<p>I'm a first year out of state student, paying full price.</p>
<p>After my first two quarters, I am starting to wonder if UCLA is worth it. All I want to do after college is start a business or become a manager for a company. </p>
<p>My GPA is terrible so far (about a 2.8), and I feel as if I am wasting my money and time</p>
<p>Do you guys think I should transfer, or will UCLA get me a job after graduation?</p>
<p>P.S. - For four years i'm spending about 225,000 dollars altogether.</p>
<p>Yeah, that doesn’t sound worth it. If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, then I don’t see any way that the ucla name will help you. I’d suggest filing transfer apps to public universities in your home state.</p>
<p>Tons of questions to ask:
Whats your major? Is your GPA because classes are too hard or you don’t feel motivated to put in the effort? Is it UCLA you are unhappy with or is it the structure of college in general? Do you want an MBA in the future? Where do you want to work after college?</p>
<p>I believe the UC’s allow you to take a quarter for a leave of absence…it might help you re prioritize and evaluate how you want to achieve your goals. College is not for everyone and there are successful business men and women without college degrees (obviously odds are in your favor if you are educated though). Yes, UCLA is a great place to get seen by companies to intern/later work for. You still have plenty of time to bring that GPA up. If you are miserable here though, I think it would be worth taking some time off to figure things out before you transfer or drop out because a college degree DOES help quite a bit in finding a job (actually seems like grad school is the new standard now)
Good luck!</p>
<p>Yeah. the UCLA name, or any other for that matter, isn’t really worth anything if you pull a GPA below 3.0, especially with grade inflation these days.</p>
<p>Utilize your time wisely and it will be worth it. Join organizations that involve your major and start networking. See if you can get some internship experience. My daughter is a senior and is currently doing her 4th internship. She is pretty confident that if she wanted to stay in LA that she could get hired after graduating from the last two places she has worked. She interns on Mondays and Wednesdays and does all her classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She has been doing this for 2 years. Most jobs will want you to have some internship experience. You certainly could get the same experience at another school closer to home though as well. Is there a reason to be in LA? Is your major something that is a big business in LA? Like finance, entertainment, medicine or advertising? Being in a big city can be a big plus. If you can maximize your experience and use UCLA and LA for what they can uniquely provide, then stay. Get you grades up, get involved, do an internship each quarter and you will benefit. Otherwise if you just want to finish college and the city and name of UCLA don’t matter then go home where it is cheaper. And remember, it is not the major or the school that gets the job, it’s the person!</p>
<p>225,000??
Get out before you ruin your life for good!</p>
<p>225,000 is a lot of money so I know this is a big decision but as an employer in the Bay Area, I can tell you the UCLA name on a resume is still worth a lot. If you are planning on working in California, or starting your own business in California, I would find a way to graduate from UCLA. If you do start your own business, you will still be working with suppliers, vendors etc and it will never hurt to be able to say that you graduated from UCLA . If starting your own business does not work out and you have to go find a job, the UCLA name will help. (By the way, many companies will not ask about your gpa.) My opinion is that if you are planning on starting your own business outside of this state then yes, go to school there and make good business connections but if you are planning on staying in California then try to graduate from UCLA. You will get through this rough patch!!</p>
<p>@Inquiringmind2 May I ask what kinda internship does your daughter have?
I feel like I cannot have time for it. :-[</p>
<p>She has had four internships beginning with the spring of her sophomore year. Two with PR firms and two with advertising agencies. The advertising agencies are both huge, nationally, if not internationally, recognized companies with clients like Apple, Frito Lay, etc. Most internships require that you be a university student currently enrolled. You get credits for the internships since most are not paid. My daughter has done her internships primarily 9:00-6:00 Monday and Wednesdays and then takes all her classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, sometimes 9:00-8:00pm if necessary. This current internship requires 2 1/2 days so she goes in for half a day on Fridays. </p>
<p>You must have excellent time management skills in order to do an internship while taking a full load of classes. You can do it if you are determined. Also, there may be internships that require less hours, are in the summer, or might be on campus and wouldn’t require travel time. Talk to people in your major or in an organization for your major for ideas.</p>
<p>
No, it won’t. You’ll get you a job. By getting good grades, showing some leadership, and most importantly by getting a few internships. If your expectation is that by simply enrolling in enough units to graduate then employers will be clamoring to hire you, then you are mistaken. Its the extra steps that you take, at at any large public they are based on your own initiative (although there are people and offices to help you once you decide what it is you want to do), that make you attractive to employers.</p>
<p>It has long been my position that while UCLA is still well worth it for CA residents, it is a poor investment for OOS students. And I’m not a UCLA basher by any means; I penned the “some tips for succeeding” thread at the top of the UCLA page (let me suggest you read them if you haven’t yet). But for what you’re paying you could be getting smaller classes and more personal attention at a private, or savings significant sums at your in-state public and still doing the things employers look for.</p>
<p>@Mikemac, would you advice an OOS to pick a private school below the top 35 USNWR rankings other than UCLA? or maybe NYU or Boston College over UCLA?</p>
<p>JN2015 previously posted:</p>
<p>"I’m from Connecticut and I currently go to UC Berkeley. Out of State tuition plus housing fees come out to to about 50,000 per year.</p>
<p>My family is having a hard time paying that; it is too much money."</p>
<p>Hello Trivelpiece, that’s actually a bad situation for the student. But wouldn’t she be paying the same thing for other private schools that are less “marketable” than the UCLA/ Berkeley name?</p>
<p>Fromcalwithlove - just trying to figure out where the OP is going to school since he posted the same problem on the Cal and UCLA website (one saying he goes to Cal and the other saying he goes to UCLA). I’m certainly not disagreeing that $50K per year is a lot to pay. W/r/t other private schools, I assume that he thinks his GPA would be better because Cal and UCLA have grade deflation. So is a 3.0 or 3.5 at [top 50 private school] with hand holding better than a 2.8 at Cal/Berkeley.</p>
<p>^oh okay, I thought that you posted another guy’s problem. Anyway, 3.0-3.5 in a top 50 private school is actually better than a 2.8 at UCLA, especially if the OP wants to go directly for a job. Although I would believe that in this day and age, a 3.0-3.5 wouldn’t really make it to the “big” time (Just average for grade inflation schools). Correct me if I’m wrong on this. Either way, I think a 3.2 from let’s say George Washington and a 2.8 from UCLA would merit the two students in the same tier, with the GW student a few places higher. If it was a 3.7+ from the top 50 private school, that would be another matter, but cmon, if one can’t make a 3.0 in UCLA, do you really think that the same person could get a 3.5+?</p>
<p>EDIT: Maybe the OP is a high school student who wants to gauge if it’s worth it for him/her to go to UCLA/Cal when his potential GPA falls under 3.0.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion, this account is shared by a few of my friends. Two of us go to UCs and are in similar situations.</p>