My engineering son would concur. He has never said anything about competitiveness.
Son Accepted
Major-Business Economics
ACADEMIC STATS::
Unweighted GPA: 3.851
UC Capped Weighted GPA: 4.227
UC Fully Weighted GPA:4.409
ELC (top 9% CA HS): Yes
Number of UC Approved Honors courses: 8
Number of AP courses/exams : 6
Extracurriculars:JV captain/Varsity Basketball, couple clubs
Volunteer/Community service: tutoring
Summer Activities: 3 CC classes
Personal Insight essays (details): Pretty good. Story of leadership as captain of JV team and story about passion for chess.
DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): CA, San Fernando Valley
First Generation? NO
REFLECTION::
Strengths: Good academic
Weaknesses: Not many extracurriculars
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/denied: Accepted UCSD, UCD, UCSC, UCR
Denied UCI. Waiting UCB, UCSB
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Can give you one example that I have heard of: If you miss a class, classmates do not help you out. Sharing notes taken in class etc. That is a “we are all in this together” mindset. Versus, not sharing, being self centered in the fear that if I share the other person may outperform me…
Collaboration is not just about working on projects together. When there is a super competitive environment, humans tend to get self centered, that’s just the way we are wired. Survival of the fittest mindset.
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In my view, one of the more “competitive” elements at UCLA is getting into clubs. There is an application process to most of them, and certain types of clubs especially (business related, for example) are just very hard to get into. I imagine it’s similar at other UCs. It’s also just an absolute challenging race to get the classes you need. But again, I don’t know how unique that is to UCLA. Feels like a large CA school kind of an issue.
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I have another kid at USC. She is not a business major but has many friends in Marshall who say it’s very competitive for certain clubs. I think for clubs- it’s widespread. My son went to an engineering club at UCLA- they were very welcoming.
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That is the reason people will not help each other. In the longer run, this becomes the culture of a place.
I was referring to the collaboration aspect. Collaboration is not just working on academic projects where all parties have vested interests.
I was going to say the same thing. I think business clubs are notoriously selective. It seems to be a problem at many schools.
This long thread discusses it: Competitive Clubs in Colleges
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I think this may depend on your major. As an engineering major, every single class I have taken thus far at UCLA has been extremely collaborative in this way (we use a communication platform called Discord amongst the students in a class). Generally, many students will be willing to help if you reach out on the class Discord, and sometimes students will even be kind enough to post their lecture summaries/notes for the general understanding of the class.
I can’t speak to the humanities, business, or pre-med tracks, but all of the hardcore math/science/engineering courses have been very much an “us against the material” vibe, despite the fact that most of these classes are so difficult that they are curved (think 60% medians on tests).
Another part of the UCLA culture is that no matter how hard students work and how late into the morning they stay up, they always put a smile on their faces the next day. Sometimes, the laid back culture can mislead people about the difficulty of certain UCLA classes.
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Does UCLA offer a summer transition residential program for engineer admits?
I work in high tech and from my perspective, there are two different unconnected things happening. Universities, especially public ones, independently create their own major offerings that are sometimes not aligned or are slow to respond to industry and job market trends and demands. Add to that, CS instructors are in short supply. As a result, CS programs cannot expand fast enough, so the number of U.S. CS grads remain constrained and have not yet caught up with the current demand. Visas are needed to fill the gap.
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There is a program called College Summer Institute (CSI), but it’s not specific for engineers. It allows incoming freshmen to take first-year level classes and get a residential college experience.
For engineers in particular, it usually isn’t the most useful, because STEM offerings are limited to pre-med chem (which doesn’t count for engineering degrees) and single and multivar calculus (which most incoming engineers have placed out of). I believe general biology is also offered, but that only counts towards the bioengineering degree.
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Log into the portal where you find the acceptance letter. One of the tabs on the left allows you to book campus tours for admitted students. Lots of time slots. Congratulations!
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My daughter hasn’t found the classroom to be competitive at all. She’s a humanities major (English and History) and has shared notes, studied with classmates and worked together.
The Daily Bruin was a competitive application. But not so competitive that a fall semester freshman wasn’t accepted. She made it and so did her freshman friend. Other clubs like music
Appreciation, book club, etc are wide open.
She has said that ucla kids are “scrappy” — which I think for her means they find A way to make stuff happenSometimes the consequence of that great—making your way into classes or finding resources and sometimes it’s annoying.
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I think “scrappy” is a really good way to describe it. Our son is definitely honing that skill and making it work and having fun. Occasionally it would be nice to have to be less scrappy, but all in all he wouldn’t trade it. I’m interested to see if it will be the same at a different UC since in all likelihood his sister will end up at one of them.
Have any accepted students received any emails from UCLA admissions?
It will happen at the other UCs as well. Some UCs make it easier for students than others. For example, UC Davis offers peer tutoring for math, chemistry and writing from 6-9 pm M-Th IN THE DORMS. You can walk downstairs in your pajamas. Yet, even though they bring the resources directly to the students, many don’t take advantage of it.
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looks like you can sign up to meet with specific departments at specific times or all through the day…Schedule: Bruin Day 2023 - Freshmen
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Also check the “Events” link in your admission portal. In addition to Bruin Day (April 15) there are other major-specific events and group events. For example, my kid’s major is hosting an event from 8 am - 3 pm on April 14, and was invited to the Kababayan Pilipinx Admit Weekend on April 15 & 16. 
Try checking the “Events” tab in your admission portal. When we scrolled down, there was an invitation to attend an entire day on campus (April 14) in the department with students of his major.
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I only see the school of public affairs listed under the events (besides Bruins Day)
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