Navigating Marketing Studies at UCLA: A Comprehensive Guide

While UCLA doesn't offer a direct "Marketing" major, aspiring marketers can still carve a successful path through strategic academic choices. This article explores how to gain valuable marketing expertise at UCLA, focusing on the Business Economics major, the Marketing minor, and other relevant programs.

The Business Economics Major: A Foundation for Marketing

UCLA's Business Economics major encompasses various aspects of business, including marketing. Within this major, students will find courses that focus on marketing concepts and strategies, such as consumer behavior or promotional strategies. This provides a strong foundation in core business principles while allowing for a concentration in marketing-related topics.

Curriculum and Focus

The marketing curriculum involves a comprehensive study of concepts that prepare students to set appropriate levels of branding, promotion, pricing, and other tactical elements that generate sales. Students interested in marketing need a strong academic foundation in core marketing concepts, including understanding product management, pricing (such as P&L management), distribution models, and marketing communication principles.

The Marketing Minor: Specializing Your Expertise

UCLA has a prestigious Anderson School of Management which offers a Marketing minor for undergraduate students who wish to supplement their major with marketing knowledge. This minor allows students to take a series of marketing-focused courses that will complement their main field of study.

Course Offerings

These courses cover a range of marketing-related subjects such as marketing analytics, digital marketing, advertising, and marketing strategy, to name a few. Mastering the key elements of marketing - branding, promotion, research, communication - is essential for achieving success in the field. Building, maintaining and managing a company's brand is a critical function of marketing.

Other Relevant Programs and Specializations

Beyond the Business Economics major and Marketing minor, UCLA offers various programs and specializations that can enhance a student's marketing knowledge and skills.

Entertainment Management Specialization

UCLA Anderson is the first top-tier MBA program to offer an entertainment management specialization. Examination in depth of current issues in entertainment, media, and sports. Our curriculum is designed to blend theory and practical application.

Agile Methodologies in Management Specialization

The Agile Methodologies in Management Specialization prepares professionals, regardless of industry, to meet business needs quickly and efficiently.

Project Management Training

Acquire comprehensive training in project planning, execution, and control, seamlessly integrating critical project components such as schedule, cost, quality, risk, and leadership in alignment with Project Management Institute (PMI)® guidelines. Enhance traditional project management practices with Agile approaches to meet the demands of the rapidly evolving workplace. Learn project management process improvements emphasizing efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction.

The Importance of Marketing Skills

The marketing function is crucial to the health and survival of any organization. Economic, social, cultural and even political organizations increasingly recognize the importance of the marketing function in modern management. Marketing, Sales, and PR demands creativity, experience, and a deep knowledge of the tools and strategies available. Whether you are a lifelong marketing, sales, or public relations professional who just wants to sharpen your skills with a few classes or you are new to the field and want to dive right in with a certificate, we have the right program for you.

Building a Strong Foundation

Our marketing programs can help you gain a strong foundation in the principles and practices of marketing or update your skills and stay relevant in this constantly evolving field. Build a strong business foundation and gain marketing skills to stand out, drive growth, and succeed in any industry. Learn key skills in marketing, promotion, and management-essential for any entrepreneur.

Adapting to the Evolving Field

Marketing today requires the skills to use various communication channels and mediums. Understanding your audience is critical to effective marketing. An essential part of marketing is understanding the analytics that help account for and predict behaviors. The amount of data available in the business world and financial markets is exploding. Businesses, government, consumers, investors, policymakers and others face major challenges as well as opportunities in adapting to the results of the fast-moving flow of information.

UCLA Anderson's Marketing Faculty and Research

UCLA Anderson’s faculty and students are uncovering new truths and redefining contemporary marketing practice by asking - and answering - the questions that help organizations decide which consumer segments to target and which products and services to produce. Ph.D. Behavioral and quantitative orientations are all reflected in the individual interests of the marketing faculty who, in collaboration with doctoral students, are actively involved in groundbreaking research in all aspects of the discipline. Our Marketing area faculty conduct research on a number of different topics.

Admissions and Program Requirements

Applicants to the College will be asked to select a major of choice, although if you’re undecided, you can apply with an “undecided/undeclared” status. Interested first-years can select the pre-major through the College. Applications are limited to the fall quarter and are reviewed for admission by the department to which you apply. Transfer applicants must complete lower-division preparation coursework specific to their intended majors.

M.S. Degree Requirements

M.S. students are not required to select a major field. A total of nine courses (and 36 units) are required for the M.S. degree under the Capstone and Thesis Plans. All courses must be at the graduate 200 level, and taken for letter grades. At least six courses must be in Management. The remaining three courses are elective, which may be 200-level courses in Management, or 200-level in a closely related discipline, e.g. The capstone plan culminates with a comprehensive examination, which is the same comprehensive examination administered to Ph.D.

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Ph.D. Program Requirements

New doctoral students are initially advised by the doctoral adviser for their particular academic area. Students are urged to establish a working relationship with one or two faculty members early in their studies. By the end of the first year in the program, students are required to submit Proposal of Study forms, which must be approved by the Senior Associate Dean. The research preparation requirement consists of two parts: (1) a course requirement and (2) a research paper. Students are required to take five research courses which are not part of the major field area classes taught in the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management. These courses must be at least 4 units, and letter-graded. The breadth requirement consists of eight courses which are clearly outside the major field area. These courses must be at least 4 units, and letter graded.

Academic Performance and Disqualification

The minimum standard of performance of the school exceeds the University’s minimum grade point average of 3.00. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing. The decision to recommend academic disqualification is made by the Senior Associate Dean in consultation with the faculty in the student’s area of specialization.

Career Opportunities in Marketing

In 2023, approximately 29.6% of UCLA Anderson students were hired into marketing roles in traditional consumer product goods brand management, technology product marketing and management, marketing consulting, account management and more.

Transitioning into Tech

“MA provided all the resources I needed to transition from the CPG to Tech through workshops, networking sessions, career night, interview preparation and so much more.

Additional Resources

Admissions Ambassador Corps (AAC)

Our Admissions Ambassador Corps (AAC) is a group of diverse student leaders who can guide you through life at UCLA Anderson and answer your specific questions about their experiences.

UCLA's Undergraduate Majors

With over 140 majors to choose from, our undergraduates can easily find areas of study that align with their interests, academic skills and personal goals. Following is a list of all of the majors offered for undergraduates at UCLA. Most majors fall within the College of Letters and Science, but there are many in the professional schools, too. The College brings together perspectives from many liberal arts fields to analyze issues, pose questions and train students to think and write creatively as well as critically.

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