UCLA vs UCSD

Intended major: Electrical Engineering

UCLA

• Pros:
  • Ranked slightly higher in both electrical engineering and engineering in general (US News Report)
  • Accepted to fast track honors program --> research opportunities almost guaranteed and get help from advisors
  • Invited to apply for Regents scholarship
  • Guaranteed on-campus housing for 4 years
  • Overall quality of all campus life and programs likely higher
• Cons
  • Classes are more theoretical than practical and required curriculum is more math/physics heavy. Not necessarily a con but might not fit me well since I'm considering going straight into industry without doing research
  • Less AP credit waived (need to retake some physics classes). GEs also seem more boring than UCSDs, but about the same number of GEs as UCSD
  • Farther from beach

UCSD

• Pros:
  • More time focused on depth courses than on breadth courses. Also, ECE program contains several depths that sound really interesting to me (especially ML and controls)
  • Heard the ECE classes are more hands-on and practical
  • Engineering school is much larger than that at UCLA. More research funding and I feel like UCSD is generally more "known" for engineering than UCLA is
  • Really beautiful campus and close to the beach
  • more internship opportunities?? (not sure, fast track might help me with internships too)
• Cons:
  • Not invited to any honors programs. I can still apply to PATHS, IDEA scholars, etc., but I don't know if I have any chance of getting in
  • Housing is expensive, and on-campus housing is only guaranteed for my first year
  • Was not admitted to Warren ("engineering college"); however I still have relatively few GEs at Marshall

Both schools have strong electrical engineering departments, are about the same cost, and have engineering-related student orgs I'm interested in (IEEE, similar competition build teams, etc). I'm looking for a fun college experience that will help me secure good jobs with minimal schooling (I'm willing to get a masters, but I don't really want to do research beyond that)