What must I do to get into UCLA?

Do I have what it takes to get into UCLA?

• Hi everyone, I'm a junior at high school currently and am wondering if I have what it takes to get into UCLA. UCLA is my dream school and I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me if there's anything I have to work on. I'm mainly interested in the MBA program UCLA has because I'm interested in becoming a business owner some day. I already have a back up college, and it's CU Boulder since I'm currently living in Colorado. Anyways, here is my situation so far. I'll just start off with the bad stuff first. I haven't done anything throughout my freshman and sophomore years. I haven't taken any honors courses, nor AP courses, nor have I done any extracurricular activities. This year I'm a rep. at Student Council, I'm in FBLA, in AVID, I'm currently doing community service, and I will join LAX in the spring. Here's the thing, I'm still taking traditional classes, and frankly this is what's bugging me the most. See I didn't think AP classes were a big deal, I always thought of them as a grade killer actually. But now that I've done more research, I learned it's best to challenge yourself with these courses along with some honor courses as well. All this time I've been taking traditional classes to protect my grades,but I guess colleges really do like to see a challenge. :( Anyways next year I'm doing everything I just told you, I hope to also become an officer at FBLA by then. Later this year I'm really wanting to knock out the ACT so that way I can override the fact that I haven't taken any challenging courses this year. Next year I'll definitely take AP and honors courses though. Please guys tell me what I need to work on. I've already talked to my counselors, but it's best to get a second hand answer as well, I deeply appreciate it. Thank You!

• Answer:

  Yes, you should be able to get into the UCLA MBA program. You need a high GPA, 2-4 years of good work experience, a high GMAT score, and money to pay for the program and living expenses. If you work in California after your fist degree (hopefully not a business degree), you will establish residence there and pay state tuition. And if don't get into UCLA, the state has a ton of other excellent MBA programs. Explore the Official MBA Guide. It's a comprehensive free public service with more than 2,000 MBA programs listed worldwide. It allows you to search for programs by location (US, Europe, Far East, etc.), by concentration (finance, marketing, aviation management, health management, accounting, etc.), by type of program (full-time, distance learning, part-time, executive, and accelerated), and by listing your own criteria and preferences to get a list of universities that satisfy your needs. Schools report their accreditation status, tuition cost, number of students, class sizes, program length, and a lot of other data. Schools provide data on entrance requirements, program costs, program characteristics, joint degrees, and much more. You can use the Guide to contact schools of your choice, examine their data, visit their web site, and send them pre applications. You can see lists of top 40 schools ranked by starting salaries of graduates, GMAT scores, and other criteria.