With undergraduate application season in full swing, prospective
applicants are weighing UCLA against other schools, often using
published rankings such as the U.S. News and World Report.
University of California officials and student advisers alike
say rankings should have a limited influence on a student’s
decision as to where to apply, and agree that a student’s
decision to apply to UCLA is rarely motivated by rankings.
Ravi Poorsina, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President,
said students should be wary of rankings because they are biased
and often based on criteria not important to students, like
endowments and fundraising.
“We’re a lot lower than other universities when it
comes to that sort of thing,” she said, adding that students
probably don’t care about such criteria.
“(Students) probably want to make sure what they’re
looking at at least gives an idea of how good of an education you
can get at these universities,” she said.
Poorsina added that UCLA is known around the world, regardless
of its ranking. Clara Beard, an academic adviser at Santa Monica
High School, agreed that students who apply to UCLA consider other
factors rather than rankings.
“(UCLA is) the closest (university) so a lot of students
want to live at home and attend there. They also love the football
team,” she said. “I very rarely hear people speaking
about academic research.”
Beard said the high school advisers take rankings into account
only when considering academic reputation and possibility of being
accepted.
“I think some kids will apply to a school because of its
rank and have no intention of attending,” she said.
Of the 45 students from the high school accepted to UCLA last
year, only 10 chose to attend, but Beard attributed this to their
decision to go farther from home than UCLA.
“Maybe they feel more ready than in November when
they’re applying,” she said.
Dan Nannini, the transfer center director for Santa Monica
College, attributes UCLA’s location to the high matriculation
percentage of students accepted ““ of 720 SMC students
admitted last fall, about 550 chose to attend.
“Familiarity is a big part of what makes UCLA popular with
Santa Monica kids,” he said, explaining that students in the
area know UCLA graduates, which adds to its reputation.
Nannini said he discourages students from considering rankings
at all.
“Some people just start with a ranking, but (rankings)
don’t necessarily equate to things students want to
know,” he said, adding that employment possibilities after
graduation are important to students.
Community college students tend to value location and
affordability, and are looking for a university with a solid
academic reputation, Nannini said.
“The UC system fits that bill, which is why we send so
many students,” he said.
Veenat Bhamani, a senior at Santa Monica High School, said the
U.S. News and World Report and other rankings are playing a large
role in where she chooses to apply.
“The prestige is attractive,” she said. Bhamani said
she was applying to nine private universities, including several
Ivy League schools and several UCs, including UCLA.
But Bhamani said after she is accepted, her final decision will
take practical factors like financial aid, location and religious
facilities into account rather than rankings.
Unlike Bhamani, Connie Migliazzo, a senior at Marymount High
School, said she did not look at rankings, but read The Princeton
Review and another college guide that her mother bought her in
order to narrow down her college choices.
Migliazzo said the most important factors for her were whether
her prospective schools had an academic program she was interested
in, the campus atmosphere and location, not how they were
ranked.
“Schools can be ranked in so many different areas. So many
people have different personalities. That’s really hard to
say,” she said.