<p>In top schools like Harvard and Berkeley majority of Business and Econ majors go to finance career, but although UCLA is a good school its prestige is not up to the standard to be considered as one of the target schools for the BB firms. I heard in the Westcoast, UC Berkeley is the minimum level of school that BB firms will look at for recruiting and grads from schools below Berkeley's prestige level will be very lucky just to be considered for interview. </p>
<p>I'm very depressed. I was admitted to UCLA this year but got rejected to all of the first-choice schools. Other schools I got admitted were the crappys UCs like UCSD and Irvine and University of Arizona, so I had no choice but to choose UCLA. I want to become an investment banker, but I'm worried that UCLA's prestige and name value will actually be a deterring factor for breaking into investment banking industry when I'll have to compete against candidates from better schools like Haas and Stanford since I'll most likely work in the Bay area where most of finance firms are concentrated in. I thought about transferring next year but I just got through the whole tedious application process and the thought of having to go through all that next year just makes me sick. </p>
<p>How well do UCLA grads fare in getting into IBanking?</p>
<p>Any job you can get at Berkeley you can get at UCLA. </p>
<p>Only on this website is UCLA not a "top school." Reality is a very different thing from what you see around here. Keep that in mind. Oh, and UCSD isn't a "crappy UC." In many ways, it's academically superior to UCLA.</p>
<p>Seriously, I think you're overdoing it here. Enjoy your stay at UCLA, and worry about your career later.</p>
<p>thank you for addressing everything i was too annoyed to address. </p>
<p>the us news and world report is not real life. a school's ranking (especially a school AS GOOD AS UCLA) will not hinder you from achieving what you want to achieve if you work for it. you're not settling for anything. you got into a good school. be happy about that.</p>
<p>
[quote]
im a pretty firm believer that UCLA will get you anywhere you want to go if you work hard enough.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, and same goes to any other schools in the country (except community colleges). It still doesn't make any difference to the fact that BB banks will prefer someone from [insert any of top 15 business school] who has worked "less hard enough" than someone wh has worked "worked his tail off" from lesser school. It still will give me a significant disadvantage.</p>
<p>Just a copy and paste job from your other thread...</p>
<p>Even if that's the case, what difference does it make?</p>
<p>You're at UCLA, and you have to make do with what you have. So now you have, more or less, a few options you can pursue:</p>
<ol>
<li>Make the best of what you have and work your tail off.</li>
<li>Transfer.</li>
<li>Despair, sink into a pit of angst, and let the opportunities pass you by.</li>
<li>Change career goals.</li>
<li>Get a graduate degree and go into i-banking after a few years.</li>
</ol>
<p>That's about it. Choose whichever one you like the most.</p>
<p>And for the record, I know someone who transferred from a community college and went into i-banking later.</p>
<p>allie was trying to say that UCLA is good enough that if you work hard here and do well, you can get into med schools, law schools, ibanks, etc. i would hate to see what you are like if you dont get into a "top" ibank.</p>
<p>P.s. when someone is trying to help you out, it is not polite to say his/her "words dont mean anything"</p>
<p>Where did you hear the BB Ibanks don't recruit at UCLA?? That's total BS</p>
<p>I agree with you that BB banks prefer certain schools. UCLA is one of them. Sure, Ivies and Haas will give you a slight edge, but UCLA still has all the major ibanks, just like any other top school.</p>
<p>Here's a vote the OP transfer next year. It'll kill 2 birds with one stone; the OP goes somewhere that he thinks won't giving him "a significant disadvantage", a slot frees up for someone who really wants to be at ucla. Win/win!!</p>
<p>Oh, BTW, IB is very competitive. If you couldn't beat out the thousands of kids who got into those "first-choice schools" for college, most of whom could care a whit about IB and got in anyway, what makes you think you can out-compete the small number at each aiming for careers in IB?</p>
<p>to be honest u can go anywhere to go into ibanking- sure ivies help u...but ucla is pretty prestigious (some b/c of sports)-- and if u work hard at ucla anything can happen-- ivies can help in terms of getting that first job but thats about it</p>
<p>I'm a Business Economics major so I can attest to the fact that UCLA is just as well recruited as Haas. I actually did a lot of researching about finance career opportunities for UCLA and Cal students before choosing UCLA.</p>
<p>For example, all of these investment banks came to the annual Investment Banking night last year: AG Edwards, Bear Stearns, CIBC World Markets, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Wachovia Securities.</p>
<p>I have met several people who have gotten internships and jobs at investment banks. UCLA is one of the target schools for all of the bulge bracket investment banks' LA office. The only firm you may have difficulty getting an offer from is McKinsey. However, if you want to be a consultant you can always join Bain. Nevertheless, McKinsey still showed up at the first Case Competition organized by the newly formed Bruin Consulting club.</p>
<p>
[quote]
in the Bay area where most of finance firms are concentrated in.
[/quote]
You are thinking about venture capital firms. The investment banks have offices in both LA and the Bay Area. Furthermore, Haas is good but not as great as you might think it is.</p>
<p>mynameisashton, one more piece of advice. Be sure to let the other kids on your dorm floor know of your distaste at having to settle for ucla, not having gotten into a "first choice" school. If you don't speak up, they're likely to assume that you're like them, happy to be at ucla and all. </p>
<p>Don't let yourself be undersold! Stand up and let `em all know that you're a first-rate mind, even if you're stuck at a school that's ruining your life because "its prestige is not up to the standard to be considered as one of the target schools for the BB firms." But you're not going to stick around and end up like the rest of the losers there, right?</p>
<p>lol.... but I have to agree, UCLA's career center lacks in effort of "suking up to" certain firms. I remember someone mentioning that most of the firms who recruit at UCLA are accounting firms, and IB isn't really the main career choice for the BizEcon grads, thus not giving as much effort like Haas in bringing IBs into the campus.</p>
<p>Unfortunately it's up to the individual student organization to set up special events, which can actaully be helpful, but it will still lack in terms of manpower and resource as opposed to having the entire school/department devoting to the effort. That is one of the weaknesses that UCLA possess. They force student to do everything on their own (which can actually be helpful in preparing for the real life, but college still isn't a real life and students need as much of support from the institute as possible) whereas schools like USC and Haas are much more willing to lend a helping hand. This in turn forces UCLA student to take an extra step and effort to accomplish the same thing that USC and Cal students can accomplish with less effort.</p>
<p>But hey, this is just some of the things that I heard about UCLA's career center. I haven't actually attended UCLA yet (I will starting next fall as Junior) so we'll see if this "rumor" is somewhat close to the truth or not.</p>
<p>Do you have to be an econ or business econ major to go to one of the ibanking interviews?? What if I'm a sociology major? Would I be excluded from many of the interviews in certain industries?</p>
<p>Here is the real deal. It is harder to get into IB from UCLA. Yes, no questions asked. Harder. Harder than Berk. Harder than USC. IB does come on campus, but the spots are more limited, but also keep in mind that it is also less competitive at UCLA to get these spots in my opinion. UCLA has a lot of more diversity and hence probably less biz econ majors because of it. Besides, UCLA will not hinder you if you raelly want to get into IB. As long as you get a good GPA and prove that you are not some clueless idiot, you should be fine.</p>
<p>Plenty of people seem to get into IB. When I went to UCLA for my visit, I met 2-3, and I did not meet that many people.</p>