[I found this at 3:48AM this morning and just had to blog it.]
Here are 25 major reasons why attending UCLA is so special:
1. UCLA finished as the #1 overall Collegiate Athletic Program of the 20th Century and is #1 into the 2000’s.
2. Into the 2004 school year, UCLA led all colleges in NCAA team championships won with 90. All 90 championships have been won since 1950. No school can match UCLA’s variety of successful teams.
3. Since the 1976 Olympics, UCLA has produced more Olympians and Olympic Medals than any other university. UCLA was #1 in overall gold medals among all college since 1976 going into the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
4. Since the 1997-98 academic year (1997-98 thru 2003-2004), UCLA has been the nation’s most popular university to attend, with over 40,000 applications for admission currently. More students apply here than any other college for UCLA’s 4,000 admission spots per school year. The average student applying has over a 4.0 gpa and 1200 SAT.
5. In the latest U.S. News & World Report survey on top academic universities across the nation, UCLA is among the Top 4 public universities. UCLA has five times as many individual academic departments ranked in the Top 10 as its cross-town rival from USC. In fact, UCLA had over 60 more departments ranked in the Top 20 in the annual academic survey. Several UCLA academic departments rank with the Ivy Leagues in overall recognition and prestige.
6. UCLA won the National Championship in football in 1954. The Bruin men’s basketball team has won a record 11 NCAA titles. The Bruins have appeared in more championship games than any other school. UCLA won the 1978 Women’s Basketball National Collegiate Championship, the first major university to ever do so in front of a record crowd of 9,351 that stood for 8 years. UCLA is one of only a handful of universities that have won national championships in football and basketball.
7. The most successful active coach in NCAA history is UCLA’s Al Scates, with a record 18 NCAA men’s volleyball titles. Scates is believed to be the only current NCAA coach to have won titles in five decades – 60’s (two USVBA’s), 70’s (seven NCAA’s), 80’s (six NCAA’s) and 90’s (four NCAA’s) and the first title of the new millennium (2000). He has over 1,000 career victories.
8. Since the early 1970’s, UCLA is the only Division I university to never have had a head coach leave for another Division I college coaching job. This stability in coaching is because UCLA is the nation’s No. 1 school to desire to be a head coach. If a head coach leaves UCLA, it is usually for a position in professional sports.
9. If you add the current UCLA professional players in major league baseball, pro football, pro basketball, pro soccer, tennis and pro beach volleyball, there are more Bruin representatives playing professionally than any other school by a wide margin.
10. Michelle Kwan, the 2000 World Figure Skating Champion, attends UCLA around Olympic training. In the summer L.A. Laker Kobe Bryant has taken classes here. Sean Astin of ‘Lord of the Rings’ fame was an English honor student here. Numerous celebrities, including actress Heather Locklear and Academy Award winner Tim Robbins, have attended UCLA. There are numerous famous individuals who are attending or who have attended UCLA that are constantly in the public eye.
11. The internet was invented at UCLA. This university awards more doctoral degrees to minority students than any other college. UCLA was the first university in the Western United States at which open-heart surgery was performed. UCLA’s Medical Center has been ranked No. 1 on the West Coast every year since 1989. It is the #1 on-campus college facility in the nation.
12. Since national athletic department overall sports rankings began in 1971, UCLA is the only university to be ranked in the Top 6 every year. Only one other school has ranked in the Top 10 every year. UCLA was honored 21 times as the No. 1 men’s or No. 1 women’s program, more than double of any other university. The first time a combined athletic program was recognized, it was UCLA. Since the Director’s Cup rankings
began in 1993-94, UCLA has ranked in the Top 6 every year, a record matched by only one other.
13. UCLA is the only university to produce an NFL player who has helped his team win three consecutive Super Bowls — Ken Norton, Jr. — and a quarterback who has won three Super Bowls in four years — Troy Aikman. In 36 of the 38 years the Super Bowl has been played, UCLA has had a player in the game and most times on the championship team.
14. On the USA Women’s Beach Volleyball Professional Tour, a UCLA player has been in the championship match at every event from April 1993 through the start of the 2004 season — over 11 years and almost 200 tournaments. A UCLA player has won over 80% of the USA women’s pro beach events. UCLA has produced the teams currently ranked among the top 3 in 2004 Olympic qualification –Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs and Jenny Johnson-Jordan/Annett Buckner-Davis. 1996 Olympians Linda Hanley, Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak (also 2000) are both UCLA graduates. UCLA has also dominated men’s beach volleyball with the top three all-time win leaders–Karch Kiraly, Sinjin Smith and Kent Steffes all being Bruin graduates. Kiraly is the only 3-time Olympic gold medalist in VB.
15. When ‘Sports Illustrated’ rated the nation’s collegiate athletic programs for the first time, UCLA was selected No. 1. UCLA was recognized for its balance in academics, athletics and social life. UCLA remains a national fixture when thinking of top schools.
16. UCLA’s Paul Caligiuri scored the goal that advanced the USA team to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, its first appearance in decades. In virtually every international USA match since that time, UCLA has had more players on the USA team than any other college. A record five former Bruins –Cobi Jones, Brad Friedel, Eddie Lewis, Frankie Hedjuk, and Joe-Max Moore were contributing members for the 2002 USA World Cup squad that advanced to the quarterfinals.
17. The Pac-10 named UCLA’s Natalie Williams as its first female Athlete of the Decade for her All-America play in both volleyball and basketball. She followed a long line of multi-sport Bruin athletes which included stars such as Jackie-Joyner-Kersee, Rafer Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Ann Meyers-Drysdale, Jonathan Ogden, Kristee Porter, Freddie Mitchell (football & baseball), Lauren Fendrick (volleyball & softball), Whitney Jones (soccer and basketball) and current athletes like Jarrad Page (football and baseball), Ryan Hollins (basketball and track & field), Matt McKinney (basketball and volleyball) and Brittany Ringel (volleyball and basketball). UCLA’s Quarter Academic System makes multi-sport student-athletes a strong possibility.
18. UCLA was the first university in history to win seven consecutive football bowl games. UCLA has played in the Rose Bowl game in five straight decades. UCLA traditionally produces at least one first round NFL draft choice.
19. UCLA’s is situated in one of the nicest areas in Southern California, just five miles from the Pacific Ocean. The campus is surrounded by Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Westwood and Brentwood. The average home price within a three-mile radius of the Bruin campus is valued at almost $2 million dollars. The average year-round temperature is 74 degrees with little humidity.
20. Located in the nation’s No. 2 media market, UCLA student-athletes receive national exposure as well as local coverage from a dozen newspapers, seven television stations and cable networks such as ESPN and Fox Sports Net. UCLA’s web site is one of the 10 most looked at college sites in the nation. The UCLA Daily Bruin is as large as any college newspaper in the nation for parents to be able to follow their sons or daughters on a regular basis.
21. In the sport of tennis, UCLA is the only university to have two players from the same school play for the prestigious Wimbledon title–Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe in 1975. On the collegiate level, UCLA has been one of the two most dominant programs, winning numerous team and individual titles.
22. The UCLA job placement system for college students to locate full-time and part-time jobs plus internships is #1 in the nation as an important academic resource. UCLA is a clear No. 1 in placement of its students and student-athletes in these positions, and the Quarter System allows internship experience with class credit around playing sport seasons. The most internships are in business, communications, and science.
23. UCLA had the longest streak in NCAA history for consecutive winning seasons in the sport of men’s basketball, a record that lasted over 50 years in length dating back to 1948-49 and extending through 2002. No other major program was/is close to that figure.
24. UCLA is the university/country that has produced the women’s 100-meter dash winner in four straight Olympics – Evelyn Ashford in 1984, Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988 and Gail Devers in 1992 and 1996. UCLA is the only university to produce Olympic gold medalists in the decathlon (Rafer Johnson in 1960) and heptathlon (Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988 & 1992).
25. When you combine UCLA’s prestigious academics (its graduates average over $75,000 per year in income), a great all-around athletic program that produces championships and professional athletes, and an incredible social life so close to the beach, there is no university that can match the "total package" that UCLA offers.
Posted by kurtsh 
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