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Right now I'm having trouble deciding where to go for undergrad business...I know that Haas at UCB (i believe it's #4 in the nation undergraduate) is much, much, much, much better and recognized than UCLA's business econ major...but the problem is when I went up to Berkeley, I didn't like the student body...it just seemed either way too hippie or too nerdy/antisocial for me. If I were to go to UCLA, does anyone know how good the business econ major is and how successful people become? And is it true that mnost business majors go into graduate school for their MBA anyways so the undergrad school doesn't really matter?

By L76 (L76) on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 - 05:10 pm: Edit

You don't have to major in Business Administration (which by the way is only offered, within the UC system, at Berkeley and Riverside) in order to get your MBA later on. An equally high number of people major in economics (which you would take at UCLA), some even major in social sciences, or the humanities, which is not even related to business. Usually after graduating with your Bachelors degree, you would work for about 3+ years (5 years is average), and after gaining that experience, you would apply to various MBA schools, such as Berkeley's Haas, UCLA's Anderson, UPenn's Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, etc. What matters at the time of your application is your work experience, undergraduate academic record (though, I have to point out that business school GPA's are significantly lower than that of med schools or law schools), and evidence of leadership through extracurricular involvement. Also your GMAT test score, letters of recommendation, etc. It wouldn't be hindering you if you decided to do economics instead of business administration. Besides Haas' business major is a 2 year, junior/senior year program, so if you change your mind (and you were at UCLA), you can transfer over.

By Newb (Newb) on Thursday, April 24, 2003 - 02:38 pm: Edit

Berkeley rocks in their undergrad business program. I heard it was very cut throat. One of my dream schools was actually Berkeley, but I was rejected, so I will be attending UCLA. I'm pretty sure UCLA graduates succeed as well. You see, UCLA's main competitor in business is USC in southern CA. Berkeley's competitor is Stanford in northern CA. Location advantage in competition... Yes, USC is a great school as well, but I heard UCLA has more investment bankers in LA than USC does =P. I don't think it really matters which undergrad school you go to for business; as long as you have work experience (as L76 stated) and good stats.

Hehe.. You have to choose between UCLA and UCB. It's a win win situation. I would have gone to UCB in an instant if I were accepted, but I heard of mental breakdown stories afterwards. I think I'd go crazy too from studying so much! ;) If you have the motivation and smarts to succeed academically, then go to Berkeley. However, if studying 24/7 (I'm exaggerating, but I did hear that Berkeley business students study like there's no tomorrow. VERY competitive) isn't appealing to you, go to UCLA. UCLA is competitive too, but the atmosphere is more relaxing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it all depends on your priorities and academic strength. ^^

By Dazedconfused (Dazedconfused) on Thursday, September 25, 2003 - 04:55 am: Edit

As a '99 Berkeley business undergrad, I can vouch as to its competitiveness. You have to really like it to well. And I should have been a history major (so you can put two and two together...) LOL