Wanted for UCSD: MBAs and LLDs

I have put my time in here at UCSD. I’ve shed my blood, tears and sweat. I’ve flunked my classes and I’ve aced my classes. I’ve felt heartache, headache, backache and knee ache … the list goes on. I’ve witnessed the glory of succeeding and the agony of defeat. And, as the Dimension of Cultures pin states: “”I Survived DOC.”” Now, with only one-and-a-half quarters left in my tour of duty here, I can look with unveiled eyes to the future and wish for something more for my soon-to-be alma mater.

UCSD is a prestigious university, believe it or not. Nobel Prize winners in various fields have taught here and many currently do. You see all those names plastered on the buildings in Revelle? Most of them are Nobel Prize winners in physics and biology. Academically, our campus is best known for its biology, physics, fine arts and engineering departments.

Our graduate schools include a top-ranked medical school across the street from Center Hall, and a world-renowned international relations school with a fine arts graduate school in the plans. Down by La Jolla Shores is the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the best marine biology schools in the nation. Then there is also the Jonas Salk Institute across the street from North Parking.

Yet, comparing UCSD to other top-ranked UCs, mainly UC Berkeley and UCLA, something seems to be missing from the landscape, and no, I’m not referring to beautiful women. What UCSD needs is a business school and a law school and we need both for several reasons.

The main question that comes up is “”Why doesn’t UCSD have schools in business and law?”” I wish I could answer this. The reasons would certainly make this article much more interesting.

In my opinion, UCSD seems to be in a perennial, uphill fight to be a legitimate prestigious school. We always seem to be on the fringe, almost crossing that line, joining UCLA and Berkeley as top-notch UCs. But the lack of a business school and the lack of a law school are the two stones that are weighing us down.

And please note that UCLA and Berkeley are not the only UC campuses that offer these two schools. UC Irvine, UC Davis and UC Riverside all offer a business school, law school or a combination of both. If second-tier universities like UC Irvine or UC Riverside have these schools, why don’t we? By offering a Masters of Business Administration degree or a Doctorate of Law degree, or preferably both, UCSD can make that final leap and join the top 10 schools in the nation.

We are all aware that our campus is known for its great biology programs and the No. 3-ranked medical school in the nation. However, few know about the excellence of the fine arts here or the school of engineering. By having a business school that rivals UCLA’s Anderson School of Business and a law school that rivals Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, UCSD can be known for more than just spitting out doctors and researchers.

Another reason for having a business school is how well it would complement the renowned economics department here — and I’m not saying this just because I’m an economics major. Economics and management science are popular fields here, though about one-third of the students chose one of these two majors because they couldn’t hack it in computer science or engineering.

I’m sure the economics and management science majors can hardly believe it, but “”U.S. News and World Report”” ranks the economics department in the top 15 in the nation.

Though economics and business administration are different, the three majors could be incorporated into one school. With the building of a business school, new — more specialized — majors could be offered. Instead of a general degree such as economics or the slightly more specified management science or business administration, degrees in accounting or operations management could be offered.

The same applies to a law school. Similar to the economics department, the political science graduate program is in the national top 10 and staffed by renowned professors. Besides famous profesors, the department currently has two world-renowned graduate schools in international relations: the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.

While most political science majors here continue on to law schools on other campuses, it is high time the school started keeping these bright graduates. Why produce such bright students if we’re not going to keep them? And as most political science majors here wish to continue on to law school, it is only logical to have one.

Obviously, these two schools cannot be built in the near future. But that does not mean plans should not be developed to start looking into the possibility of having such graduate schools. With the expansion of the university to include a sixth college and a rising student population, as well as rising prestige, it seems inevitable that UCSD should get a business school and law school. These are the only things that are keeping UCSD down. Having these schools would put UCSD on the map and guarantee that our campus would be considered seriously among the best in the nation.

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