UCLA being a decisively better school than U of H and LA being a larger and more diverse job market, particularly for non-technical majors, are not speculative. And over the 10-15 years he'd be paying off the loan debt, he'd also be $100,000 better off living in ranch houses in non-gentrified neighborhoods; or driving the same car until it reaches 200,000 miles. I bet a lot of the naysayers don't make those types of sacrifices with their personal finances, but if the OP can make that type of commitment now in the pursuit of more interesting and possibly wildly more lucretive jobs, than he can certainly justify the extra education cost.
<br> I already have the entire business core satisfied so I would be double-majoring bar any significant setbacks. The only thing I can think of that would crush that idea is not being able to get a dual major as a UCLA transfer. This is something I need to talk to my advisor about on Monday, But it does not seem like it will be an issue. As far as the departmental information goes on all the correspondence I have had with UCLA, economics is the only business major that does not let transfers switch into their program. So, I think I should be fine with finance.
Since the dollar is collapsing OP debt might be 1/2 of what it is now. So a simple 100k evaluation is too simplistic. UCLA is viewed as a much better school than UH. You should consider UT Business since they are viewed well.
Firstly, congrats on making the most of your first two years in college and being able to upgrade. I think it begins and ends with LA's size, which means more of everything, and their prominence in the media/entertainment industry. With your philosophy degree I'm assuming you know how to write, and could probably analyze and interpret creative work. Kind of want to clarify if you're also getting the Finance degree at UCLA, because I think having the communication skills with philosophy degree and the basic business/accounting skills with the finance degree would make you a good fit for the business/management/advertising side of any local media firms (radio, TV, newspaper, advertising?), entry-level accounting for an entertainment firm, or with some kind of Century City entertainment financing company. I also think if you double up and get the finance degree you might be able to work for some commercial/residential real estate developer, whatever the national housing/real estate market is like, I still imagine LA/California is as good a place as any to be for that field. L.A. also has a fairly vibrant bond trading sector (PIMCO, et al), and enough high net-worth individuals for there to be a buttload of local wealth management firms, I imagine an undergrad finance degree, or at least your hours up to this point, might help you get a research assistant/analyst position at any one of them. Even if you come up snakeyes on media or business opportunities, I imagine a philosophy major has some affinity for politics or community affairs. The second largest city in the country's probably got all kinds of salaried city, state government or even congressional staffing opportunities, or even just community organizations or think tanks. I also imagine that Philosophy and Finance are a fairly good match for a law degree, assuming a solid GPA and good LSAT scores: and if you end this with a JD from Pepperdine or USC, there's just too many opportunities to count: high-end criminal defense, entry level at a talent agency, real estate lawyer, anything and everything else that requires lawyers in the second largest city in the country.
Stay at University of Houston. I'm in a PhD program and many of the students are from second tier universities. I went to a private university for my undergraduate degree, which significantly improved my critical thinking and writing skills, but ultimately I ended up in the same place as other students in my program who attended less prestigious universities. I don't regret my choice of undergraduate school because I had a full tuition scholarship, but if I hadn't received it I would have attended UT Austin. Business school isn't funded either, is it? That's an overwhelming amount of debt to accumulate before a graduate degree.
From a purely financial standpoint, there is no way to justify spending that much more for the upgrade from UH to UCLA if the student also plans to go to grad school. Even more so if the undergrad major is phil. If you want to argue that the extra money spent is worth the luxury and personal satisfaction, that is subjective. But the fact is if you plan to go to grad school anyways, no reason to finish at UCLA.
I think you would be better off at NYU or UMich, particularly for business. I would definitely go to NYU's Stern over UH's Bauer even if it meant taking on 100K more debt.
You WILL be mired in debt coming out of a school like UCLA or NYU and unless you think you have the tenacity and personality to be hired for a very well paying job you should strongly take that into consideration. It sounds like you want a job in finance so unless you think you will land a top front office job as an investment banker (which is very difficult even before the economic turmoil) I would seriously reconsider taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
