Why should I pick UCLA over USC?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
41

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About the internships, I have a hard time believing that the vast majority of people who graduate from business school do an unpaid internship. People get out of college and they make $$, even if it's minimal. Just bcuz you aren't doing IB doesn't mean you don't make $$

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<p>A lot of the summer internships are paid. I was just pointing out that most of the Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, and Morgan Stanley summer internships are unpaid. The Trojans who get actual full time job offers at graduation are paid well.</p>

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<p>"The job prospects for Trojans aren't as glorious as the Trojan Family claim:
<a href="http://www.marshall.usc.edu/emplibra...t%20Report.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.marshall.usc.edu/emplibra...t%20Report.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Less than 30% of Trojans in Marshall received a job offer at the time of graduation.</p>

<p>Despite UCLA's large student population, there are actually less UCLA accounting students than USC accounting students. Nevertheless, UCLA sends more students to the Big Four accounting firms.</p>

<p>Most of the USC Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney internships are unpaid and not investment banking."</p>

<p>so much bad information in this post. </p>

<p>first, the reason why only 30% of Marshall grads recieved full time offers according to that report is probably because not very many grads reported that info to USC. </p>

<p>according to this report: of the 3855 students in Marshall and Leventhal, only 845 contributed info to this report. of those 845 that did get job offers, a majority enetred finance, consulting and operations management. anyway, 480 students said the were still seeking a job, which is perfectly acceptable considering that the students that did not get jobs through on campus recruiting (and there are a lot, considering how competitive and high paying those jobs are) will probably be searching for a job after they finish school. also, the fact that 30% (230) of students graduating in 06 got jobs through on campus recuiting by april 06 is very impressive, again considering how competitive on campus recruiting is and that the geographic scope was probably limited to so cal and that you would need a minimum 3.3 gpa to even be considered for an interview. even more impressive is that the median starting salary is 55,000. fyi, my offer was 55,000 also.</p>

<p>i would like to see some hard evidence showing how many more ucla grads than USC Leventhal grads get offers at acct firms, especially considering that you cant major in acct at ucla. Leventhal is the most well respected undergrad and grad acct school in the west coast. thats a fact, jack.</p>

<p>ALL USC ibanking internships offered by i banks ARE paid AND are in the i banking industry. i should know this since interned with morgan stanley in chicago through seo. those retail brokerages you were mentioning only take about one or two interns for every bank, every summer. in fact, the only retail operation that ive ever seen post a job offering through monstertrak (NOT on campus recruiting) is morgan stanley. and it was paid. </p>

<p>i personally have never seen an internship offered through USC's on campus recruiting that was not paid.</p>

<p>you would have to be a a donkey with half an arse for a brain in order to NOT get the job you wanted coming out of USC. our resources are endless.</p>

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<p>MrTrojanMan,</p>

<p>Yes, USC's resources are great, but it's not like you can't do the same thing at UCLA. I agree, however, that the devil's in the details.</p>

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<p>and stating the the infamous Trojan Network is over-hyped is some serious misinformation. the best offers i got were through personal contacts and fraterntiny hook ups. taking adavnatge of the Trojan Network is a s easy as this: i log onto the Trojan Network website and search for whatever company i am interested in working for, i then get conatct info for Trojans working at these companies, i email or call them, and they email me back telling me who to contact, how to get that job, exactly what is going to be asked at the interview and exactly what to say in order to secure that job. this kind of info is PRICELESS.</p>

<p>my girl friend currently goes to harvard law school, and asked me if i could help her get contact info for mckinsey in LA becasue she wants to do consulting. i simply logged into the Trojan Network, searched for mckinsey and contacted a guy working at mckinsey in LA. i told him my girfiend's situation. he emailed her with exactly who to contact (with his refferel), and what to expect during the interviews. he even outlined an example case study question that was often used at mckinsey case interviews. imagine her delight when she got asked the exact same case question during her interview....PRICELESS. big surprise, she is working for mckinsey this summer. </p>

<p>when you wine and dine with LA's big swinging d*cks at the Jonathan Club (assuming you even know what the J-Club is) because the Jonathan Club's president is an alum of your frat, life is very, very good. when your fraternity's alums have served on USC's Board of Trustees, life is very, very good. when you get luxury box tickets at staples center for the Laker game for free for your birthday because your frat buddy works for the Lakers and plays golf with Jerry Bus, life is VERRRRYYYYY GOOOOODDDDDD!</p>

<p>ever heard of the bruin network? i didnt htink so.</p>

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<p>i never said you could not do the same thing at ucla. it is just much, much easier at USC.</p>

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<p>I don't know that that's true. I know more than a few UCLA grads who got into big accounting firms or banks. None of them were super impressive, either. I think that UCLA and USC students both tend to overstate their opportunities and understate those of the rivals.</p>

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<p>and saying that an undergrad biz eduation is vocational is like saying an engineering degree is vocational. </p>

<p>you do biz in undergrad so you can circumvent the traditional MBA route. simply put you will be a bout 5 yrs ahead in the game iwth an undergrad biz degree, and you will spend A LOT less money and time for education and work experience. if you plan on entering a biz related field without a biz undergrad education AND plan to advance in that field without an MBA, you are dreaming. without an undergrad biz degree, you can expect to work for two maybe three yrs and then you will be given a swift kick out the door with no choice but to go back to school and do your MBA, wasting two yrs salary on more school. that sucks.</p>

<p>wharton/stern/ross/haas undergrads make more money by the time they are 27 then freshly minted MBA's. you dont have to belive me on this one, but i am quite sure of this fact.</p>

<p>ha, my biz education was vocational.....ill be laughing at that statement on my way to the bank. ill take my biz degree over a history degree ANY DAY.</p>

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<p>so you know people? greeeaaaatttt. i know people, too. important people. people who are filthy rich and can get me jobs.</p>

<p>come on, pal. the reason why you know more than a few ucla grads who work for "the big four" is because there are only two universities in so cal worth recruiting at.</p>

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<p>MrTrojanMan,</p>

<p>I believe 3855 is the population of the entire biz undergrad. The 845 that responded were 2006 graduates. USC doesn't graduate 3855 graduates in one year. So it's not like 845 out of 3855 responding. It's more like 845 out of ~1000 responding. The response rate was actually very high. That's why <30% getting offer by April is low; for comparison, >80% of Ross (UMich) graduates got offer by April.</p>

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<p>MrTrojanMan,</p>

<p>Please keep your posts polite. We can have this conversation without resorting to rudeness. </p>

<p>All I'm saying is that USC may not offer the huge difference in opportunities that you suggest. Oh, and I suspect that any Cal Tech grad who wants a job in a finance firm could easily trump both of our alma maters...</p>

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<p>I agree with UCLAri. :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>i give up , you win</p>

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<p>

That's a bunch of bs. Just because someone attends a/graduated from a "higher" ranked institution doesn't necessarily mean they are competent in the real/working world. So explain to me why there are so many incompetent UCLA undergrads in my science lab classes who have no clue as to what they are doing? I can't tell you how many times I've acted as a surrogate TA and assisted setting up an experiment for other people. I don't mind helping them out when I can since I increase the chances of someone else helping me out in the future if I need it and makes them more reliable. Not only that, the professor/TA will be more lenient on me since assisting others shows that I actually give a **** about the class and not just getting a grade.</p>

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<p>MrTrojanMan - I'm happy for you that you are so pleased with your school choice and your life. Really, I am. And I don't want to start anything with you, I just think you should know how your tone comes off to others. It was precisely the consitency of this tone from other USC students and grads that made my son and several of his friends turn down merit money from USC to go to UCLA. You would do more for your school to wear your pride with a little more grace.</p>

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<p>rushrules1,</p>

<p>You...sorta missed my point. The reason Cal Tech grads would trump both UCLA and USC is because of the rigorous mathematical training that all of them have to undergo. EVERYONE at Cal Tech has to drink from the firehose. That's not true of UCLA or USC.</p>

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No, I didn't miss your point. You stated that you suspected, meaning you don't have solid evidence. My evidence is based on common sense and empirical observations. If Cal Tech graduates wanting jobs in finance trumped both USC and UCLA, then they would have a monopoly on the finance job market at X firm. That's not even remotely close to reality since a multitude of factors besides "rigorous mathematical training" comes into play when an individual seeks employment in the world of finance. Do you really think a Cal Tech student who graduates in the top 10% of the class/major, without doing internships/work experience while in college, "trump" a UCLA or USC top 10% grad with 4 years worth of internships/work experience when it's time to get a job in the real world o_O</p>

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<p>That's not what I'm arguing. I'm saying that one who wants it and demonstrates interest (and does the required signalling) would beat out both.</p>

<p>Caltech grads do very well because Caltech has a reputation for being rigorous and providing an excellent, if stressful, education. All jobs are essentially about signalling that you are capable of and willing to do the work. </p>

<p>Economically speaking, everything you do to get the job is signalling. Caltech is an awesome signal.</p>

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<p>Just get a 4.0 at UCLA in applied math and business economics and have some good internship under your belt and you will be competitive.</p>

<p>Also, a reason to go to UCLA over USC, cause I go to UCLA. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>Honestly though, Caltech has quite the name. It's not like UCLA grads cannot compete, but someone at UCLA (assuming equally gifted naturally) would have to work harder imo than someone at Caltech to land that elite career just because UCLA is, because of its status as a public institution, filled with lesser individuals due to its lesser selectivity and due to lack of prestige that the Caltech name grants.</p>

<p>Furthermore, it is also harder cause there is less competition at the top. If you think about it, if you had great people to compete with, you compete harder, but if there is only a few guys better than you and not by much at that, you get complacent.</p>

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If Cal Tech graduates wanting jobs in finance trumped both USC and UCLA, then they would have a monopoly on the finance job market at X firm. That's not even remotely close to reality since a multitude of factors besides "rigorous mathematical training" comes into play when an individual seeks employment in the world of finance.

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<p>The key point here is that not many cal-tech grads want a job in finance, at least compared to their fellow ranked counterparts (top 10 schools). Also, you're right, other factors come into play when one wants to get into finance, one of the most important factors is the name of your undergrad institution. It's not a coincidence that the offices of GS are filled with Yale/Harvard/Princeton/Stanford grads....</p>

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<p>And why is it that a Harvard grad with a BA in "Chillaxin' Studies" can get a job at bigfirm before a UCLA or USC grad with a weightier degree? Signals. The Harvard grad's degree says, "Even though I did this lame BA, I can do so much more. Oh, and I went to Harvard. Look, Harvard. Harvard. Harvard. Weee! Harvard!"</p>