Recently I have been more interested in attending any one of the UC schools. Most only offer Business Economics and a form of Business Management which I could deal with either. From what I have heard UC schools focus more on things like research and problem solving rather than the fundamentals of say, business. I am worried that a program like this doesn’t offer the real world skills one needs. I would like to go to a Pac 12 school so I was really just wondering if this UC schools are worth it or if I would be better of at schools like the University of Oregon, CU Boulder or University of Arizona?
Any input is much appreciated.
Thank you.
First of all, 3 UC schools have undergraduate business schools. They are UC Berkeley’s Haas, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside. The other UC’s, including UCLA, offer undergraduate degrees in business economic/management. Only UC Berkeley and UCLA are members in the Pac 12. Since you are willing to go out of state and pay out of state tuition, you might want to also consider USC’s Marshall undergraduate business school. USC’s business school has an excellent reputation and USC is also a Pac 12 conference member.
With regards to research, problem solving and fundamentals, UCB Haas does teach it and I am sure the other UC’s do too. Also, Haas, and I am sure the same for the UCI and UCR, many successful business people come from the UC’s.
You cannot apply to UCB’s Haas as freshman. Most people transfer to Haas from UC Berkeley or a community college. It is very difficult to transfer to Haas from anywhere else, even from another UC. The GPA for UCB students to transfer to Haas is around 3.7+ and for CC transfers, it is around 3.8+.
The University of Washington (UW) in Seattle also has an excellent undergraduate business school (Foster School of Bus.). UW is a Pac 12 member and the business school and the overall school is higher ranked than the out of state Pac 12 schools you mentioned (Univ. of Oregon, Colorado and Arizona).
Both UW and USC’s undergraduate business schools are very competitive to get in.
As mentioned above, there are undergrad business schools at some of the UC campuses. But beyond that, the “real world” skills you will develop most in college are the ability to complete and demonstrate you can intelligently get the job done. Actual business classes are not necessarily teaching that, though they are helpful.
Check out what type of placement results each school has experienced from the majors you mentioned, as well as longer term school reputation impacts on careers and connections. If you want to work in LA or SF, it may be better to go to one of the UC schools like Berkeley or UCLA in a non-business major than say business school at CU Boulder.