UCLA VS. Warwick University

Student Lounge International Students
1

Now that it’s the middle of March most of my offers have come through, and I’m having trouble deciding.

I’ve gotten unconditional offers from:

UCLA (BA Pre-econ & business)
Warwick (Bsc Management)

I’m looking at a career in either finance or banking, but I definitely will be doing a masters as well.

When it comes to studying I don’t mind either England or America and the costs of either isn’t too big of an issue. But I don’t know which of these universities will give me the best opportunity to get into a good postgraduate course and which is more academically reputable.

I’m leaning towards UCLA because it’s more internationally known as compared to Warwick, but on the other hand I know Warwick is known for its business school.

Any help would be appreciated

2

I would look at it this way:

  1. Would you prefer being overseas to being in the USA?

  2. As far as the prestige/quality of the school and fellow students, Warwick is a better school and is arguably the best feeder school for the City of London. Warwick would be harder to beat in that regard.

I would recommend Warwick.

3

Where are you from?
Where can you work?

Warwick is a big feeder in to the City and has a reputational edge in the UK. It is also pretty much unknown in the US (outside of maybe academia and a few global industries, though those are the elite ones). UCLA is a research powerhouse, but that may not mean much with your focus.

The educational format at the 2 schools would also be pretty different (American and British unis simply are).

Getting in to a good graduate program would be mostly dependent on you and what you do, so choose the educational format and culture that you would do better in.

4

Either can get you into a great grad program- Warwick will be well recognized by the good grad schools, even if your gran and next door neighbor haven’t heard of it. It will be down to what you make of the opportunities you have.

I suggest paying attention to @PurpleTitan’s point about the differences in the school systems. Are you good at independent work and self-motivation? When you need to be, can you be quite self-disciplined? Did you handle your college applications independently? Can you handle having a few very big assessments- such as a single exam at the end of the term determining your entire mark for the module? If you have doubts about any of these, UCLA may be a better place for you.

Also pay attention to the course itself. Remember that your choices for classes are much more limited than in the US. At Warwick, in year you will take:

Intro to Financial Accounting; Economics for Business; Quantitative Analysis for Mgmt 1 & 2; Management, Organisations & Society; Markets, Marketing & Strategy; Foundations of Financial Management; & Operations Management, plus CORE Practice and an Integrative Project.

You get electives (selected from a list of relevant topic areas, including marketing, strategy, operations, finance, accounting, HR, entrepreneurship and econ) along with Global Environment of Business, Governance & Social Environment of Business, Economics of Strategy, and a Global Integrative Project in Year 2. Year 3 is Critical Issues in Management and more electives.

Do those courses sound like a happy 3 years, or would like to have some other courses in the mix as well?

Finally, as a full-time student at Warwick you are eligible for (paid) internships in the UK, and all of the big name finance and consulting firms recruit from Warwick for those internships (fwiw, Warwick students were #3 after Oxbridge in the placements my collegekid and her pals have had).

5

I would take a different approach from the writers above.

I would ask myself first, which continent do you want to live on after college? Where are you allowed to work? I would let that answer be my first and foremost guide.

You will have more opportunities (for networking, recruitment, job applications, easy path to graduate school, even possibly for a work visa) in the same country that you attended university in.

While it is of course possible to attend graduate school in another country, you are in a much better position to apply to the top graduate programs if you got your undergraduate degree in the same country. American colleges will groom you to have the resume and accomplishments that American graduate programs are looking for, while European universities would lead you down a different path.

If you are hoping to emigrate, consider the difficulty of getting a work or immigrant visa. Getting a work visa to the US is difficult (it literally requires winning a lottery) and an employment-sponsored green card is nearly impossible to obtain (unless you are a physician or you have $1 million cash to invest into a US business). Canada is easier to immigrate to. I know nothing about immigration policies in the EU or UK.

Of course none of this applies if your goal is to return to another country entirely, or if you already have a job waiting for you. In that case, please ignore everything I said and listen to the writers above. :slight_smile:

6

Thanks for your response Titan.

I’m from India, but ideally I would like to work where I graduate from.

I’m pretty flexible when it comes to the education culture. The only only fear I have with Warwick is that it might not be as well known on an international level as UCLA, which would be fine if I lived in England but I’m not sure how well known it is in Asia.

7

“The only only fear I have with Warwick is that it might not be as well known on an international level as UCLA, which would be fine if I lived in England but I’m not sure how well known it is in Asia.”

I think if you are looking on coming back to Asia (say, either one of the big financial centres such as HK or Singapore) people will be very familiar with Warwick, particularly for Economics and Business-related degrees). Warwick used to be less well known than other comparable Unis due to its relative youth (established in 1965) but this is no longer the case.

Also at this point, it is impossible to predict future immigration legislation with Brexit, Trump, etc., but the UK leaving the EU may open up better immigration opportunities for Commonwealth citizens in 3 years.

8

Very tough to stay in the US. Especially without a graduate degree.
Warwick would be well-known in places that were part of the British Empire.