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Calcruzer · 04-15-2008, 07:45 PM

I'm a UCLA MBA student (Anderson grad), but in recommending undergrad business programs, I'd have to rank them in the following order:

(1) UCB--As long as you are more interested in a well-rounded business school and not just in a particular major
(2) USC--Best if you want a particular major, otherwise, it's just barely second behind UCB. These first two undergraduate business programs rate way higher than the other two:
(3) San Diego State--they at least have a business program, which UCLA does not. If you are going for Econ or Business Econ, then definitely UCLA over San Diego State, but if not, then go to San Diego State first
(4) UCLA--for the reasons mentioned. Man, it bums me to rank my alma mater last on this, but the facts are facts.

Also, you didn't list UCI (which just started an undergraduate business school), Pepperdine, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Univ of San Diego, Santa Clara or UC Riverside--all of which have pretty good undergraduate business schools.

P.S. UCLA is #2 in the state for MBAs, though. Stanford is definitely #1--and in my view UCLA barely beats out UCB and USC for #2 (Hey, you Cal Bears and USC Trojans--before you criticize me, please notice my ranking of the undergraduate business schools above).

One other thing: In my view, USC will soon move up on the business school list and UC Berkeley is likely to move slightly down. The reason for this is based upon the way the curriculum works at each school. In my view, schools that require you to take your accounting courses before entering and then focus on strategy and the major courses during the junior and senior level will eventually get higher rankings because the students will get more real world experience prior to graduation than one can get if you are still focusing on the "basics" during the junior year. UC Berkeley used to do this some years ago, but changed recently (like in the past few years)--and I think its a very poor change. They said it was because the accounting courses at the CCCs were not up to par--but i find that excuse to have no basis in fact.

04-15-2008, 07:45 PM	#9
Calcruzer Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Santa Cruz, CA Posts: 3,856	I'm a UCLA MBA student (Anderson grad), but in recommending undergrad business programs, I'd have to rank them in the following order: (1) UCB--As long as you are more interested in a well-rounded business school and not just in a particular major (2) USC--Best if you want a particular major, otherwise, it's just barely second behind UCB. These first two undergraduate business programs rate way higher than the other two: (3) San Diego State--they at least have a business program, which UCLA does not. If you are going for Econ or Business Econ, then definitely UCLA over San Diego State, but if not, then go to San Diego State first (4) UCLA--for the reasons mentioned. Man, it bums me to rank my alma mater last on this, but the facts are facts. Also, you didn't list UCI (which just started an undergraduate business school), Pepperdine, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Univ of San Diego, Santa Clara or UC Riverside--all of which have pretty good undergraduate business schools. P.S. UCLA is #2 in the state for MBAs, though. Stanford is definitely #1--and in my view UCLA barely beats out UCB and USC for #2 (Hey, you Cal Bears and USC Trojans--before you criticize me, please notice my ranking of the undergraduate business schools above). One other thing: In my view, USC will soon move up on the business school list and UC Berkeley is likely to move slightly down. The reason for this is based upon the way the curriculum works at each school. In my view, schools that require you to take your accounting courses before entering and then focus on strategy and the major courses during the junior and senior level will eventually get higher rankings because the students will get more real world experience prior to graduation than one can get if you are still focusing on the "basics" during the junior year. UC Berkeley used to do this some years ago, but changed recently (like in the past few years)--and I think its a very poor change. They said it was because the accounting courses at the CCCs were not up to par--but i find that excuse to have no basis in fact. Last edited by Calcruzer; 04-15-2008 at 07:51 PM.