University of California-Los Angeles Top Questions

What do you consider the worst thing about your school? Why?

Shannon

Because the university was so large, it was difficult to have an intimate classroom setting and have the opportunity to get to know the professors.

Dalma

UCLA can feel impersonal at times. Due to its large student population, it was at first difficult to feel like a part of the UCLA community. Also, finding out information about events at the school is a somewhat difficult process.

Elizabeth

The worst thing is that the student population is large, so sometimes it feels a bit crowded in the dining halls or in the library.

Kendall

I honestly couldn't name a bad thing about this college. Some people don't like the large class sizes (many are upwards of 200 students), but I think that offers students a chance to meet more people and be exposed to more ideas from their classmates. Some would also complain that the counselors aren't extremely helpful at this public school, however to that I would say that it forces you to be proactive. The counselors don't hold your hand, so you have to take your education and future into your own hands, which can be rewarding.

Genesis

My classmates, who are predominantly white and Asian and the rest are from different parts of the U.S. or World, provide a variety of perspectives and ideas.

Eric

So many stairs and hills.

Catherine

UCLA seems to expect its students to fall into the mob mentality when it comes to school spirit and many students, myself included, are only happy to comply. Rather than self inspecting and identifying the aspects of the university that the Bruin community can work to improve upon, the administration seems bent on taking the easier way out and focusing on the achievements Bruins have already accomplished and are expected to maintain. While it's important to work against a lapse in current excellence, a myopic focus on celebrating it prevents progress.

Alex Edward

The worse thing about UCLA for me was the fact that I lived an hour away via bus and since I worked a full-time job while attending school I never had the chance to develop any long lasting frienships with professors or students. Like I mentioned before, it's a big public school with lots of students and sometimes you feel just like one of thousands. Never really getting any personal guidance or treamtment.

Joshua

My school is very large; I come from a high school of fifteen hundred students, and now I attend a university with tens of thousands of undergraduates and all of the feelings of a large school. I was told that involvement in student organizations can make the school seem smaller and more personal; I am now a member of one organization and an officer of two others, but the school still feels incomprehensibly big. There is an impersonality to any group of people of such magnitude, but for some reason, it is accentuated at my school.

Henry

The difficulty and grading system like the gpa system

Madison

The only bad thing I can say about this school, is that although there is so much diversity, it is not spread out evenly. Sometimes I feel left out, but it is rare. Also, there are many Christian groups, but not many Catholic, or Jewish, or other groups of other religions. When I do choose to go home, although UCLA is very close to the freeway and only about 15 miles away from the airport, traffic is horrendious!! It can take up to an hour just to reach the airport!

anna

It should offer more chance for internship and better financial aid pertaining to your major.

Janie

Presently I'm unable to say there is anything terribly wrong with UCLA. People do tell me the parking is horrible. I have never experienced this so far.

Lesley

The worst thing about UCLA is a very difficult question to answer, because UCLA has many great qualities. Although the population of students that attend UCLA is a difficult aspect to get used to. Major lecture halls can consists of up to 200 students and this inconvenience limits the amount of one-on-one interaction students can have with the professors. The struggle does not stop in the lecture halls, but continues onto the disscussion sections where classes are also made up large sum of 30. It is a struggle to establish personal relationships with both professors and T.As.

Jacqueline

The only thing I could think of that is the worst, is the hills you need to walk up because it can get tiring.

Nicole

The worst thing about my school is its inability to win in big-name sports. The teams are built up to be so great, and they are always a let down.

Charlotte

There isn't much about UCLA that is bad, but if I have to pick something I would say that sometimes the processes to deal with academic holds or issues can be frustrating and longer than necessary. It can be a hassel especially if you have to go to multiple offices to get different signatures and such when not everyone is in their office at the same time. Other than that, I feel like UCLA has a wonderful system.

JuYoung

I think the overpopulated campus is the biggest problem in UCLA. I have heard that although UCLA is the smallest campus among the UCs, it has the largest population. It creates chaos during enrollment because us students rarely get the classes we want and need to prepare multiple alternatives. From my personal experience, studying for a class I did not want became a burden throughout the quarter and, frankly, it showed in my grades.

Jessica

The worst thing about my school is the lack of ethnic and racial diversity. The majority of the student population is comprise of Caucasians and Asians, which often tend to stick to the their own ethnic group in both social and academic settings. As a Hispanic of lower socioeconomic status, I find it a challenge to engage with these students becase we come from very different communities and culture. Because of the majority of the student population being Caucasian or Asian, I can rarely find people of my own ethnicity to relate to.

Laura

I think the worse thing about UCLA is the professors. I have found a few professors that I really like and enjoy learning from, but many more that do not communicate the material well or plain do not care about the students' success. It is typical to be tested for a Final on material you never talked about in class. It is also typical for students to forgo taking a necessary class because there is a horrible professor teaching it, instead taking it the next year or even changing their majors to avoid taking the class.

melissa

The worst thing about UCLA is the racist climate, at times, made by predominantly culturally-insensitive caucasian students towards minority racial and religious groups. This has been the topic of debate the past years I have been there since there has been numerous racially charged incidents and the chancellor has either dismissed these claims or addressed them in a passive and non-impactful manner. Besides these incidents I love being at UCLA I just wish students were more culturally and religiously aware without being so judgemental and ignorant.

Jaimie

The population - it's almost so big that introverts like me just get overwhelmed and instead of racking up a huge friends list on Facebook of college acquaintances, you end up only meeting a few people in just a handful of your classes.

Alexander

I feel that difficult dialogue is not encouraged at our school and conformity is encouraged instead of intellectual discussion. Forums for debate are few and far between and most students are hardly ideologically challenged. I feel students would be able to grow more academically, emotionally, and spiritually if students were encouraged to challenge their set beliefs and opened their minds up to novel schools of thought.

Serina

The worse thing about UCLA is the hills that the school is built on. These hills cause parking to be nearly impossible to find, for biking and scootering to be hindered especially while travelling between campus and the dorms, and for skateboarding to be dangerous to both the skateboarder and the pedestrians. The hills lessen the amount of students that live in the dorms to go into the city because they don't want to go back up. The hills force people who don't want to exercise to do so just to get to their classes.

Shanel

The worst thing about my school is the lack of diversity.

Ani

The worst thing about this school is the extreme amount of competition. While it is great to study, many students seem to do nothing else but study. It is an overall stressful and serious environment, where most students are completely focused on academics, with little room for much else. As a result of grade curves, many students are reluctant to help one another or to work together, making UCLA a hostile environment at times.

Onel

Although my school can boast about its diversity racially, it feels like all the students are still clumped up into their own races. I feel this is the worst thing about my school. Since the population is great, people need to find people that they have most in common with and usually this is race. I konw for a fact that this was the case for me. This is the worst part because although UCLA boasts of diversity, people are still deprived of learning about another's background and lessening the differences between one another.

Amber

To tell you the truth, I absolutely love UCLA, so this is a very difficult question for me. I do have to admit though that pretty much every day when I walk to class, there is always someone trying to either get me to join a club, talk to be about a controversial topic like religion, or talk to me about some cause or other. This can get a bit annoying, especially if you are in a hurry to get to class and the person trying to talk to you gets angry with you for not listening.

Alison

Honestly, there aren't any extremely negative things about UCLA that I have noticed thus far. But if I had to choose, it would be that the major I am interested in, Communication Studies, is very competitive and hard to get into.

Eleanor

I love UCLA, the campus, the students, and the professors. There is nothing bad about my school that particularly stands out to me. However, tuition costs are high here and signing up for classes is difficult because of the sheer amount of students that attend this university.

Shelby

I would argue that the worst thing about our school is the cost. As a public institution in Calfornia this school should cost much less than it does. Tuitition has been raised over the past few years and is continuing to be raised.

Elizabeth

Hard to find help and guidance at times.

Miguel

The worst thing about my school, is probably the worst thing about all of the other schools. There is a certain degree of fear at the idea of going on an adventure, without being familiar with the landscape. This can actually turn out to be a avery good thing, because from the adventure that is going to college, a student can find paradise and treasures. (literally)!

Colleen

I've heard the parking isn't too great. However, it is a great school and I really like it!

Arthur

I would have to say the food even though many people claim that is one of the best things about UCLA. Although I won't deny that the dining halls have delicious food, that food is quite unhealthy for you. For example, the grilled cheese sandwich is an item available everyday at all three dining halls and is quite tasty but has over half your daily salt, over 30 percent of your daily overall fat and over 60 percent of your daily allotment of artery clogging saturated fat.

Linh

The worst thing about my school is its infamous rivalry with USC because it makes it that much harder for me to talk to my friend.

Yalda

The registration system could use some work. Although you're guaranteed a better registration time the longer you're at the school, it's still pretty random and can mess up your whole schedule.

Vanessa

The counselors. Most of them really don't know what they are talking about. They led me down the wrong path many times and messed up my class schedule. You have to find one really good counselor and send him/her emails. You can't ask to see a certain counselor; they assign you a random one each time. Don't trust everything they say. Try to find a knowledgeable upper classman and ask them.

Andrea

The class sizes are too big. Most of my class sizes had 60-150 students. This is challenging to get to know the professors well, especially if you need a letter of recommendation from them. Also, counseling services are not very good. You are a small fish in a big pond and you really have to fight for an excellent academic experience in such a huge university. If you need to be held by the hand, do not come to UCLA, instead go to a smaller private school that will give you one on one service.

Bounrod

The worst thing is signing up for classes; since there's a seniority system, first and second years have it the worst. It's also really competitive to sign up, seeing how the number of seats per class is capped at a certain number. So, you might not get to take that class that you really want and that fits perfectly into your schedule.

Linda

The hardest part is signing up for classes. With the budget cuts, smaller and fewer lectures means that students can't be sure that they’ll have their perfect schedule because many classes will fill up even before their designated enrollment time. As a freshman, unless you have lots of units from AP credit or community college classes taken while still in high school, you’ll have the least priority. I have taken some classes with some professors that I did not plan for nor liked according to reviews; however, I ended up enjoying some and meeting my best friends.

Danielle

Budget cuts have plagued UCLA and the other University of California schools. The cutting down of staff and curriculum combined with increases in tuition costs are asking students to be willing to pay more for less. The quality of my school has unfortunately dwindled before my eyes. The budget cuts have made enrollment in classes more stressful as students struggle to get into their needed classes due to cutbacks in course offerings. However, I believe that when the economic crisis is over, UCLA will overcome this.

Lien

The worst thing at school might be the construction that never seems to end. UCLA is always under construction and sometimes hearing the drillings and breathing in the dust can be problematic. In addition, the school is located in Westwood, and parking is a hassle. The cost for one day of parking, I believe has gone up to $9. In addition, the cost of tuition has gone up about 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} this year!

Sana

too competitive segregated according to races. hard for students who look hispanic, such as myself

Quynh-Minh

Classes are too big and there isn't enough individual attention. Some teachers are more focused on their research than they are on their students.

Angela

Having only four years to sample the wide, enriching variety of curricula and activities.

Natalie

The worst thing about my school would be the housing situations. I am paying for college for my own, which means I have already taken out many student loans. Housing alone costs 10,000 dollars a year, and that's if you are sharing the room with two other students. The building is literally falling apart. One morning part of the bathroom ceiling fell on a girl while she was in one of the stalls, and the windows aren't sealed so the wind blows right through them. I believe the college should make housing more affordable.

William

The worst thing I can say about my school is the number of students and how there appears to be no individual attention you can receive from classes or social situations. There is a saying that you feel "like a number" here, and I didn't believe it until I came here. People are generally open to you, but you realize that most people form their solid core of friends within a couple of weeks and it is more difficult to make friends if you aren't outgoing or put in the right situation.

Ivan

The worst thing about UCLA would have to be the hills. Having to walk becomes a bit tiresome but eventually it's easy to get accustomed to. Other than this, UCLA is a fantastic institution to attend.

Joshua

I have realized that there is a great disparity in the quality of the professorial staff at the university. During my last quarter, the first and worst, I was taught by quite brilliant people; however, they failed to effectively "profess" what they knew and were to teach. Moreover, the professors were hard to reach and inapproachable outside of the classroom. In contrast, this quarter, I have what I believe to be the best of the teaching staff. Therefore, I question what the university's standards for employing one in the teaching staff is and why this disparity exists.