The University of California - Los Angeles

2nd Year Female -- Class 2012

There is no doubt that the professors here are the best of the best in their feild, but that does not translate to great teachers or great academic experiences when they treat teaching like one of the things they have to do just so that they can do the research or do what they love on the side. Don't even get me started on TAs who frankly are as dry or more unhappy than the professors themselves.

Overall, UCLA is not a learning/academic experience. UCLA is more of a place to get a degree as a qualifier, even in the humanities. If I could have afforded to attend a place where: my teachers would have know my name, or where discussions wouldn't simply be attendance markers or review sessions for those who didn't attend lectures, or where the student actually cared about what they're studying and learning(and not their gpa), or where I would feel forced to go to class because the school doesn't podcast or videocast lectures the way they do here(which makes it really easy to not attend class at all) I would. This might be a personal preference, but I think small schools are the way to go(if you can afford them, can get in, and have them as an option, ie Claremont McKenna, Pomona College, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc). UCLA is only great for those looking to use it as a means for medical school/professional schools as you can definitely build up your resume with the resources/opportunities and connections the school has for those who seek them. It is not for those people, like me, who really are interested in getting an education for the sake of becoming educated and being surrounded with peers who actually know how to think, are interested in academics, and are overall diverse and interesting.

In regards to the student body, its statistically diverse(if you consider Asians to be a type of diversity). However statistical diversity doesn't matter when every group, whether black white asian hispanic etc, self segregates or are rarely seen without people who look like them. As a "real" cultural minority myself(in UCLA), I find it difficult to relate to my minority group. They tend to be stereotypical and act/think stereotypically. You could have picked out anyone off of any inner city, and have them apply under any non-impacted major and having the school's minimum requirements, and they would have made it in. That or they would have been recruited athletes, which tends to be the case for most of the African Americans at this campus(which is extremely sad and in which I wish wasn't the case).

Positives for me:

-The gym and its hours of operation.
-Course offering-hundreds/thousands of diverse classes to pick from, the only problem is that you'll do a lot of the learning on your own by reading the book instead of attending class.

-Diverse Work Study Jobs
-Studying ABROAD-if you go through EAP your classes will or should count towards your major and residency requirements for graduation

-Financial Aid: I pay close to nothing because of financial aid(if I didn't get any I would have opted for USC-who also gave me financial aid, or a small private school)

-Career resources-UCLA is very very well connected if you want to work in Los Angeles in just about any industry you can think of.

Positives(for those that look for these specific things).
-Asians(not my type, but plenty of them here for you to go around-male or female).
-Weather(I'm a native I could care less about the weather as I'm used to so cal weather and would actually like to experience something different).

Laid Back-(Everyone here wears flip flops shorts/jeans and a t shirt. I frankly think it's tacky! Have some sense of style UCLA kids)

Religion-(I feel sorry for you that still have a belief, but regardless of your position there's bound to be a group just for you, including for us atheist-even though i don't associate with you kids)

1st Year Female -- Class 2011

Perceived Campus Safety: A+, Innovation: F

The student body is very competitive. Sometimes it can be hard to make friends because everyone is trying to outperform each other. I transferred here from a small liberal arts college thinking that having a UCLA education would be better for my future career plans. Boy was I wrong. At my first college the student body wanted to work together and form a community. People would study their butts off because they were very passionate about the subjects in which they were studying. At UCLA people also study their butts off but only because they want to have better grades than all their classmates. It's hard to find someone who loves what they're studying. There's a big emphasis on image here. Classes are interesting but nowhere near as good as I thought they would be. I have a feeling that most of the people who come to UCLA are attracted to the name and reputation and don't care too much about the actual learning, just about getting high marks to impress people. It's not a total loss though. There are a lot of good classes and a wide range of majors. I'm currently taking a year off due to money issues but will return to finish my BA. Just think long and hard about coming here if you're looking into it.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2011

Campus Aesthetics: A, Collaboration/Competitive: F