These apprehensive and exciting pre-college months will be
““ and probably already have been ““ filled with
advice.
Parents, friends, orientation counselors and anyone else with
the ability to speak likely will offer up tips for your first year.
Because this advice is often blurred by nostalgia, regret and a
public relations spin, here are a few pieces of advice from your
peers:
Get off the floor: Pure probability dictates
that few true friendships will develop with the 100-some strangers
that have been randomly picked to live on your dorm floor. Three
years from now you’ll struggle to remember the names of your
neighbors. The dorms are an ideal place to transition, and you may
find a few close friends, but don’t get stuck in the towers
the entire year.
You won’t flunk out: Getting into UCLA
almost effectively has guaranteed your sustainability as a student.
Of course you will struggle ““ you should ““ but your
existence here only mainly is threatened by plagiarism and
cheating. So don’t take yourself too seriously. There are
greater joys in the world than getting an A in Communication
Studies 10.
Don’t stay quiet: Whether you are facing
a homophobic roommate, feeling discriminated against by a
professor, or merely bothered that there is no club for ice skating
““ don’t keep it to yourself.
Open your mouth and act. Start a new club, join an established
one, contact student government officers with concerns, or go
straight to work in their offices. Whatever you do, don’t
just go silently with the status quo. If something bothers you or
seems unfair, make an effort to change it. Though UCLA is large,
the community is still smaller than the outside world, and your
ability to make an impact here exponentially is greater than it
ever will be after you graduate.
Leave Westwood: We all like to pretend
otherwise, but the Village is simply not a college town. Its
entertainment options can be exhausted in a single night. Luckily,
Los Angeles is one of the most diverse and vibrant cities in the
world, but most realize this too late and regret the nights they
wasted in the Village. Force yourself to get on a Big Blue Bus and
leave this bubble.
Start early ““ make it a habit now to get out before you
become a Westwood hermit. There’s more to do in this city
besides eating, watching movies, getting coffee and stumbling home
drunk from Maloney’s. Brave the freeways, and take a map.
Allocate some time for L.A. in your UCLA education.
You are more than a number: Yes, the numbers
are staggering, but, no, you won’t be stranded in a sea of
faceless beings. Just because you need your student ID number to do
most anything doesn’t mean you need to be defined by
anonymity.
Find your own niche. Go to professors’ office hours. Talk
to strangers in the dining hall and on the Campus Express shuttle.
Join clubs. Get a job. Volunteer or run for student government.
Take classes you are afraid of: Some of your most memorable
classes will end up being ones that didn’t make the first
draft of your four-year plan. They are made of the subjects you
won’t know you love until after you sit through 10 weeks of
instruction, or they are made of the truly amazing professors in
subjects that may sound somewhat less than amazing.
Ditch the long-distance significant other:
Everyone pretends that his or her relationship is different, but
few are right. You can always get back together, but you’ll
likely be different people in the future. You have to be apart to
know if you should be together.
Think outside your ethnic box: It may feel
comfortable to socialize only with those who share your ethnicity,
religion, political beliefs or love for video games, but
you’ll miss out on the diversity that UCLA does offer if you
don’t make an effort to meet others who aren’t like
you. There is a multitude of enlightening conversations and
friendships that will never be if you segregate yourself somewhere
safe and, accordingly, boring.