LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Tell me more about UCLA!


Elizabeth LaScala, PhD personally guides each student through each step of selecting and applying to well-matched schools for undergraduate, graduate and professional school admissions. For over two decades, Elizabeth has placed hundreds of students in some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the U.S. By attending professional conferences, visiting college campuses and making personal contacts with admissions networks, Elizabeth stays current on the latest trends and the evolving nature of admissions and passes that know-how on to her clients. Both college and graduate school advising is available and the number of clients taken is limited to ensure each applicant has personalized attention. Contact Elizabeth early in the process to make a difference in your outcomes. Write elizabeth@doingcollege.com; visit www.doingcollege.com or call (925) 385-0562.

With easy access to the beach, mountains and Hollywood glitter, it's no wonder that UCLA received more applications last cycle than any other UC campus. Increasing its appeal further is the fact that Los Angeles is a global capital for entertainment, aerospace, fashion, finance and healthcare. UCLA's campus bleeds into Westwood Village, one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the world, a short drive to Beverly Hills, where movie stars and other influential elites call home.

UCLA ranks among the country's top 10 public universities and its strengths span fields from the arts to engineering. Overall, UCLA accepted only 14 percent of those who applied to join the Class of 2022. Top name professors, innovative academic programs and cutting edge research drives the number of applications sky high each cycle-113,000 high school seniors applied to UCLA last November-more applications than any college in the nation, and the 30,000 undergraduate member campus is the largest in the UC system.

Excellent grades and super strong test scores are "musts" to get in for most students. But that's not all it takes to be admitted. A holistic application process in combination with data on trends which I have reviewed since 2008 informs us that UCLA seeks to admit the most distinguished, talented and unique scholars in not only California, but across the U.S. and abroad. It's no wonder that those who get into UCLA are likely to stay put (97 percent of the freshmen who entered in 2016 returned for their sophomore year, and 79 percent finished their degrees in four years). Both measures are excellent for such a large university.

As a national research university, UCLA is credited as the original home for more than 3,000 inventions, including the foundations for the Internet. UCLA is also a leading producer of talent for the motion picture industry. UCLA alumni, over 500,000 strong worldwide, including Francis Ford Coppola, Randy Newman and Tim Robbins, have collected 38 Academy Awards. The most prominent campus in NCAA Division I athletics in the system, the university's athletic teams compete in the NCAA Division I Pacific 12 Conference and UCLA's athletes have won 261 Olympic medals and captured 116 NCAA team championships - more than any other American university.

UCLA's most popular majors are in the social sciences and biomedical sciences, but there are strong programs in virtually every other academic department, in particular architecture, computer science, engineering, mathematics, nursing and the visual and performing arts. Undergraduates have a selection of 125 majors and more than 80 minors. But unlike UC Irvine (http://www.doingcollege.com/college-profile-uc-urvine/) UCLA offers no undergraduate business program. It does offer a major in business economics, however, which can be paired with a minor in entrepreneurship studies.

One "need to know" about academics: the university calendar is based on a quarter system while similar schools, including UC-Berkeley (http://www.doingcollege.com/resources/college-profiles/) run on longer semesters. Students beware! On the quarter system the work goes faster and the grading is not any easier. Compound this with the huge size of the introductory classes and relatively smaller access to professor support, as well as 1,200 clubs and organizations to choose from, and you will better understand that good study habits and the ability to resist the many beach, sun and party distractions is essential to academic success.

UCLA has been called America's finest urban public university-and one of the best research universities in the world. There's a sense of pride in being a Bruin that is difficult to match at similar schools-and it lasts well beyond graduation.