Degree of difficulty (Cal & UCLA)?

burks4tw
Wed, 07 May 2014 11:18:32 +0000

@Cayton‌ Hey! My husband had a 3.5 at SMC and he has a 3.6 at UCLA. He is 100% in love with the UCLA philosophy department! As far as difficulty goes, if you have a solid background in symbolic logic you won’t have much trouble. While the department can be quite tough, there are plenty of people we know who have maintained 3.8+ GPAs.

As long as you work hard and put the time in you shouldn’t worry. Aside from the rigor, I too find myself loving the philosophy department :D. The political science department is so large that it can sometimes feel a bit lonely (plays the world’s tiniest violin) and I envy my husband and how incredibly tight knit philosophy is. Though he is particularly involved in the department, I don’t think his situation is unique. Since the upper division classes are usually small (~30 people), the professors are much easier to get to know and he has formed some very tight bonds with his TAs.

If you ever have any specific questions about the philosophy department let me know and we can try to get it answered for you Oh! You should also join the UCLA Philosophy Club (the official one that the department has on their website). I don’t know if you are local, but if you are drop in on one of the philosophy club’s meetings Tuesdays at 6pm in Dodd 399. They frequently have visitors from other schools or people just interested in the club.

@ocnative‌ Yeah definitely! There is never a dull moment at Cal, I hear there is always something to get into (politically and otherwise I am sure).

I am thinking of doing a JD/MBA but decided to wait to apply until this upcoming fall. I have a pretty exciting opportunity this coming fall and didn’t want to pass it up, which is why I waited. When I do apply, I will app to Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Penn, Boalt (Yes, Cal I know!), and UCLA.