How to Network with Non-Alumni?

I've been trying to ramp up my networking, and I've had around a dozen calls so far. I'm at UCLA, so a semi-target, especially for SF which is where I'm focusing about 95% of my outreach. So far I've only reached out to alumni. We have a somewhat weak alumni network, and I've seen mixed success.

At a lot of banks I've already reached out to the few UCLA alums and now want to expand my efforts. I'm not really sure how to go about this, so I would really appreciate any advice on what that kind of email should look like.

I've seen some advice saying it's a good idea to play up the idea of not being from a target school and reach out to other non-targets. My worry is that UCLA is in a weird middle ground of not being a target school but possibly too good to play the non-target card.

Thanks!