<p>Basically I've narrowed down my college acceptances to UCLA and NYU, but I really really have a hard time picking between the two. </p>
<p>Would anyone like to weigh in on these two schools please? On housing, campus culture, the merit of their academic programs-- especially pol.sci since that'll be my major... etc etc.</p>
<p>I love both schools, but right now I'm worried that the budget cuts might make it harder to graduate from UCLA in 4 years (and since I'm not on any fin.aid this matters a lot); NYU on the other hand is so $$$$$$$$$$ :(</p>
<p>feel free to weigh in guys! thanks so much :)</p>
<p>The claims about it being difficult to graduate in 4 years are completely unsubstantiated. It’s actually the opposite. UCLA wants to get you out as fast as possible both so you can move on with your life, and so they can get one or two more students in your place.</p>
<p>Many people here graduate within 4 years, and some even less. i’m a transfer student, and i took 3 years in community college, and will likely be graduating this spring quarter, which will mark the end of my second year at UCLA. So technically i’ll be graduating in 5 years, but that’s due to the extra time i spent at CC, not the time i spent at UCLA.</p>
<p>i should note that NYU is notorious for terrible financial aid, and for leaving people heavily in debt (in the 6 figures.)</p>
<p>Both programs will have vastly different cultures and social scenes. And there programs are likely to be similar in quality. Go with whatever university you’ll feel you’ll enjoy more.</p>
<p>What was your major at ucla? Were your classes huge? I know that being a public sch its inevitable that ucla will have a large number of huge classes but I just don’t want to be swamped completely.</p>
<p>Oh but I take the a-levels… So I’m not sure if I have transferable credits actually :o</p>
<p>I’m a poli sci major and yes my classes are pretty large. Lower divs about 300 student lectures, upper divs generally 100-200. There are some smaller 20-student lectures, but they’re relatively rare. </p>
<p>Also note though that especially in lower div your classes might have sections, where you break out into a 20-30 student group and review the material with a TA.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, a-levels do transfer. Like APs they might not all transfer as actual classes, but they come in as units which can help you graduate earlier.</p>
<p>The graduation rate at UCLA is ~ 70% for four years. This could be higher but for the science esp the engineering students staying longer. </p>
<p>The engineering students there have the most APs at high-school graduation to apply to cut their units needed to graduate. They do use them, but to get out of general ed classes and to concentrate on engineering classes, in addition to their taking more of them than the bare minimums. Some E majors at UCLA push 220 units at graduation, waiving the AP application of units towards their bac degrees. </p>
<p>This above is a similar plan used by other science students at UCLA, but not quite as an in-depth strategy probably because they’re in more of a hurry to get out to go to med school, etc, just as long as their undergrad preparatory helped them in the MCAT, etc. E students need to be industry ready as much as possible. </p>
<p>And typically in general, more science-tilted u’s tend to have lower four-year graduation rates because of the above.</p>
<p>So, my point is, UCLA has a very good graduation rate for four years. This as beyphy stated, should continue.</p>
<p>And wrt to TiaWNPP’s post above, also note that PoliSci is perhaps the largest major on campus -> larger classes.</p>
<p>It is?! But isn’t pol sci an “impacted major”- I was admitted to pre pol sci and read that I would have to keep my grades up during junior year to actually qualify for the major. Does that mean that most pre pol sci students go on to qualify for pol sci itself?</p>
<p>Could you give a brief overview of the courses you’re currently taking please? I’m not very sure what the pol sci focus is at ucla (nyu politics on the other hand seems to lean towards the quantitative stuff)</p>
<p>Impacted wrt xfer students. Impacted wrt high-school admissions, less so. Yeah, you’re still in the premajor from hs, but getting into the major shouldn’t be a major problem, or not as bad as the 3.7 or so needed to xfer into the major. Of course, what is a 3.7from cc? A 3.3 at UCLA?</p>
<p>There isn’t really any such thing as an “impacted major” at UCLA unless you’re a transfer. So yes, all you need to do to be admitted to poli sci is keep up a 2.0 GPA in your major and overall (that is, unless they change the requirements… which I actually think they should because the department is getting too big, but that’s entirely different discussion all together…)</p>
<p>Okay, so here’s a brief breakdown of the major. It’s pretty flexible once you get to upper division, there aren’t really any core classes at that point. UCLA poli sci has six fields: political theory, international relations, american, comparative, methods&models (quantitative), and raceðnicity. </p>
<p>In LD you pick any 4 out of the 5 intro classes for political theory, international relations, american, comparative, and methods&models (no intro class for raceðnicity). You also take one stats/data analysis class. In UD you pick one field to concentrate in, three fields as “distributions”, and then you get four electives. Very very flexible. In terms of the sheer number of classes, raceðnicity and methods&models have fewer selections, but I think this may have more to do with lower demand than with UCLA being weaker in those areas. I don’t actually know whether UCLA is stronger or better known in any one field.</p>