De Anza College to UCLA
Business Administration Transfer Plan
Quarter-by-quarter courses, IGETC requirements, and major prerequisites — verified from real articulation data.
From
De Anza College
To
UCLA
Business AdministrationGPA Reality Check
UCLA's minimum GPA to apply as a transfer is 2.0, and the UC system-wide floor is 2.4 — but admitted Business Economics students for Fall 2024 had a mid-50th percentile GPA of 3.77 to 4.00. That gap is not a typo. Business Economics is explicitly flagged as a 'highly selective' major in UCLA's own Transfer Admission Guide, meaning demand far outpaces available seats. The courses that matter most are your calculus sequence (MATH 1A and 1B) and your economics courses — these are the courses the admissions team looks at hardest to decide whether you're ready for upper-division econ work at UCLA.
Transfer Alliance Program (TAP)
De Anza College participates in UCLA's Transfer Alliance Program (TAP), which gives certified applicants priority consideration for admission to majors in the College of Letters & Science — and Business Economics is a College major. To get certified, you must complete De Anza's Honors Program and have your counselor submit TAP certification before you apply. It's not a guarantee, but TAP-certified applicants get a meaningful edge in a competitive pool.
Major Requirements
Business Economics (College of Letters & Science, B.A.) Major Preparation
Business Economics (College of Letters & Science, B.A.) at UCLA
Courses at De Anza College that satisfy UCLA's Business Administration major preparation, verified via ASSIST.org.
UCLA does not offer a 'Business Administration' degree. The closest major for transfer students is Business Economics (B.A.) in the College of Letters & Science — a rigorous blend of economics theory and quantitative business analysis. Don't confuse it with the plain Economics (B.A.), which skips the management and accounting coursework. Also sometimes confused with Financial Actuarial Mathematics, which is a math-heavy degree focused on risk modeling rather than business strategy.
| Course at De Anza College | Satisfies at UCLA | Units |
|---|---|---|
| MATH 1A — Calculus | MATH 31A — Differential Calculus | 5 |
| MATH 1B — Calculus | MATH 31B — Integral Calculus | 5 |
| ECON 1 — Principles of Microeconomics | ECON 1 — Principles of Economics: Microeconomics | 4 |
| ECON 2 — Principles of Macroeconomics | ECON 2 — Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics | 4 |
| MATH 10 — Elementary Statistics | ECON 41 — Statistics for Economists | 5 |
| No equivalent at De Anza College | MGMT 1A — Financial Accounting | — |
Courses with no equivalent must be taken at UCLA after transfer. Factor this into your first-year course plan.
General Education
Foundation GE at De Anza College
Complete these five courses at De Anza College to start your UCLA GE pattern. Finishing full IGETC/Cal-GETC at the CC is ideal — these five give you the broadest head start, and CCN-tagged courses stay portable if you switch community colleges.
BIOL 10
Introductory Biology
CHEM 10
Introductory Chemistry
HIST 17A
History of the United States to Early National Era
ENGL C1000
Academic Reading and Writing
ENGL C1001
Critical Thinking and Writing
| Area | Course at De Anza College | Units |
|---|---|---|
Life Science | BIOL 10 — Introductory Biology | 5 |
Physical Science | CHEM 10 — Introductory Chemistry | 5 |
Humanities | HIST 17A — History of the United States to Early National Era | 4 |
English CompositionCCN | ENGL C1000 — Academic Reading and Writing | 5 |
Critical ThinkingCCN | ENGL C1001 — Critical Thinking and Writing | 5 |
MATH 1A → MATH 1B → MATH 10
MATH 1A is a prerequisite for MATH 1B, and both calculus courses should be completed before you attempt MATH 10 (Statistics) for full conceptual readiness. If you delay MATH 1A to your second or third quarter, the whole chain shifts forward and you risk applying to UCLA with the statistics requirement still incomplete — a serious red flag for a quantitative major like Business Economics.
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Your First Quarter
A preview of what Pipeline generates — exact courses, in the right order, every quarter.
Watch Out
Common Mistakes for This Transfer Path
UCLA's Management 1A Has No De Anza Equivalent
UCLA requires MGMT 1A (Financial Accounting) as a Business Economics pre-major course — and De Anza has no articulated equivalent on ASSIST. This is a gap specific to De Anza students: you cannot fulfill this requirement before transfer, so UCLA expects you to take it after you arrive. Make sure your application essay and course planner reflect awareness of this — don't list it as 'planned' when there's no De Anza course to plan.
Don't Skip TAP Certification — It's Not Automatic
Being enrolled at De Anza does NOT automatically make you a TAP participant. You have to formally complete De Anza's Honors Program and have your counselor submit TAP certification before you apply in November. Students who assume they're TAP-eligible because they took a few honors sections often find out too late they were never certified.
Finish All Major Prep Before Applying — Not Just 'In Progress'
Because Business Economics is a highly selective major, UCLA strongly recommends that applicants complete — not just plan — all major prep coursework before the fall application deadline. That means MATH 1A, MATH 1B, ECON 1, ECON 2, and MATH 10 should ideally be done or in progress by fall of your application year. Students who list too many courses as 'planned' in a competitive major like this are at a real disadvantage.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Does De Anza College have an articulation agreement with UCLA for Business Economics?
Yes — De Anza has articulation agreements with UCLA published on ASSIST.org that map De Anza courses to UCLA's Business Economics pre-major requirements. Courses like MATH 1A (Calculus), ECON 1 (Principles of Microeconomics), ECON 2 (Principles of Macroeconomics), and MATH 10 (Elementary Statistics) all articulate directly to required UCLA pre-major courses. The one gap is MGMT 1A (Financial Accounting), which has no De Anza equivalent — you'll take that after you transfer.
What GPA do I need to transfer from De Anza College to UCLA for Business Economics?
The official UC minimum is a 2.0 GPA, but admitted Business Economics transfer students for Fall 2024 had a mid-50th percentile GPA of 3.77 to 4.00. Business Economics is labeled a 'highly selective' major in UCLA's own Transfer Admission Guide, so treating anything below a 3.8 as competitive is a risky assumption. Your grades in MATH 1A, MATH 1B, and ECON 1 carry the most weight because they directly preview your readiness for upper-division economics.
Does UCLA's Transfer Alliance Program (TAP) help De Anza students get into Business Economics?
Yes — De Anza is a TAP partner college, and Business Economics sits in UCLA's College of Letters & Science, which is exactly the school TAP covers. TAP gives certified applicants priority consideration during the admissions review. To be certified, you must complete De Anza's Honors Program requirements and have your counselor submit your TAP certification before you apply — it's not automatic just because you're enrolled at De Anza.
Can I use IGETC to satisfy general education requirements when transferring from De Anza to UCLA for Business Economics?
Yes — IGETC is accepted for Business Economics at UCLA, and completing it at De Anza before you transfer means you'll arrive at UCLA with your lower-division GE requirements fully cleared. This is a significant time saver given that Business Economics has substantial upper-division coursework waiting for you. Just make sure you're still hitting all the major prep courses (MATH 1A, MATH 1B, ECON 1, ECON 2, MATH 10) alongside your IGETC courses — don't let GE crowd out major prep.
How many people apply to transfer to UCLA Business Economics and what are my chances?
In 2025, 28,266 students applied to transfer to UCLA overall, and 6,403 were admitted — a 22.7% overall transfer rate. Business Economics is flagged by UCLA as a highly selective major, meaning its admit rate runs significantly below the campus average. The most accurate picture of your chances comes from your completed major prep coursework, your GPA in calculus and economics courses at De Anza, and whether you've pursued TAP certification through De Anza's Honors Program.
Explore More
Related Transfer Plans
Students at De Anza College planning to transfer to UCLA for Business Economics are pursuing one of the most competitive pathways in the California community college system. The UCLA Business Economics major — a Bachelor of Arts housed in the College of Letters & Science, not a traditional business school — blends rigorous economics theory with quantitative coursework in accounting and statistics, and it's explicitly labeled a highly selective major in UCLA's own Transfer Admission Guide. Transfer planning for this pathway starts with ASSIST.org, where De Anza students can confirm exactly which courses articulate to UCLA's pre-major requirements: MATH 1A (Calculus) maps to UCLA's MATH 31A, MATH 1B maps to MATH 31B, ECON 1 (Principles of Microeconomics) maps directly to UCLA's ECON 1, ECON 2 maps to UCLA's ECON 2, and MATH 10 (Elementary Statistics) maps to UCLA's ECON 41. One critical gap in the De Anza to UCLA articulation is MGMT 1A (Financial Accounting), which has no equivalent at De Anza — students will complete that course after transfer. For the IGETC general education pattern, De Anza students can use the full IGETC certification to satisfy UCLA's College GE requirements, freeing up time at UCLA to focus on major prerequisites like Economics 11 and 101. With an overall UCLA transfer admit rate of 22.7% and a mid-50th percentile GPA of 3.77 to 4.00 among admitted transfer students in 2024, the margin for error in major prep is slim. De Anza also participates in the Transfer Alliance Program (TAP), which gives Honors-certified applicants priority consideration for College of Letters & Science majors including Business Economics. A tool like Pipeline helps De Anza students map out all of this — major prerequisites, IGETC requirements, TAP certification deadlines, and quarter-by-quarter sequencing — into a single personalized transfer plan.
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