A curated guide
to the rooms.
Where should
you start?
We picked thirty-six engineering organizations our mentors recommend by name. Some are workshops; some are families; some are entire little subcultures. Filter by what you want, or ignore the filters — half the fun is wandering in.
Bruin Racing is recruiting first-years this week — no welding experience required, just a willingness to learn how a shop hums.
- Bruin RacingBuild
Five teams, one shop. Formula, Baja, supermileage, rocketry, and a quiet electric-vehicle group nobody can shut up about.
Tues · Engineering IV Shop - ACM at UCLABuild
The umbrella for everything CS. Hack, AI, Cyber, Studio, Teach LA, ICPC — pick the room that already feels like home.
Wed · Engineering VI 289 - IEEEBuild
Soldering nights, MicroMouse, the always-running PCB workshop. Where hardware people find each other.
Mon · Engineering IV 17 - Society of Women EngineersIdentity
A long, careful network of women in engineering — the kind of place where “you’ll figure it out” is not the answer to anything.
Thurs · Boelter 4760 - NSBEIdentity
National Society of Black Engineers, UCLA chapter. Mentorship, conventions, and a whiteboard that holds the year together.
Tues · Engineering VI 105 - SHPEIdentity
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers — first-gen energy, professional dev, and a Día de los Muertos potluck that shouldn’t be missed.
Wed · Boelter 3400 - Rocket ProjectCompete
Liquid rocketry built by undergraduates. We launch in the Mojave; we learn in the parking lot.
Sat · Engineering IV Roof Lab - Bruin AIResearch
Reading group, project tracks, and a steadfast refusal to put “AI” in the name of every demo.
Fri · Math Sciences 6627 - UCLA Bioengineering SocietyResearch
Pre-med-adjacent, lab-tour-rich, and the only org with a working bread-mold bioreactor in a windowsill.
Tues · Engineering V 5121 - Theta TauIndustry
Co-ed professional engineering fraternity. Fewer rituals than you’d expect; more career fairs than you’d think.
Sun · Engineering VI 200
Three doors to walk through.
Start with ACM or SWE. They greet you the loudest, and they’ll introduce you to the rest.
Bruin Racing or Rocket Project. Walk into a shop. Ask what you can hand someone.
NSBE, SHPE, or SWE — depending on the room you want to be in.