<p>the econ department here is all degrees of bad. with the exception of maybe two professors, the rest of the instructors do a fantastic job of making you despise what could be a very interesting subject. i also find that there's too much of a mathematical approach to economics in a lot of the classes (i like studying economics from a philosophical or sociological standpoint). however, i've taken some really great management (accounting) classes, so i think the undergraduate management department is fine.</p>
<p>what everyone said about investment banking has been spot on. the best way to maximize your chances of landing that ibanking job is to go to an ivy league school, since it's one of those stodgy boy's club industry. yeah, there's talk how they will interview people of all majors, but what they mean is any major from an Ivy League school. i've gone through recruitment (in a different, but related industry), and i only know of one person who got an ibanking offer, and it's not from a top firm. it's the same deal with the top consulting firms (think mckinsey). in the words of my management professor, "maybe only one ucla student every five years gets that kind of offer, and that's if we're lucky".</p>
<p>sigh*** is the Econ department in UCLA that bad? I also heard that most Professors in LA only favor research and see teaching as duty rather than hobby!</p>
<p>It's true that you really don't do Business Economics for iBanking. HOWEVER, it is certainly possible. It really depends on what actions you take and how strong your networking is. I know a few people who are going into iBanking as solely Economics majors (Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan, etc.). However, it will take a lot of work on your part to really take the initiative.</p>
<p>But in general, Business Economics majors tend to go towards the Big 4 firms. IF you're interested in consulting, I know a lot of Math/Econ majors get into consulting (i know some who are going to Deloitte Consulting and Navigant).</p>
<p>Major is one thing, but I feel that with the right networks and taking initiatives, you can get ibanking, consulting, or accounting.</p>
<p>Heh, I didn't mean to sound like a downer with that bit. I was just trying to be real about the ibanking industry. Not only are they looking for a certain pedigree (ivy league, top notch gpa, etc), but also a certain personality and demeanor - so you've got to evaluate if you've have that as well. For example, during the interviews, you will most usually find the interviewers to be extremely arrogant and condescending. You will also find yourselves bombarded with a bunch of random curveball questions that hours and hours of interview coaching would not have adequately prepped you for. Basically, it tests you to see if you can think quickly and how you react in a high stress environment. Talking to some of my friends, I think those ibanking interviews were the toughest out of all they've done.</p>
<p>On the bright side, it is so INCREDIBLY easy to land a Big Four job when you're from UCLA (that's not true with some of the other UC's, where they either get limited or no recruiting presence from the firms). I got offers from all four firms with minimal time and effort, and lots of people I know got offers as well.</p>
<p>s_dragon, if you want me to, I can elaborate on why I find the econ department to be disappointing...</p>
<p>thecheesecake brings up a good point. Sorry, forgot to touch up on that.</p>
<p>IMO, the Econ department truly is disappointing. Personally, I find the Management courses to be much more practical and interesting. In addition, the Management professors are heaps better than the Econ ones.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The UCLA economics major is the largest economics undergraduate program among major universities in the country. The most dominant influence on the undergraduate program by far is its sheer size, impacting virtually everything we are currently able to do in our major. The size of our program also affects our future plans, because our current size places significant limitations on what we can feasibly expect to accomplish. Any attempt to expand course offerings, reduce class size, and make the program more personal fundamentally requires significantly more faculty.
<p>Obviously LA isn't nearly as difficult as NYC. I'm just saying that if he's interested in iBanking then there are possible opportunities here in LA.</p>
<p>so how good exactly is the biz econ program at ucla? are there lots of opportunities available out of graduation in business/companies? how good of a preparation is it for business school and getting your MBA?</p>
<p>i regret choosing ucla over berkeley just because of this theres no business at la thing. Anyway how much do IB make? i actually have no idea what accountants, consultants, investment bankers or any other jobs do. I just dont feel like going into the bio, engineering or arts field so i chose business. anyone wanna enlighten me?</p>
<p>Financing, investment, public finance, international finance, Mathematical Finance (3 level A B C totally), financial statement analysis, Money and Banking. 9 classes in finance you can take totally. Just don't know how about the quality and reputation is UCLA in IB. Need to mention that the finance classes are offered under Econ department (except Financial Statement Analysis), I don't know if the courses are teaching how we do in IB in the real world or just pure theory stuff.</p>
<p>Additional info: Mathematical Financing required Linear Algebra (Math 33A), and Math 170 or Stats 100A. And the class is also only offer in Fall(A) WInter (B) Spring (C). but the school doesn't offer Math Finance C in all spring, if you really wanna take all 3 courses, you should start doing it in Junior ( I am trying to cram the Math requirements this summer T_T). I believe this Math Finance series will help you a lot if you want pursue Financial Engineering in MBA (quantitative)</p>
<p>s_dragon, yeah it's not exactly all fun and sunshine working as an accountant with the Big Four, but few people actually plan on staying there long term. Most people I know plan on using their Big Four experience as leverage to get into business school or to become a CFO /controller of a publically traded company. Ibanking/consulting seem to be sexier industries that most bizecon undergrads aspire to go into, but public accounting can also give you a good career launching pad as well, imo.</p>
<p>jfk, I'm not sure what you mean by how good the bizecon program is, but think of it more as an economics program with an accounting emphasis.</p>
<p>I agree with you Cheesecake. working in big 4 can prepare for the CPA test also.
Cheescake, can you provide us more about your first handed exp in Econ dept ? why and how you disappointed about it ?</p>