Is UCLA and other top public schools really that bad?
In the title Is UCLA and other top public schools really that bad? UCLA is the top public school in the nation and has been absolutely demolished on this forums, It is actually bad, or are comments by people who are salty they didnt get in??
From what I've read it seems like it just has abysmal placement. Although, I don't know why anyone would be "salty" they didn't get into UCLA. That school is overrated and only people obsessed with Cali and can't live anywhere else want to go there. No thanks
I don't know how you can call UCLA "overrated" based solely on their IB placement? Kids that actually go into IB likely represent less than 1% of the school's population. People on here are drawing broad generalizations based on what happens to a very small subset of the school's population... It's a stellar school, with less than stellar banking resources.
I think what's getting lost is that UCLA is an amazing school but the people on this forum saying it's overrated are talking specifically for what this forum cares about, which is mostly IB, S&T, and consulting. Nobody is questioning that it's a great school for other non-business areas. While it's ranked #20 on US News, it's not as high as #20 for someone interested in these areas because of a large and very smart student body. For example, recruiting for these top jobs is objectively easier at Georgetown, Cal, USC, Michigan, UVA, NYU, and a couple other schools that are all ranked lower than UCLA.
It's a great academic school, and does okay in business/finance but not as good as Mich, Cal, UVA, UNC and some other strong semi-targets like Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and USC because you have to get into very competitive clubs to get the good IB/consulting gigs. Don't use just US News rankings to make your college decision.
It's a good school and I know people who go there that are having a good time. Not great for finance recruiting abd networking though
Not sure where all this criticism of UCLA is coming from, but I'll address a couple things. It's a great school if you're looking to exit on the west coast. Every strong bank here has plenty of UCLA alumni. Being in one of the 3 or 4 top finance clubs is pretty important, but if you come in as a freshman targeting them and can't get into one, I doubt how strong your chances of placing would be at any school; I'm in one and, especially as a freshman, the bar is having a decent grasp on technicals and a decent level of social skills. There's also an Investment Banking Workshop put on by the Undergraduate Business Society that places nearly everyone to good shops. This group is made up of mostly people in those 3/4 finance clubs and the number is ~25. The workshop is also pretty important, but I've seen people land EBs and BBs who weren't in it, but they were pretty competitive, just didn't manage to get accepted into the workshop for one reason or another. While the number of absolute placements is low when you compare to other top publics, remember that there is no undergraduate business school and not many people are actually gunning for IB. No one I know who has followed the typical path has failed to get an offer. Ultimately, if you join a club, have relevant internships (usually handed down from such clubs), a good GPA, and aren't weird then you will get an offer. It's really not that hard.
Will say that going to NYC is hard and usually reserved for top tier diversity students. Also one of the clubs has a pipeline to CS NY, but I don't know much about that.
UCLA and other top publics are definitely not bad. I think they just get a lot of shit for being very large schools with an in-state bias, which is the nature of every public school. Thus, private schools are seen as more "prestigious" in a way. Don't worry about what others think. UCLA is a fantastic school and you can do pretty much whatever you want there.
Like UCB, UCLA is a big school packed with intelligent and highly competitive students. It's a stat-driven, resume-padding demographic . . . and that makes it difficult for any single student to stand out. Unless you stay on top of your game, you can all too easily get lost in the mix--to the detriment of your chances at landing a top-tier finance job after graduation.
In more general terms, though, to call UCLA "bad" is ridiculous. Taken in toto, and considering its graduate programs, UCLA (like its sibling UCB) is one of the best universities in the world. Also, bear in mind that it's a bit premature to refer casually to UCLA as the "top-ranked public university." Very, very recently, it passed UCB on a particular rankings list (i.e., US News); while that list might be regarded as gospel truth by rich kids in China, those more familiar with the history of US education take such things with a grain of salt.
As a UCLA alum, I would say that if I knew I was going to do banking coming into college, I would have gone to a school with an undergraduate business program. However, UCLA is a good school with a great campus environment and surrounding city. It's a "target" school for west coast banking focused in LA. It doesn't have a lot of alumni presence on the East Coast. Without a business program, a lot of students don't know what IB is so they aren't well-prepared come sophomore year recruiting.
You can see what placement has been here: https://www.uclaubsbruins.com/investment-banking-events
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