a significant portion of acceptance will be down to luck. Hope you go somewhere you enjoy.

klizzer

517 Posts

August 18 2009 18:56 GMT

#27

Come to party with me and Saracen, hell yes! Caltech for the win.

Seriously, most of the schools mentioned in this thread offer good education, but the question really is if you can really get in AND afford it.

Underwhelmed

United States207 Posts

August 18 2009 23:21 GMT

#28

Some of the schools that haven't been mentioned much so far:
UCSD is fairly well regarded, particularly for Aerospace I think
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is supposed to be more geared towards practice than theory, compared to the UCs, but has a good reputation regardless.
Harvey Mudd (Undergrad only, supposed to be one of the best undergraduate programs in the country)
I do Mechanical Engineering at UCSB, and it has failed to impress me

caldo149

United States469 Posts

August 18 2009 23:38 GMT

#29

I go to UCSB and i have a few friends in engineering... I've heard good things about it.

I'd recommend UCSB =) It's a lot of fun here too and there's great weather all the time.

joewest

United States167 Posts

August 19 2009 02:55 GMT

#30

Harvey Mudd college is a great school for engineering. If you look at the US News and World report rankings it's rated second among engineering schools without a graduate program (citi.zen's list is for those with a doctorate program). Cal poly SLO is also up there, and as underwhelmed said is more geared toward practice than theory.

I promote these two because they are completely devoted to the undergraduate student. Mudd will also take good care of you since enrollment is at 765 students, and Mudd takes a liberal arts approach to running a college (ranked 14th for liberal arts colleges in the US). The unique combination of top-tier engineering and liberal arts is not a combination you will find anywhere else in CA or the United States The only downside to Mudd is the cost, which, without scholarships, will run over $50,000 a year. And don't expect you gpa to go up if you come here.

I'm currently attending Mudd for chemistry, hence my shameless plug.

Edit: answering a few more of your questions:

I would estimate Harvey Mudd will require at least a 3.5 gpa to attend. Also, there is no specific engineering majors here, you just have to learn a little bit of everything. I don't know what type of courses you would require, but you can check it out here http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/engineering.html

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will cost less and require a lower gpa to get in. I don't know the exact cost for somebody paying out of state tuition, I would expect around $25,000.

Vilda

Sweden111 Posts

August 19 2009 09:14 GMT

#31

Speak to CSN, they have a pretty good program for students going to study abroad, you just need to know when and where, apply in time and for it to be possible to include it in your own program/educiation, which clearly is the case. They're very helpful, and I think they could cover most of the fees.

thedeadhaji

39489 Posts

August 19 2009 10:18 GMT

#32

On August 18 2009 01:44 Last Romantic wrote:
._. I remember when CIT was still acme. What happened, guys?! Outranked by Georgia?

Though I suppose since it's a USNews ranking, it would behoove you to take it with a grain of salt.

... LR you clearly aren't an engineer

P

Georgia Tech has consistently been one of the best engineering schools over the last decade, and if anything they've dropped a few spots (back in like 2005, they were #4 behind the big 3 - MIT Stanford Cal).

California Engineering schools:

1) Stanford
2) University of California Berkeley
3) Cal Tech
4) Harvey Mudd

after this I think it'd be

5) UCLA

simply b/c ... there just aren't that may top top top tier schools left in the state.

But then again it'd also depend on what lv of program you'd be intersted in too.

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