I was recently admitted to UCLA as a pre-business econ major from out of state. I absolutely LOVE the university, and I know that UCLA’s graduate school is great for business. However, I have heard that their undergraduate business degree is not as strong since they do not have an actual business school for undergraduates. I have heard that it is primarily econ/accounting based and does not set students up for success in the finance/business world, which is what I would like to go into.
Can anyone provide me with more insight or opinions on this? I have tried to find information online about job placement, internship opportunities and overall value of the program, but could not find much. Any additional information would be helpful.
Many UCLA students who studied bus. econ. had summer internships and jobs after graduation. UCLA is an elite school and attracts many corporate recruiters for jobs banking, finance, investment banking, consulting, accounting, etc. Many of the courses are offered as undergraduate classes in the School of Management. Also, there are many finance courses offered. The fact that firms like Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, the Big 4 accounting firms recruit and hire UCLA bus. econ. major say lot about the program and UCLA is one of the top schools targeted by job recruiters. I am not an alum or student of UCLA, but know or know of many successful business people to received a bus. econ. degree from UCLA.
If anything, the BizEcon degree at UCLA is more rigorous than the “business” degree at most schools (save for the elite ones). What you’re missing out on are the “softer” business courses like marketing. But you are absolutely prepared to go into finance. When you boil it down, finance is math. As long as you can handle math, you can handle finance.