UCSB Economics vs UCR Business Administration

Hi all,

Long story short, 25 years old college dropout going back to school, cumulative GPA is a 3.3 due to horrible work ethic my first 2 years of community college. Cumulative GPA Is terrible, I know, nothing I can do about it. Not here to talk about past failures, only future successes.

Just applied to UCs for transfer - rejected from Berkeley Haas, UCLA, UCI (no surprises there with a 3.3). Accepted to UCSB (Economics), UCR (Business Administration).

Pros for UCSB: higher ranked, higher prestige, better school environment
Cons for UCSB: Econ major
Pros for UCR: Business major
Cons for UCR: Bad reputation, they'll accept anyone

Obviously neither schools are targets, but due to the differing majors, which would be a better pick for me in hopes for a finance job?

Extra info: Extremely motivated, built initial net worth from crypto luck, have some options experience, detail oriented. CFA level 1 candidate for June. Understand basic accounting and econ. Will eventually get a MSF/MBA.

Honesty is preferred, no need to sugarcoat anything. Thanks for any possible advice.

 

collegedropout, pure crickets, that's where I come in. Any of these useful?

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Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.

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Most Helpful

I currently attend UCSB and am an Econ major there.

You're right about all the pros/cons; UCR is not good for brand name, the only plus it has over UCSB might be the fact that they have more relevant finance courses. But UCSB is Top 5 public school, Top 30 including privates, and the 3rd ranked UC. So it would likely still look better.

UCSB's econ department focuses much more on economic research than finance. There aren't a lot of classes that are going to give you much relevant finance experience, but the school itself is excellent and has a good name brand.

Not sure if you already know this but you will need to take Econ 10A at UCSB before you are actually accepted into the full major. If you don't pass with a B you won't get in, and there are no ways around this (other than trying to get into their Econ/Acct major). So be ready for that, as Econ 10A is known to be one of the biggest 'dream killers' at UCSB.

Bottom line, I would go with UCSB mostly for the name brand. The experience/location is also top-notch.

Also the UCI is a bit of a surprise because of its high-ish acceptance rate and lower ranking.

 

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