<p>I just came across this board while I was looking for some information on college admission process (I work in private education industry), and upon spotting a handful of eager, determined, and ambitious youngsters who are waiting for another critical, yet fun stage of their lives, I would like to post a few very practical points on the best way to capitalize on your education at UCLA (or for that matter, any other campuses of UC.)</p>
<p>For your information, I graduated with a BA degree in Business Economics in 2001, so I might be a little biased toward giving more business industry-focused advice.</p>
<li>The job search starts as early as your sophomore year!</li>
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<p>Although you will interview for a full-time, first post-graduate job position in the last quarter of your senior year, you need to plan ahead, as early as two years prior to graduation. The best way to separate yourself from others, hence putting yourself in the best position to garner job offers, is by taking up on a prestigious internship program offered by a variety of fortunate 500 companies, such as Microsoft, IBM, Goldman Sach, and McKinsey. </p>
<p>The student are selected based on GPA, unique characteristics, motivation, and interview. Thus, you need to have a strong GPA (something like 3.5+) to get invited for a final interview call. Once you secure the internship position, you are basically set, as the company will pay you a large amount of money for your services over the summer and the relationship you would get to build with the senior level people at respective companies will certainly pay dividends when you are trying to get a “real” job.</p>
<p>No one gave me this kind of advice when I was studying at UCLA, and had I gotten such advice, I would have had far more opportunities to jumpstart my career, even though I have already received great values in return for my education at UCLA, in terms of job offers, compensation packages, and the prestige level of the company I was once associated with.</p>
<li>If you plan to get a job first before you go on to the graduate school, take a lot of math classes.</li>
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<p>Not only taking higher level math classes, such as Math 32A: Several Variables of Calculus and Statistics, would provide with real-life, practical business acumen, but also taking them would signal to potential recruiters that you are a very bright person with dedication who possess keen COMMON ENSE (read: logical thinking). It’s just amazing to see how “normal” people lack such basic common sense when working with each other in real life, but really, really, common sense in the form of fluid logic matters a lot.</p>
<p>And in order to train yourself in this regard and to send positive signal to potential suitors of your professional service, take as many math courses as you can. Trust me. Doing so will give so much benefits of doubt when entering the job market.</p>
<li>UCLA stands for “University of Caucasians Lost among Asians”.</li>
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<p>As the name implies, UCLA, for that matter other UC campuses, is such a diverse place, and if you havent been in a situation where every individual around you is with some weird ethnic background, it might be a good idea to join some clubs that would help you gain some various perspectives on life. Remember you are not attending college just to get education, you are going to college in order to prepare for a real world. And boys and girls, the real world is a full of diversity, whether the diversity is nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, interests, beliefs, religions, etc.</p>
<p>Knowing how to present yourself and how to carry yourself even in the most awkard situation is what will make you great among your peers.</p>
<p>Talking about presenting yourself, also take some Business Communication courses in which you would be practicing your speech and presentation manner - a huge confidence booster.</p>
<li>Take as many writing courses as you can.</li>
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<p>Similar line of reasoning as the No. 2.</p>
<p>You would be surprised to learn how many people come out of college without even knowing the basic difference between formal business writing and informal writing.</p>
<p>Again, more you practice, better you will be.</p>
<p>The name tag value of UCLA carries a lot of weight whether you are living in LA, in Asia, or other parts of the world.</p>
<p>When I graduated from UCLA in 2001, I came out with a couple of great job offers, and looking back, I can only think of one possible explanation for such humble position I was in - the values of UCLA education.</p>
<p>Many executives working in LA have either working experiences with UCLA graduates or at least quite familiar with the rigorous curriculum set by UCLA standard. If you want to live and work in LA, then the place to go is, hands down, UCLA. I even got accepted to UC Berkeley in 1995, but I decided not to go there for the reasons hard to quantify or qualitify back then. And I havent looked back at all, as I quickly became enamored with UCLA and everything it offered!</p>
<p>I wrote this little post to your fellas so that you guys would, hopefully, receive the same level of benefits and opportunities when I graduated back in 2001.</p>
<p>I even got accepted to UC Berkeley in 1995, but I decided not to go there for the reasons hard to quantify or qualitify back then. And I havent looked back at all, as I quickly became enamored with UCLA and everything it offered!</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>