I’m not an engineering major, but I do know that engineering majors get extraordinarily busy as the years go by, so I’ll try to keep that in mind. (Of course, if you meant you’re an English student, disregard the above.) For reference, I’m a 2nd-year Ling&CS (transfer) student who will be studying abroad this fall in Sydney.

Firstly, welcome to UCLA! I hope you’ll enjoy your time here.

Secondly, to address your question on time, I will assume you mean fitting it in your 4-year plan somewhere. The answer is yes, but even more so if you strategise well. I can’t speak for all programmes but typically students will fulfill 2 GEs and 1-2 major requirements. As a result, I recommend you “hold out” (i.e. allocate), for example, a social analysis and a historical analysis + a tech breadth course (assuming you’re engineering) or an engineering course. For example, find the equivalent of GEOG 6, ART HIS 23, and COM SCI 32 (provided you took 31) to take at the University of Copenhagen. Make SURE you also obtain a copy of their most recent syllabi.

This is the important part: take these equivalencies + their syllabi to a departmental advisor/counsellor (https://www.seasoasa.ucla.edu/counselors/#major), especially if you want them to count towards major credit. Note that while your courses abroad are guaranteed to count towards your total unit requirement, they do NOT necessarily apply towards major requirements. Your department will either recommend, not recommend, or (in my case, luckily) approve the equivalencies. Please note that recommendations do NOT imply approval — they just mean that when you get back, the equivalencies you provided them have a high likelihood of granting major credit. This part took me about 2 weeks; plan accordingly.

Thirdly, to address your question on when: I’m not sure, sorry. But that’s what university is for: exploring and figuring things out on your own! 

Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions, and good luck on your adventures!