4 Comments
 

Honestly, UCLA has a subpar education for the sticker price but have you thought about transferring to USC after your freshman year? Imo you're better off taking the full ride, crushing it at Cal State for your freshman year, joining the right clubs, hustling for a banking internship in the summer and then if you're still interested in IB you can either transfer to USC for the ocr, network, brand recognition or continue to be the scrappy high performing kid. 

 

I've been in a similar situation. You should go where you have the broadest and strongest opportunities. I chose another UC school over UCLA. Not sure what I was thinking, but I didn't know about finance at the time and I chose based on fit. Realized too late that there is little to no recruiting presence. Although I broke into banking, it was an uphill battle. UCLA is a fantastic school with a respectable recruiting presence for west coast banking. No doubt you could break in from anywhere, but this could be the difference between getting any banking gig, and placing somewhere you're really happy with. Don't pass up LA unless you absolutely hate the campus or something.

 

Choose UCLA

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Voluptatem enim sed asperiores labore explicabo perferendis. Sit et dolor dicta nihil temporibus alias aperiam.

Officia tempora tenetur dolorem voluptatum laborum. Ut asperiores dicta commodi quo occaecati in. Nobis labore consequuntur ex vel in voluptatibus. Ipsa perspiciatis deleniti id ratione aut quo quam. Non iusto omnis fugiat et.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (66) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”