University of California, Los Angeles

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The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as the southern branch of the California State Normal School, which is now San José State University. The campus was transferred to the University of California to become its southern branch in 1919, making it the second-oldest of the 10-campus University of California system after the University of California, Berkeley. It officially became independent from Berkeley on June 14, 1951 and set the precedent to further strip CAL's administrative oversight over University of California, Davis, University of California, Riverside, University of California, San Diego, and University of California, San Francisco.

Country: United States
Headquarters: Los Angeles
Inception: 1919, July 24, 1919, May 23, 1919
Website: https://ucla.edu

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UCLA offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a range of disciplines, enrolling about 31,600 undergraduate and 14,300 graduate and professional students annually. It received 174,914 undergraduate applications for Fall 2022, including transfers, the most of any university in the United States. The university is organized into the College of Letters and Science and twelve professional schools. Six of the schools offer undergraduate degree programs: Arts and Architecture, Engineering and Applied Science, Music, Nursing, Public Affairs, and Theater, Film and Television. Three others are graduate-level professional health science schools: Medicine, Dentistry, and Public Health. Its three remaining schools are Education & Information Studies, Management and Law.

UCLA student-athletes compete as the Bruins in the Big Ten Conference. They won 126 NCAA team championships while in the Big Ten and the Pac-12 Conference, second only to Stanford University's 128 team titles. 436 Bruins have made Olympic teams, winning 284 Olympic medals: 141 gold, 74 silver and 69 bronze. UCLA has been represented in every Olympics since the university's founding (except in 1924) and has had a gold medalist in every Olympics in which the U.S. has participated since 1932.

As of October 2025, 19 Nobel laureates, 11 Rhodes scholars, 10 astronauts, 3 Turing Award winners, 2 Dan David Prize winners, 2 chief scientists of the U.S. Air Force, 1 Pritzker Prize winner, 7 Pulitzer Prize winners, 2 U.S. poet laureates, 1 Gauss prize winner, and 2 Fields Medalist have been affiliated with it as faculty, researchers and alumni. As of April 2025, 61 associated faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 17 to the American Philosophical Society, 34 to the National Academy of Engineering, 49 to the National Academy of Medicine, 29 to the National Academy of Inventors, and 71 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Also known as UCLA, UC Los Angeles, University of California-Los Angeles

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Country: United States
Headquarters: Los Angeles
Inception: 1919, July 24, 1919, May 23, 1919
Website: https://ucla.edu

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History

In March 1881, at the request of state senator Reginaldo Francisco del Valle, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School (now San José State University) in downtown Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California. The "Los Angeles branch of the California State Normal School" opened on August 29, 1882, on what is now the site of the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system. The facility included a demonstration school where teachers-in-training could practice their techniques with children. That elementary school would become the present day UCLA Lab School. In 1887, the branch campus became independent and changed its name to Los Angeles State Normal School.

In 1914, the school moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue (now the site of Los Angeles City College) in East Hollywood. In 1917, UC Regent Edward Augustus Dickson, the only regent representing the Southland at the time, and Ernest Carroll Moore, President of the Los Angeles State Normal School, began to lobby the State Legislature to enable the school to become the second University of California campus, after UC Berkeley. They met resistance from UC Berkeley alumni, Northern California members of the state legislature and then-UC President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, who were all vigorously opposed to the idea of a southern campus.

The state constitution expressly protected the autonomy of the University of California from political interference, which meant the Legislature could not directly command the Board of Regents to create a southern campus. However, the state constitution did not prohibit the state legislature from passing legislation to create additional state universities. The supporters of the Los Angeles State Normal School used the possibility of that scenario to pressure the Board of Regents to voluntarily accept the normal school as UC's southern campus. In 1919, the California Legislature passed a bill formally transforming the Los Angeles State Normal School into the Southern Branch of the University of California, making it the first UC campus established after Berkeley.

On May 23, 1919, the Southern Californians' efforts were rewarded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, which acquired the land and buildings and transformed the Los Angeles Normal School into the "Southern Branch of the University of California". The same legislation added its general undergraduate program, the Junior College. The Southern Branch campus opened on September 15 of that year, offering two-year undergraduate programs to 250 Junior College students and 1,250 students in the Teachers College. While University of Southern California students criticized the "branch" as a mere "twig", Southern Californians continued to fight Northern Californians for the right to three and then four years of instruction. In December 1923, the Board of Regents authorized a fourth year of instruction and transformed the Junior College into the College of Letters and Science, which awarded its first bachelor's degrees in June 1925.

Under UC President William Wallace Campbell, enrollment at the Southern Branch expanded so rapidly that by the mid-1920s the institution was outgrowing the 25 acre Vermont Avenue location. The Regents announced the new "Beverly Site"—just west of Beverly Hills—in 1925. After the athletic teams entered the Pacific Coast conference in 1926, the Southern Branch student council adopted the nickname "Bruins", a name offered by the student council at UC Berkeley. On February 1, 1927, the Regents renamed the Southern Branch the "University of California at Los Angeles". In the same year, the state broke ground in Westwood on land sold for $1 million, less than one-third its value, by real estate developers Edwin and Harold Janss, for whom the Janss Steps are named. The campus in Westwood opened to students in 1929.

The original four buildings were the College Library (now Powell Library), Royce Hall, the Physics-Biology Building (which became the Humanities Building and is now the Renee and David Kaplan Hall), and the Chemistry Building (now Haines Hall), arrayed around a quadrangular courtyard on the 400 acre (1.6 km2) campus. The first undergraduate classes on the new campus were held in 1929 with 5,500 students. UCLA was permitted to award the master's degree in 1933, and the doctorate in 1936, against continued resistance from UC Berkeley.

Spring 2024 pro-Palestine encampment

On April 25, 2024, an occupation protest began at UCLA to protest the administration's investments in Israel amid the Gaza war. On April 28, clashes occurred between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters as Stand With Us rallied on the campus, in a protest organized by the Israeli American Council.

Beginning on April 25th, counter-protests in support of Israel emerged aimed at dismantling the encampment. On April 30, violent clashes were reported on the UCLA campus between pro-Palestinian protesters and groups of counter-demonstrators. After playing Israeli's children songs alongside a baby's cry for several hours (a tactic used to torture Palestinian prisoners), counter-protestors began physically assaulting the students inside the encampment with fireworks, wooden planks, capsaicin sprays, and pipes. Police were called shortly after the attack began, but refused to intervene until hours after the first firework went off, telling multiple 911 callers: "You can't continue calling unless you have an emergency." The attack continued for four more hours before California state highway patrol officers arrived to disperse the crowd of counter-protestors at around 3:00 AM, making no arrests.

Over 20 students had to be hospitalized due to injuries of various severities inflicted by counter-protesters. On May 1, UC administration unsuccessfully sent campus administrator Darnell Hunt into the encampment to negotiate an end to the encampment. The same night, police swept the Palestine Solidarity Encampment and arrested more than 200 pro-Palestinian student protestors. The UCLA chapter of Students For Justice in Palestine claimed five students were shot in the head with rubber bullets during the sweep, but the LAPD denied that rubber bullets were used. Varying, sometimes contradictory, media accounts exist on the manner and extent to which rubber bullets were used during the sweep. Several months later, two counter-protestors were arrested for their role in the April 30 attack. LA County District Attorney George Gascón declined to charge other individuals identified as attackers against the encampment and individuals inside the encampment.

In June 2024, three Jewish students filed a lawsuit against UCLA, alleging "that the university played a role in preventing them from accessing the campus freely during protests, when they were blocked from entering the pro-Palestinian encampment erected by protesters." The students were represented by Becket Law. In July 2024, United States District Judge Mark C. Scarsi ordered that UCLA must "create a plan to ensure Jewish students have equal access to campus" as a result of the lawsuit. In July 2025, UCLA agreed to pay $6.13 million to settle the lawsuit.

Architecture

The first buildings were designed by the local firm Allison & Allison. The Romanesque Revival style of these first four structures remained the predominant building style until the 1950s, when architect Welton Becket was hired to supervise the expansion of the campus over the next two decades. Romanesque Revival was chosen as an alternative to Collegiate Gothic to parallel the climate of Southern California to the warm, sunny weather of the Southern Mediterranean.

Becket greatly streamlined its general appearance, adding several rows of minimalist, slab–shaped brick buildings to the southern half, the largest of these being the UCLA Medical Center. Architects such as A. Quincy Jones, William Pereira, and Paul Williams designed many subsequent structures on the campus during the mid-20th century. More recent additions include buildings designed by architects I.M. Pei, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Richard Meier, Cesar Pelli, and Rafael Vinoly. 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 nickname "Under Construction Like Always".

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

The Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is located a mile north of campus, in the community of Bel Air. The garden was designed by landscape architect Nagao Sakurai of Tokyo and garden designer Kazuo Nakamura of Kyoto in 1959. The garden was donated to UCLA by former UC regent and UCLA alumnus Edward W. Carter and his wife Hannah Carter in 1964 with the stipulation that it remains open to the public. After the garden was damaged by heavy rains in 1968, UCLA Professor of Art and Campus Architect Koichi Kawana took on the task of its reconstruction. The property was sold in 2016 and public access is no longer required.

Rankings

The 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges report ranked UCLA second among public universities and 17th among national universities. The Washington Monthly ranked UCLA 20th among national universities in 2024, with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility. The Money Magazine Best Colleges ranking for 2015 ranked UCLA 26th in the United States, based on educational quality, affordability and alumni earnings. In 2014, The Daily Beast's Best Colleges report ranked UCLA 10th in the country. The Kiplinger Best College Values report for 2015 ranked UCLA 6th for value among American public universities. The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education ranked UCLA 26th among national universities in 2016. The 2013 Top American Research Universities report by the Center for Measuring University Performance ranks UCLA 11th in power, 12th in resources, faculty, and education, 14th in resources and education and 9th in education. The 2015 Princeton Review College Hopes & Worries Survey ranked UCLA as the No. 5 "Dream College" among students and the No. 10 "Dream College" among parents. The National Science Foundation ranked UCLA 6th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.45 billion. In 2017 The New York Times ranked UCLA 1st for economic upward-mobility among 65 "elite" colleges in the United States.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2024–25 ranks UCLA 18th in the world for academics, No. 2 US Public University for academics, and 15th in the world for reputation. In 2020, it ranked 16th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings. UCLA was ranked 43rd in the QS World University Rankings in 2024 and 13th in the world (11th in North America) by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) in 2024. In 2017, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ranked the university 15th in the world based on quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, publications, influence, citations, broad impact, and patents. The 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Rankings report ranked UCLA 11th in the world. The CWTS Leiden ranking of universities based on scientific impact for 2017 ranks UCLA 14th in the world. The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) conducted by Middle East Technical University for 2016–2017 ranked UCLA 12th in the world based on the quantity, quality and impact of research articles and citations. The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities for 2017 ranked UCLA 11th in the world based on the presence, impact, openness and excellence of its research publications.

As of March 2021, the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools report ranked the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS) 3rd, the Anderson School of Management 18th, the David Geffen School of Medicine tied for 12th for Primary Care and 21st for Research, the School of Law 14th, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) 16th, the Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health 10th, and the Joe C. Wen School of Nursing 16th. The QS Global 200 MBA Rankings report for 2015 ranks the Anderson School of Management 9th among North American business schools. The 2014 Economist ranking of Full-time MBA programs ranks the Anderson School of Management 13th in the world. The 2014 Financial Times ranking of MBA programs ranks the Anderson School 26th in the world. The 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek ranking of Full-time MBA programs ranks the Anderson School of Management 11th in the United States. The 2014 Business Insider ranking of the world's best business schools ranks the Anderson School of Management 20th in the world. The 2014 Eduniversal Business Schools Ranking ranks the Anderson School of Management 15th in the United States. In 2015, career website Vault ranked the Anderson School of Management 16th among American business schools, and the School of Law 15th among American law schools. In 2015, financial community website QuantNet ranked the Anderson School of Management's Master of Financial Engineering program 12th among North American financial engineering programs. The U.S. News & World Report Best Online Programs report for 2016 ranked the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) 1st among online graduate engineering programs.

Departments ranked in the national top ten by the 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools report are Clinical Psychology (1st), Fine Arts (1st), Education (5th), Psychology (6th), Math (7th), History (6th), Sociology (6th), English (8th), Public Health (8th), and Nursing: Master's (9th). Departments ranked in the global top 30 by the 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities report are Arts and Humanities (12th), Biology and Biochemistry (11th), Chemistry (29th), Clinical Medicine (14th), Materials Science (13th), Mathematics (19th), Neuroscience and Behavior (14th), Psychiatry/Psychology (12th) and Social Sciences and Public Health (23rd).

Departments ranked in the global top ten by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for 2015 are Mathematics (8th) and Computer Science (9th). Departments ranked in the global top ten by the QS World University Rankings for 2020 are English Language & Literature (9th), Linguistics (10th), Modern Languages (7th), Medicine (7th), Psychology (6th), Mathematics (9th), Geography (7th), Communications & Media Studies (13th), Education (11th) and Sociology (7th).

Academic field rankings in the global top ten according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for 2025 are Atmospheric Science (6th), Clinical Medicine (7th), Human Biological Sciences (9th), Electrical and Electronic Engineering (9th), Materials Science & Engineering (9th), Dentistry & Oral Sciences (10th). Academic field rankings in the global top 20 according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2024–25 include Psychology (11th), Education Studies (13th), Arts & Humanities (14th), Medical and Health (14th), Engineering (16th), Physical Sciences (17th), Computer Science (17th), Social Sciences (15th), and Business & Economics (20th). Academic field rankings in the global top ten according to the QS World University Rankings for 2015 are Arts & Humanities (10th) and Life Sciences and Medicine (10th).

The Institute of International Education ranked UCLA the American university with the seventh-most international students in 2016 (behind NYU, USC, Arizona State, Columbia University, The University of Illinois, and Northeastern University). In 2014, Business Insider ranked UCLA 5th in the world for the number of alumni working at Google (behind Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT). In 2015, Business Insider ranked UCLA 10th among American universities with the most students hired by Silicon Valley companies. In 2015, research firm PitchBook ranked UCLA 9th in the world for venture capital raised by undergraduate alumni, and 11th in the world for producing the most MBA graduate alumni who are entrepreneurs backed by venture capital.

Undergraduate

U.S. News & World Report rates UCLA "Most Selective", and the Princeton Review rates its admissions selectivity of 98 out of 99. 149,815 prospective freshmen applied for fall 2021, the most of any four-year university in the United States.

Admission rates vary according to the residency of applicants. For fall 2019, California residents had an admission rate of 12.0%, while out-of-state U.S. residents had an admission rate of 16.4% and internationals had an admission rate of 8.4%. UCLA's overall freshman admit rate for the fall 2019 term was 12.3%.

As of 2020, the basis for selection at UCLA includes several academic and nonacademic factors. Those considered "very important" are all academic; they are rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, standardized test scores, and application essay(s). Those considered "important" are talent/ability, character/personal qualities, volunteer work, work experience, and extracurricular activities. Factors that are not considered at all include class rank, interviews, alumni relation, and racial/ethnic status. UCLA is need-blind for domestic applicants.

Enrolled freshmen for fall 2024 had a median unweighted UC GPA of 4.00, and a median weighted UC GPA of 4.60, calculated from grades received in their second and third years of high school. Among the admitted freshman applicants for the fall 2024 term, 50.4% chose to enroll at UCLA.

UCLA's freshman admission rate varies drastically across colleges. For fall 2024, the College of Letters and Science had an admission rate of 10.9%, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) had an admission rate of 5.3%, the Herb Alpert School of Music had an admission rate of 19.9%, the School of the Arts and Architecture had an admission rate of 5.5%, the Joe C. Wen School of Nursing had an admission rate of 0.95%, and the School of Theater, Film and Television had an admission rate of 3.7%.

One of the major issues is the decreased admission of African Americans since the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996, prohibiting state governmental institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting, and public education. UCLA responded by shifting to a holistic admissions process in fall 2007, which evaluates applicants based on their opportunities in high school, personal hardships, and unusual circumstances at home.

Athletics

The school's sports teams are called the Bruins, represented by the colors true blue and gold. The Bruins participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference. Two notable sports facilities serve as home venues for UCLA sports. The Bruin men's football team plays home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena; the team won a national title in 1954. The basketball and volleyball teams, and the women's gymnastics team compete at Pauley Pavilion on campus. The school also sponsors cross country, soccer, women's rowing, golf, tennis, water polo, track and field, and women's softball.

The mascots are Joe and Josephine Bruin, and the fight songs are Sons of Westwood and Mighty Bruins. The alma mater is Hail to the Hills of Westwood. When Henry "Red" Sanders came to UCLA to coach football in 1949, the uniforms were redesigned. Sanders added a gold loop on the shoulders—the UCLA Stripe. The navy blue was changed to a lighter shade of blue. Sanders figured that the baby blue would look better on the field and in film. He dubbed the uniform "Powder Keg Blue", a powder blue with an explosive kick. This would also differentiate UCLA from all other UC teams, whose official colors are blue and gold.

UCLA competes in all major Division I sports and has won 136 national championships, including 126 NCAA championships. Only Stanford University has more NCAA team championships, with 135. On April 21, 2018, UCLA's women's gymnastics team defeated Oklahoma Sooners to win its 7th NCAA National Championship as well as UCLA's 115th overall team title. Most recently, UCLA's women's soccer team defeated Florida State to win its first NCAA National Championship along with women's tennis who defeated North Carolina to win its second NCAA National title ever. UCLA's softball program is also outstanding. Women's softball won their NCAA-leading 12th National Championship, on June 4, 2019. The women's water polo team is also dominant, with a record 7 NCAA championships. Notably, the team helped UCLA become the first school to win 100 NCAA championships overall when they won their fifth on May 13, 2007.

The men's water polo team won UCLA's 112th, 113th, 114th, 124th and 125th national championships, defeating USC in the championship game seven times: 1996, on December 7, 2014, on December 6, 2015, on December 3, 2017, 2020, on December 8, 2024, and on December 7, 2025. On October 9, 2016, the top-ranked men's water polo team broke the NCAA record for consecutive wins when they defeated UC Davis for their 52nd straight win. This toppled Stanford's previous record of 51 consecutive wins set in 1985–87. The men's water polo team has become a dominant sport on campus with a total of 13 national championships.

Among UCLA's 123 championship titles, some of the more notable victories are in men's basketball. Under legendary coach John Wooden, UCLA men's basketball teams won 10 NCAA championships, including a record seven consecutive, in 1964, 1965, 1967–1973, and 1975, and an 11th was added under then-coach Jim Harrick in 1995 (through 2008, the most consecutive by any other team is two). From 1971 to 1974, UCLA men's basketball won an unprecedented 88 consecutive games.

UCLA has also shown dominance in men's volleyball, with 21 national championships. The first 19 teams were led by former coach Al Scates. UCLA is one of only six universities (Michigan, Stanford, Ohio State, California, and Florida being the others) to have won national championships in all three major men's sports (baseball, basketball, and football).

Student life

The campus is located near prominent entertainment venues such as the Getty Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Santa Monica Pier. UCLA offers classical orchestras, intramural sports, and over 1000 student organizations. UCLA is also home to 66 fraternities and sororities, which represent 13% of the undergraduate population. Phrateres, a non-exclusive social-service club for women was founded here in 1924 by the Dean of Women, Helen Matthewson Laughlin. Students and staff participate in dinghy sailing, surfing, windsurfing, rowing, and kayaking at the UCLA Marina Aquatic Center in Marina del Rey.

UCLA is home to a number of performing arts groups, including an improv comedy team called Rapid Fire. UCLA's first contemporary a cappella group, Awaken A Cappella, was founded in 1992. The all-male group, Bruin Harmony, has enjoyed a successful career since its inception in 2006, portraying a collegiate a cappella group in The Social Network (2010), while the ScatterTones finished in second-place in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and third-place in 2017, 2019, and 2022. In 2020, The A Cappella Archive ranked the ScatterTones at #2 among all ICCA-competing groups. Resonance, founded in 2012, was an ICCA finalist in 2021. Other a cappella groups include Signature, Random Voices, Medleys, YOUTHphonics, Deviant Voices, AweChords, Pitch Please, Da Verse, Naya Zaamana, Jewkbox, On That Note, Tinig Choral, and Cadenza. YOUTHphonics and Medleys are UCLA's only nonprofit service-oriented a cappella groups.

There are a variety of cultural organizations on campus, such as Nikkei Student Union (NSU), Japanese Student Association (JSA), Association of Chinese Americans (ACA), Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), Chinese Music Ensemble (CME), Chinese Cultural Dance Club (CCDC), Taiwanese American Union (TAU), Taiwanese Student Association (TSA), Hong Kong Student Society (HKSS), Hanoolim Korean Cultural Awareness Group, Samahang Pilipino, Vietnamese Student Union (VSU), and Thai Smakom. Many of these organizations have an annual "culture night" consisting of drama and dance which raises awareness of culture and history to the campus and community.

Additionally, there are over twenty LGBTQ organizations on campus, including the undergraduate student organizations Queer Alliance, BlaQue, Lavender Health Alliance, OutWrite Newsmagazine, Queer and Trans in STEM (qtSTEM), and Transgender UCLA Pride (TransUP) as well as the graduate student organizations Out@Anderson, OUTLaw, and Luskin PRIDE. Notably, OutWrite, established under the name TenPercent in 1979, is the first college queer newsmagazine in the country. The UCLA Center for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Research & Health was founded in 2020. UCLA operates on a quarter calendar with the exception of the UCLA School of Law and the UCLA School of Medicine, which operate on a semester calendar.

Traditions

UCLA's official charity is UniCamp, founded in 1934. It is a week-long summer camp for underserved children from the greater Los Angeles area, with UCLA volunteer counselors. UniCamp runs for seven weeks throughout the summer at Camp River Glen in the San Bernardino National Forest. Because UniCamp is a non-profit organization, student volunteers from UCLA also fundraise money throughout the year to allow these children to attend summer camp.

The Pediatric AIDS Coalition organizes the annual Dance Marathon in Pauley Pavilion, where thousands of students raise a minimum of $250 and dance for 26 hours to support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Project Kindle, and the UCLA AIDS Institute. Dancers are not allowed to sit (except to use the restroom) during the marathon, literally taking a stand against pediatric AIDS, and symbolizing the suffering of affected children around the world. In 2015, Dance Marathon at UCLA raised $446,157.

During Finals Week, UCLA students participate in "Midnight Scream", where they yell as loudly as possible for a few minutes at midnight to release some stress from studying. The quarterly Undie Run takes place during the Wednesday evening of Finals Week, when students run through the campus in their underwear or in skimpy costumes. With the increasing safety hazards and Police and Administration involvement, a student committee changed the route to a run through campus to Shapiro Fountain, which culminates with students dancing in the fountain. The Undie Run has spread to other American universities, including the University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University, and Syracuse University.

The Alumni Association sponsors several events, usually large extravaganzas involving huge amounts of coordination, such as the 70-year-old Spring Sing, organized by the Student Alumni Association (SAA). UCLA's oldest tradition, Spring Sing is an annual gala of student talent, which is held at either Pauley Pavilion or the outdoor Los Angeles Tennis Center. The committee bestows the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award each year to a major contributor to the music industry. Past recipients have included Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, James Taylor, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, and in 2009, Julie Andrews. The Dinner for 12 Strangers is a gathering of students, alumni, administration and faculty to network around different interests. The "Beat 'SC Bonfire and Rally" occurs the week before the USC rivalry football game.

The USAC Cultural Affairs Commission hosts the JazzReggae Festival, a two-day concert on Memorial Day weekend that attracts more than 20,000 attendees. The JazzReggae Festival is the largest entirely student produced and run event of its kind on the West Coast.

Sigma Eta Pi and Bruin Entrepreneurs organize LA Hacks, an annual hackathon where students from around the United States come to build technology products. LA Hacks established itself as the largest hackathon in the United States when over 1500 students participated on April 11–13, 2014. LA Hacks also holds the record for the most funds raised via corporate sponsorships, with $250,000 raised. Some of the tech world's most prominent people have given talks and judged projects at LA Hacks, including Evan Spiegel (founder and CEO of Snapchat), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sam Altman (president of Y Combinator) and Chris De Wolfe (founder of Myspace).

Student government

The Associated Students UCLA (ASUCLA) encompasses the student government and student-led enterprises at UCLA. ASUCLA has four major components: the Undergraduate Students Association, the Graduate Students Association, Student Media, and Services & Enterprises. However, in common practice, the term ASUCLA refers to the services and enterprises component. This includes the Student Store, Bookstore, Food Services, Student Union, etc. These commercial enterprises generate approximately $40 million in annual revenues. As a nonprofit corporation, the financial goal of ASUCLA is to provide quality services and programs for students. ASUCLA is governed by a student-majority Board of Directors. The Undergraduate Students Association and Graduate Students Association each appoint three members plus one alternative. In addition to the student members, there are representatives appointed by the administration, the academic senate, and the alumni association. The "services and enterprises" portion of ASUCLA is run by a professional executive director who oversees some 300 staff and 2,000 student employees.

The Graduate Students Association is the governing body for approximately 13,000 graduate and professional students at UCLA. The Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) is the governing body of the Undergraduate Students Association (USA) whose membership comprises every UCLA undergraduate student. As of 2015, the student body had two major political slates: Bruins United and Let's Act. In the Spring 2016 election, the two competing parties were Bruins United and Waves of Change—a smaller faction that broke off of Lets Act.

USAC's fifteen student officers and commissioners are elected by members of the Undergraduate Students Association at an annual election held during spring quarter. In addition to its fifteen elected members, USAC includes appointed representatives of the administration, the alumni, and the faculty, as well as two ex-officio members, the ASUCLA executive director, and a student finance committee chairperson, who is appointed by the USAC president and approved by USAC. All members of USAC may participate fully in council deliberations, but only the elected officers, minus the USAC president may vote. Along with the council, the student government also includes a seven-member judicial board, which, similar to the Supreme Court, serves as the judicial branch of government and reviews actions of the council. These seven students are appointed by the student body president and confirmed by the council.

USAC's programs offers additional services to the campus and surrounding communities. For example, each year approximately 40,000 students, faculty and staff attend programs of the Campus Events Commission, including a low-cost film program, a speakers program which presents leading figures from a wide range of disciplines, and performances by dozens of entertainers. Two to three thousand UCLA undergraduates participate annually in the more than twenty voluntary outreach programs run by the Community Service Commission. A large corps of undergraduate volunteers also participate in programs run by the Student Welfare Commission, such as AIDS Awareness, Substance Abuse Awareness, Blood Drives and CPR/First Aid Training. The film program is part of the Bruin Film Society, which is also a registered organization to host advance screenings of films during Oscars season. It hosts other events, like filmmaker panels, through its partnership with production and distribution company A24.

Housing

UCLA provides housing to over 10,000 undergraduate and 2,900 graduate students. Most undergraduate students are housed in 14 complexes on the western side of campus, referred to by students as "The Hill". Students can live in halls, plazas, suites, or university apartments, which vary in pricing and privacy. Housing plans also offer students access to dining facilities, which have been ranked by the Princeton Review as some of the best in the United States. Dining halls are located in Covel Commons, Rieber Hall, Carnesale Commons and De Neve Plaza. In winter 2012, a dining hall called The Feast at Rieber opened to students. The newest dining hall (as of Winter Quarter 2014) is Bruin Plate, located in the Carnesale Commons (commonly referred to as Sproul Plaza). Residential cafes include Bruin Cafe, Rendezvous, The Study at Hedrick, and Cafe 1919. UCLA currently offers four years guaranteed housing to its incoming freshmen, and two years to incoming transfer students. There are four types of housing available for students: residential halls, deluxe residential halls, residential plazas, and residential suites. Available on the hill are study rooms, basketball courts, tennis courts, and Sunset Recreational Center which includes three swimming pools.

Graduate students are housed in several complexes, including the University Apartments South (UAS) and the University Apartments North (UAN). The University Apartments North (UAN) provides housing for single graduate students at the Weyburn Terrace, located southwest of the campus in Westwood Village, and the Hilgard Apartments, located on the east edge of campus on Hilgard Avenue. The University Apartments South (UAS) provides housing located approximately 5 miles south of campus in the Palms/Mar Vista area for single graduate students and students with families or dependents. Housing options for single graduate students within UAS include the Canfield Apartments, Rose Avenue, Keystone Mentone, Venice Barry and The Boulevard. The housing complex for married students, domestic partners, and students with dependents is University Village, which is located approximately 5 miles south of campus in the Palms/Mar Vista area. Qualifying undergraduate students and postdoctoral appointees with dependents, spouses or domestic partners are also eligible to live in the University Village.

Approximately 400 students live at the University Cooperative Housing Association, located two blocks off campus. Students who are involved in Greek life have the option to also live in Greek housing while at UCLA. Sorority houses are located east of campus on Hilgard Avenue, and fraternity houses are located west of campus throughout Westwood Village. A student usually lives with 50+ students in Greek housing.

Notable faculty and alumni

UCLA's faculty and alumni have won a number of awards, including:

As of October 2023, 29 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with UCLA: 12 professors, 9 alumni and 10 researchers (three overlaps). Two other faculty members winning the Nobel Prize were Bertrand Russell and Al Gore, who each had a short stay at UCLA.

The alumni Nobel laureates include Ralph Bunche (Peace, 1950), Glenn T. Seaborg (Chemistry, 1951), Robert Bruce Merrifield (Chemistry, 1984), William F. Sharpe (Economic Sciences, 1990), Elinor Ostrom (Economic Sciences, 2009), Richard F. Heck (Chemistry, 2010), Randy W. Schekman (Physiology or Medicine, 2013), and Ardem Patapoutian (Physiology or Medicine, 2021). Fifty-two UCLA professors have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships, and seventeen are MacArthur Foundation Fellows. Mathematics professor Terence Tao was awarded the 2006 Fields Medal.

Geography professor Jared Diamond won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his book Guns, Germs, and Steel. Two UCLA history professors won 2008 Pulitzer Prizes for general nonfiction and history: Saul Friedländer, scholar of the Nazi Holocaust, won the prize for general nonfiction for his 2006 book, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945, and Daniel Walker Howe won for his 2007 book, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848.

A number of UCLA alumni are notable politicians. In the state of Hawaii, Ben Cayetano (1968), became the first Filipino American to be elected governor of a U.S. state. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Henry Waxman (1961, 1964) represented California's 30th congressional district and was chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. U.S. Representative Judy Chu (1974) represents California's 32nd congressional district and became the first Chinese American woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 2009. Kirsten Gillibrand (1991) is a U.S. senator representing the state of New York and was a U.S. representative for New York's 20th congressional district. UCLA boasts two mayors of Los Angeles: Tom Bradley (1937–1940), the city's only African-American mayor, and Antonio Villaraigosa (1977), who served as mayor from 2005 to 2013. Nao Takasugi was the mayor of Oxnard, California and the first Asian-American California assemblyman. Azadeh Kian, PhD at UCLA and director of social sciences at University of Paris, is a prominent expert on Iranian politics.

H. R. Haldeman (1948) and John Ehrlichman (1948) are among the most infamous alumni because of their activities during the 1972 Watergate scandal. Ben Shapiro (BA 2004) is a conservative political commentator, nationally syndicated columnist, author, radio talk show host, and attorney. He is the editor-in-chief at The Daily Wire. Michael Morhaime (BA 1990), Allen Adham (BA 1990) and Frank Pearce (BA 1990) are the founders of Blizzard Entertainment, developer of the award-winning Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo computer game franchises. Tom Anderson (MA 2000) is a co-founder of the social networking website Myspace. Computer scientist Vint Cerf (1970, 1972) is vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, and the person most widely considered the "father of the Internet". Henry Samueli (1975) is co-founder of Broadcom Corporation and owner of the Anaheim Ducks. Susan Wojcicki (MBA 1998) is the former CEO of YouTube. Travis Kalanick is one of the founders of Uber. Guy Kawasaki (MBA 1979) is one of the earliest employees at Apple. Nathan Myhrvold is the founder of Microsoft Research. Bill Gross (MBA 1971) co-founded Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO). Laurence Fink (BA 1974, MBA 1976) is chairman and CEO of the world's largest money-management firm, BlackRock. Donald Prell (BA 1948) is a venture capitalist and founder of Datamation computer magazine. Ben Horowitz (MS 1990) is a co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

UCLA alumni have also achieved prominence in the arts and entertainment. John Williams is laureate conductor at the Boston Pops Orchestra and Academy Award-winning composer of the Star Wars film score. Martin Sherwin ('71) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Actors Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Tim Robbins, James Franco, George Takei, Mayim Bialik, Sean Astin, Holland Roden, Danielle Panabaker, and Milo Ventimiglia are also UCLA alumni. Popular music artists Sara Bareilles, the Doors, Linkin Park, and Maroon 5 all attended UCLA. Ryan Dusick of Maroon 5 majored in English. Giada De Laurentiis is a program host at Food Network and former chef at Spago. Greg Graffin, lead singer of punk rock band Bad Religion, earned a master's degree in geology at UCLA and used to teach a course on evolution there. Carol Burnett was the winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013 (also winner of Emmys, a Peabody and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005). Francis Ford Coppola (1967) was the director of the gangster film trilogy The Godfather, The Outsiders starring Tom Cruise, and the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now. Dustin Lance Black is the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of the film Milk.

Meb Keflezighi (1998) was the winner of the 2014 Boston Marathon and the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon. The UCLA men's basketball team has produced Basketball Hall of Fame players such as Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as well as current NBA players Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook. Noted Bruins baseball players include Troy Glaus, Chase Utley, Brandon Crawford, Gerrit Cole, and Trevor Bauer. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts won World Series titles as a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox and in 2020 as manager of the Dodgers.

Alumni in the military include Carlton Skinner, a U.S. Coast Guard commander who racially integrated that service at the end of World War II on the Sea Cloud. He was also the first civilian governor of Guam. Francis B. Wai is the only Chinese-American and the first Asian-American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II. UCLA also lost an alumnus in early 2007 when Second Lieutenant Mark Daily was killed in Mosul, Iraq, after his HMMWV was hit by an IED. Lieutenant Daily's service is marked by a plaque located on the northern face of the Student Activities Center (SAC), where the ROTC halls are currently located.

As of August 1, 2016, the top three places where UCLA alumni work were Kaiser Permanente with 1,459+ alumni, UCLA Health, with 1,127+ alumni, and Google, with 1,058+ alumni.

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