So I was admitted to USC back in March, and was just admitted to UCLA off of the waitlist. I am very grateful for these decisions, however I can not make my mind up for which college to choose from. Both will cost about the same. Does anyone know which school would be better for the economics path. From what I am seeing UCLA is more academically strong, but USC has an amazing alumni network. I would love to hear anyone’s input.
I also saw from others that UCLA’s pre business economics is awful. Does anyone have any input on that.
Thanks
This analysis will allow you to compare the economics departments of your choices based on faculty publishing: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments | IDEAS/RePEc.
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What do you intend to do with the economics degree? Go right to work after a bachelors? If so what type of career? Masters or PhD in the future?
I plan on working in IB after I get my bachelors, and getting my masters after a couple years.
IB is hard from the highest level of schools. From a rank POV, they are similar. If you look at Niche USC is slightly higher and college factual UCLA slightly higher. Both rank lower in Econ than the overall schools themselves.
Where do you see yourself? That’s where you should attend. Fit matters most and finances are part of fit so if the cost difference is huge, that matters if it’s important to your family to save thousands. If it’s in state UCLA vs full pay USC then to me UCLA is a no brainer.
Both will have alumna in IB. It’s important but it’s not the only way in.
Pick one. Both are great. Have a great four years. Get involved. Great things can happen from both.
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For IB I would suggest you try and find out which banks recruit on campus. This will give you an indication of which college might be better. My hunch is that IB recruiting is probably similar at both, but you’ll probably have an easier time with LA based banks. It will probably be difficult to land IB in NYC coming from either.
You also have to consider that the race for IB internships starts essentially on Day 1 of freshman year. Look and see how competitive it is to get into the finance/IB type of clubs. Getting into a club may not sound like a big deal, but at some colleges you have to go thru interviews and network. You might have more competition at UCLA. I would suggest to reach out to some alums from these two schools who work in IB and ask their thoughts.
As mentioned above, getting an IB position even from a top target school is not easy. So you’ll have to hustle. But its good to have a choice between these two fantastic schools.
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On the face of it, if I wanted a deep dive into econ theory, either as a foundation for graduate study in econ or with an eye toward a future MBA, I think I’d probably lean toward UCLA… whereas if I wanted a more business-econ type undergrad degree, I’d lean USC. But that’s only in the absence of other factors to tip the decision, because either could be fine for either inclination. As others have asked, how do costs compare? I don’t think either one is worth a big cost differential over the other. USC has a bit more flexibility in terms of adding majors/minors or shifting between programs, and that could be an advantage for you since it’s not necessarily clear that straight-econ is your best/only major option. But really… at cost parity, you can’t go wrong either way and can choose wherever you feel you’d be happiest. If costs aren’t equal, take the better deal.
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