This class is…something. How much you learn greatly depends on your team and nonprofit. If you get stuck with say a team that only wants to do the bare minimum because they know they’re getting A’s you probably won’t learn too much. It’s a shame because this is a desperately needed class in a major that teaches things that are pretty much worthless to 90% of us taking it.
This class is basically a guaranteed A which is nice but has some unintended drawbacks: IMO a lot of lazy people work hard for a day to get into this class just so they can slack off and not do anything to focus on other classes. The faculty advice would often be conflicting but that’s business for you. What is annoying is that this class is taught by Econ people rather than business people and it shows. We were told how great what we were doing was the whole way through until the judges (entrepreneurs themselves) tore it up because it lacked any real substance beyond buzzwords and generality. If you have a team that doesn’t care you’re kind of screwed because it really needs all hands on deck to succeed. A lot of your workload depends greatly on the nonprofit you’re matched with. Some know exactly what social venture they want and others barely know anything about social entrepreneurship. Some have a lot of resources and others don’t. Some will have staff that are very helpful and some will have staff that are either unresponsive or treat you like errand boys. The lectures can drag on but there is usually some good stuff in there. Overall I suppose I’m glad I took it despite everything. I think it could be a really great experience for some. It’s really a roll of the dice. Worst case you get stuck with a useless team/nonprofit but you get an A.

Chill class. Chill professor. Chill people. Chill.

Social entrepreneurship gives students an excellent opportunity to work on real world problems in a creative way. You partner with a nonprofit client and come up with a revenue generating venture through a six month process. I've gained invaluable experience collaborating with a team, presenting, and coming up with tangible solutions.

Although you have class once a week for three hours, you must meet with your team during the week in order to come up with a successful project. The instructors and guest speakers try to teach you the skills necessary to succeed, but your knowledge and ability to conduct market research or conduct financial projections BEFORE you take the class really helps.

Pray that you have a good team. Pray that you get a legit nonprofit.

Econ 173A and B are the best Econ classes i have taken at UCLA. You get assigned a group and a real not-for-profit organization. You spend two quarters consulting for the organization by designing a social venture.

Everyone gets an A. All you got to do is help the organization the best you can and write a business plan at the end. Andy and his team are really helpful.