What is UCLA really like...
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Anonymous
| In term of ability to get the classes you want, size of classes, being taught by professors versus TAs, and social life,, is it frat heavy? do kids live in dorms after freshman year... any and all insight would be appreciated. I went to a small college where we built community quickly and naturally in the dorms and I never once had a TA, so the possibility of sending my DD to a university with 33K undergrad is a strange new world to me. |
Anonymous
| My experience is that the study body segregates based on identity so people hang out with people like themselves. It's not a cohesive community. |
Anonymous
I think this is a weird comment to make about UCLA specifically because I've never been in a community where this isn't the case (my college, my jobs, church, my kids' schools, etc). It's human nature for people to segregate based on identity. It is very hard if not impossible to get authentic mixing of cultures and races on any sort of large scale. |
Anonymous
| Constant nickle and diming. A lot of people don’t take the guaranteed housing because you get A LOT of roomates, and La housing stock is pretty diverse in price (and safety). Frats…are there. They definitely don’t dominate life. Like any big school, sports are well attended and liked even though the rose bowl is impossibly far. |
Anonymous
I think it’s inevitable at most state schools. If I see this behavior at an lac, that’s a red flag. |
Anonymous
I know many tout how diverse state schools are but students tend to self segregate. even if LACs are not as diverse based on the common dataset I have found that students tend to associate with others outside of their race and prior social/economic much more. From the students I know that went to UCLA they seems to self select and form more exclusive cliques more than other state schools - I assume more due to the size and prestige of the university. |
Anonymous
| Our impression was that kids were really psyched to be there and it's almost intoxicating for OOS kids since CA is such a different experience. We've only heard people rave about kids being happy (parents and friends of friends' kids) but obviously, it's less likely we'll hear about negative experiences since DC has committed. We heard a lot about finding a smaller community within the school from the start, so maybe not surprising to see more self-selection. |
Anonymous
I'd attended a smaller university before UCLA and students of all backgrounds joined groups and socialized based on interests. There were dance groups, outdoors clubs, chess clubs, triathlon clubs, etc. At UCLA, every group started with identity and not interests. Even lab partners wouldn't speak with each other if they weren't of the same background. I found it super weird. Even student elections were all about getting other students of your religion/culture/race/heritage to turn out to vote for the candidate of the same background to push resources towards those students groups. It was super divisive. |
Anonymous
Admittedly, it's been 20 years...but my experience was that football games were never as well attended as one would hope/think, and it's because of the inconvenience of the Rose Bowl. I visited a friend at UCB and was surprised how much better the games were attended, but it makes sense...the football stadium is right there. Not like the games are empty, but the commute gets old pretty fast. You show up for the big rivalries (well, this was when it was PAC 10 vs. now Big10), and that's about it. Games are fun. |
Anonymous
Yes, it's hard to get the some of classes you need. There is an underground market for selling class seats. It's confusing how it happens, but it does. I always get called a liar when I state this so... https://stack.dailybruin.com/2024/02/04/course-selling/ Entry classes are large. My DC's classes were taught by professors but the study groups/labs were run by TAs. DC found professors to be pretty standoffish/unavailable. Housing is guaranteed all 4 years if you don't have a separation in service. Most freshman are placed in triples, but the vast majority of the dorms which had been doubles are are also moving to triples next year. They are packed in like sardines. If kids are in the greek system they tend to move into the house sophomore year and then either stay in the house or move to an apartment once they are upperclassmen, but living in LA is expensive. My DC was unlucky and did not end up on a very social floor even though the dorm was all freshman. The frats host the parties and they are often paired with sororities so it depends what kind of a social life your DD is looking for. I think most parties work off a guest list at this point. Pledging takes a lot of time and energy (and money) so it's hard to juggle other things, but sorority rush is a much more thorough and organized process for the rushees than the frat rush program so that's a plus. Outside of that my recommendation would be to go to the club fair and sign up for everything that remotely interests them and whittle from there. The campus is gorgeous, the weather is usually great (minus fires and random storms), and LA can be an exciting place, but my DC has felt like you need a lot of hustle to get what you need there and if they had to do it again I think they might have chosen differently. |
Anonymous
True. But URMs get blamed for this at predominantly white institutions. Go figure. |
Anonymous
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My DMV rigorous private school child is now at UCLA.
The pros: academics/course offerings, many many majors are very strong, intro classes have large lectures, but those are generally 100-200 people max (not the 500+ I've heard of at some schools) and those big lectures all have smaller discussions, classes are taught by professors, good research opportunities, professors are supportive/have office hours, students are supportive of one another (no competitive cut-throat vibe), campus is a nice size/good layout, nice that the dorms are all in one area ("the hill"), 4 years of guaranteed housing and lots of off-campus housing options as well, the food is great with tons of options, good social scene, tons of clubs, Greek life is there, but not over-powering, school spirit, sports, nice gyms, pool, tennis courts, etc., weather, Los Angeles at your fingertips. And as someone mentioned above, there is a lot of student pride about attending UCLA. The cons: while UCLA has just about everything a student might want in a university, students have to hustle for everything they want; there is no hand holding at all. Students have to stay very on top of course selection (mine has gotten all the classes they need and compromised on occasion with a few back-up options). If a student wants to meet with an advisor, they are going to have to seek that out. If they want research, internships, jobs, etc. they are going to have to aggressively pursue them. If they want friends, they are going to have to put themselves out there, join clubs, etc. Dorms are all triples for everyone in any grade (unless there is a medical reason for a single). There are university owned off campus apartments, but 2 bed/4 person apts are a bit hard to come by. UCLA can feel crowded. Hope this helps, feel free to ask specific questions. |
Anonymous
Were you a transfer to UCLA? How recently did you attend? |
Anonymous
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Big, big classes.
Admission letter says most are 30 or under, and that's misleading. They're including TA discussion sections. |
Anonymous
I was a graduate student. My experience is that UCLA undergrads had never had another college experience and would accept everything as normal. They didn't question that professors were unavailable, there was zero advising or that many classes were impossible to get into. They also didn't question things like shortages of lab supplies. I had another college experience to compare to and I was routinely astounded what UCLA students accepted as normal. |