Higher Studies Abroad

University of California, Los Angeles

Mahdin Mahboob

THE University of California, Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is one of the best public research universities in USA and the fact that I receives an annual endowment of over $ 2.3 billion shows the amount of research that is happening around the place. As the name would suggest, the university is located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1919 and the name was changed in 1927 to the University of California at Los Angeles. UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college) as well as undergraduate colleges Arts and Architecture, Herb Alpert School of Music, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Scienceý, Nursing, and Theater, Film, and Television, seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students annually, and that number is steadily rising.

UCLA's undergraduate program is ranked 25th among "America's Best Colleges 2009: National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report, third among public universities in the United States. The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked UCLA 13th internationally. UCLA is a Public Ivy, and one of the 25 New Ivies, a list of universities ranked by Kaplan. UCLA also ranks among the top 10 schools in USA with the most faculty awards.

UCLA has more applicants than any other university in the United States. Out of 55,401 undergraduate applicants for Fall 2008, only 12,755 (22.7%) were admitted. Students come to UCLA from all 50 states of USA and more than 100 countries.

When UCLA opened its new campus in 1929, it had four buildings. Today, the campus includes 163 buildings across 419 acres (1.7 km²) in the western part of Los Angeles. The Romanesque Revival style of these first four structures remained the predominant building style on campus until the 1950s, when architect Welton Becket was hired to supervise the expansion of the campus over the next two decades. In order to accommodate UCLA's rapidly growing student population, multiple construction and renovation projects are in progress, including expansions of the life sciences and engineering research complexes. This continuous construction gives UCLA the interesting on-campus nickname of Under Construction Like Always.

The campus includes sculpture gardens, fountains, museums, and a mix of architectural styles. The campus is informally divided into North Campus and South Campus, which are both on the eastern half of the university's land. North Campus is the original campus core; its buildings are more old-fashioned in appearance and clad in imported Italian brick. North Campus is home to the arts, humanities, social sciences, law, and business programs and is centered around oak tree-lined Dickson Court. South Campus is home to the physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, psychology, mathematical sciences, all health-related fields, and the UCLA Medical Center.

The tallest building on campus is named after Ralph Bunche, an African-American alumnus, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an armistice agreement between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine. A bust of him, on the entrance to Bunche Hall, overlooks the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden. He was the first individual of non-European background and the first UCLA alumnus to be honoured with the Prize.

With a location near Hollywood and a world-famous film and television school, the UCLA campus has attracted filming for decades. Much of the 1985 film Gotcha! was shot at UCLA, as well as John Singleton's Higher Learning (1995). Legally Blonde, "Old School", "The Nutty Professor", Erin Brockovich, and American Pie 2 all were mainly shot at the university campus or locale. In January 2009, the Bollywood movie My Name is Khan was shot at UCLA.

UCLA was ranked 12th in Newsweek's annual ranking of the Top 100 Global universities. In 2007, UCLA was ranked 13th in the world (11th in North America) by Top 500 World Universities, an annual list published by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. UCLA was ranked 18th in the country and 41st in the world by The Times Higher Education Supplement's list of the top 200 universities in the world.

UCLA is ranked 25th among "America's Best Colleges 2009: National Universities" by U.S. News and World Report, third best public university in the United States. In the August 2128, 2006 issue of Newsweek (also released as the 2007 issue of the Kaplan Guide to Colleges), UCLA was listed as one of "25 New Ivies". The Washington Monthly ranks UCLA 2nd nationally with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility. UCLA's School of Law, Anderson School of Management, School of Public Affairs, and School of Medicine consistently rank among the top ten to twenty in the United States.

UCLA's library system has over eight million books and 70,000 serials spread over twelve libraries and eleven other archives, reading rooms, and research centers.

Six professors (two of whom are current faculty) and four alumni have been awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in science and peace. 90 professors are members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 52 have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships, and nine are MacArthur Foundation Fellows. In 2006,54 faculty members were listed as "Highly Cited" by the Institute for Scientific Information.

For more information about the university, visit:
http://www.ucla.edu/
Information Source: Internet