College of the Day: UCLA

University of California - Los Angeles

Quick Facts:

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Established:1919

Students Enrolled: 39,000

Applicants: 72,697

Male/Female Ratio: 45/55

The University of California, Los Angeles, located between Beverly Hills and Bel Air, has a prime location in the Los Angeles area. UCLA's campus sprawls over 419 acres and features a wealth of gardens and tree-lined walkways. The campus is frequently used for the backdrop in many tv shows and movies. 

UCLA is known for it's superb facilities and outstanding academics.  The university offers 190 different fields of study for it's students.  Many programs at UCLA are considered the best in the country.  The School of Engineering and Applied Science is renowned nationwide.  The School of Film, Theater, and Television is highly regarded, and it's location in Los Angeles gives students many opportunities to explore career opportunities while at school. 

Because of UCLA's size, the required core classes often have 300 to 400 students in each, but the higher level courses do have less.  About 80 percent of undergraduate classes have less than 50 students.  The academic classes are rigorous and challenging, but the university offers students many study options like peer tutoring and study groups. 

Student Life:

Student housing is highly sought after due to the cost of rent in Los Angeles.  Ninety-two percent of students live in university housing.  Freshmen and sophomores are guaranteed housing, but older students have to sign up for a wait list. Campus has 15 different dining halls, cafes, and snack bars for the students to enjoy.  

Because of the campus's large size, there is never a shortage of social events to go to.  The neighboring town of Westwood features many restaurants and theaters, but only 3 bars.  Students mostly spend their weekends partying at fraternities/sororities or going to near by Hollywood clubs. Greek life is fairly popular with eleven percent of students joining a fraternity or sorority.  The university has a no open consumption policy when it comes to alcohol, but many students find it easy to get around this rule. 

UCLA is also a very distinguished school athletically.  The university has won more than 1,200 NCAA titles and has spawned more than 250 Olympic athletes.  The rivalry between the proximate University of Southern California (USC) is very electric.  Students get very passionate about the rivalry especially during football season. 

Applying:

If you are interested in applying to the UCLA you should have a Critical Reading SAT Score of 560-680 and a Math SAT Score of 600-760. ACT Scores for all sections should be at least 25-31. UCLA typically has at least 72,000 applicants each year with only 22% of applicants being accepted.  UCLA gets more applications than any other college in America. 

Interested in applying to UCLA, but need to boost your testing scores? Click here to access our various 1-on-1 tutoring and college admissions consulting packages.

 Source: Fiske, Edward B. "UC-Los Angeles." Fiske Guide to Colleges. Vol. 2015. N.p: 98-100. Print