<p>These surveys are given every year to graduating seniors, on topics ranging from academic rigor to faculty access, extracurricular involvement, etc. I know many parents have reservations about sending their kids to a large public university, but many of these answers may surprise you. The survey is CURRENT (Class of '08), and a majority of the class participated, so it’s also ACCURATE.</p>
<p>It’s probably safe to assume that the answers here are similar to those that would be expressed at the other top UCs, e.g. UCSD and UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>71% graduated with less than $20K of student loans, with 36% graduating without any debt at all. That will be a big leg up for these UCLA students in these troubled times.</p>
<p>27% not happy with course accessibility in their major; 32% not satisfied with lack of access to smaller classes in their major.</p>
<p>Not a surprise for a big university, although lack of course accessibility in your major would be very frustrating for me. It could lead to that dreaded 5th year.</p>
<p>True. But considering UCLA has 39,000 students, I’d say the fact that 73% of them DID have course availability in their major, and 68% DID have access to smaller classes is really pretty good. Everyone I know here who has wanted to take smaller seminars has been able to do so at some point. The people who don’t usually just don’t put out the effort to enroll in them. In my first year, I had 2/3rds of my classes with only 15-20 people in them. Not because of anything special I did, just because I chose to sign up for them.</p>
<p>I noticed that they did not ask about the satisfaction of the Frosh dorms…paying doubles prices for mandated triples! Sure, it’s a non-academic aspect, but it can still be important. The other item of note is that well over a third thought UCLA’s size was an “obstacle” to their “satisfaction”. A good deal for instate, but not much value at OOS prices, IMO.</p>
<p>I was pleasantly surprised that my son managed to have a great experience at UCLA. I was very concerned that the size of the campus would be an issue and that he would be unable to get the classes he needed; however, these fears did not pan out at all. He managed to make the campus “smaller” (including, Band Mom, by being in the marching band) and he is graduating on time this spring with a job lined up from an internship last summer.</p>
<p>UCLA was a huge bargain for us. Great education, great experiences, and no debt after four years.</p>
<p>S graduated from UCLA in '05 in Design|Media Arts without debt and on time, and has been lucratively employed in his field since then, including a brief stint working for an advertising company in Japan thanks to networking through a former prof of his. He was fortunate to have a major where there weren’t that many students, and he’s now working at UCLA.</p>
<p>blue: I think they did not include that, since those seniors were not in “mandated triples” when they were freshmen (because dorm renovations had not yet begun). As a freshman who was in a triple though, I can tell you that it was definitely not as bad space-wise as you’d think. I actually never heard anyone complain about space. Some people had roommate-issues, but that could occur with a double too.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re in a triple, you pay for a triple, not a double. If you’re paying the double price, you should talk to housing ASAP, because as someone who was supposed to be in a double last year but ended up in a triple, i can tell you that they only had me pay the triple price.</p>
<p>While the results are likely meaningful in some way, I’d like to see a survey done by students each year, controlling for those who do not finish. Asking the students who finished if they enjoyed the experience is only part of the puzzle: you need to find out why the sizable minority didn’t finish to see what’s really simmering in the pot. </p>