UCLA vs IU Kelley

I know this post has been done before but I saw this post on Reddit and it's making me question what school I want to attend. Am still waiting for all my college acceptances (already have Kelley admission) but until now UCLA has always been my dream school. Thoughts on this post?

"UCLA - top 20 school, crazy low acceptance rate, but for some reason, our career center is one of the worst. Can someone explain to me why a school like Indiana University sends about 80 kids a year into investment banking while UCLA only sends like 25-30 at max? Outside of that, Indiana University has dedicated workshops all across the board for other business careers as well that successfully propel students into other high finance careers outside of investment banking, like capital markets, wealth management, and other business roles like consulting.

Look here: https://kelley.iu.edu/programs/undergrad/academics/workshops/index.html

Meanwhile, UCLA, although it claims to want to boost its numbers, only took 16 students this year into its prestigious IB Sharpe Fellows program, and about 20 kids into its workshop (with pretty much every kid from Sharpe in workshop). Also, the investment banking workshop at UCLA is run by students, so a lot of times, it's students letting their friends in. While at Kelley, it's run by faculty, so they're able to judge their students based on merit, and not which clubs they're in and who they're friends with. Speaking of clubs, we have a bunch of selective clubs here that make everything worse for everyone as well, destroying hopes of underclassman who can't get into those clubs their first and second years.

For a top 20 school, why the fuck is our career center so content with sending the majority of our Business/Econ majors into shitty paying accounting roles every single fucking year? UCLA loves to brag about they admit a shit ton of first generation college students - okay, well the poverty cycle is gonna fucking continue if all you do is send them into audit. Pretty much all the kids who nab those successful IB/consulting jobs are UCLA are privileged/rich - I seriously don't think I've met a single one who was a first-generation or low income student.

Consulting recruiting is pretty bullshit here too - we only send about 5-7 kids a year into MBB, and probably about 10 more into T2 firms. Berkeley, Michigan, UVA alone send about 20 kids into MBB, and another shit ton into T2. Meanwhile, UCLA is content with sending a bunch of kids into fake consulting roles like Deloitte Tech and Accenture Tech Development Program.

Just wanted to rant here. My friends at UVA have such an easy time with recruiting because their clubs matter less and their alumni push for them, while it's been kinda rough for me at UCLA. Just wish the career center saw this shit and revamped recruiting at UCLA, instead of letting everything be ran by the kids who knew they wanted to be in banking since freshman year of high school because their parents were."

https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/lxdvqu/can…

11 Comments
 

Two reasons: 

1. UCLA is on the west coast

2. Their alum network isn't strong, and lesser so in IB

Regardless, UCLA is a great school and you can definitely break in. I would pick UCLA. 

 

Based on biased info from friends, UCLA is more focused on the general liberal education. Also it’s a quite target for tech firms.

In term of IB numbers, the stats might be skewed because not everyone who got in is in the clubs you mentioned? As diversity and networking could contribute to more people get in but not counted. Also it’s hard to learn the number of people who are serious about IB in the first place.

 

I went to UCLA, ask away. Based on the other comments, I agree that you can break in but it would've been easier elsewhere. Flying to NYC for job interviews wasn't fun, especially if you have to go all the time. Most of my friends ended up in media, communications, talent management etc, they were super happy with UCLA. I wasn't entirely. It was an OK school for finance but not ideal if you have options.

edit: my response was only regarding UCLA, i don't know anything about the other school.

 
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