Aliza Pinon will soon be the first in her family to attend a four-year university.
Pinon, an admitted student from California’s Central Valley, was accepted to UCLA this spring – an accomplishment that she said was meaningful, coming from a high school with limited resources. When Pinon’s high school teacher told her she wouldn’t be able to get into UCLA, it only made her more motivated to apply, she said.
“I kind of had a feeling deep down,” she said. “I knew I was gonna get in.”
Pinon is among hundreds of first-generation students who attended Bruin Day on Saturday. UCLA hosts Bruin Day – during which accepted students attend tours and information sessions about the university’s academic, residential and extracurricular programs – annually.
UCLA received nearly 147,000 first-year applications – more than any other four-year university in the country. About 31,000 transfer students also applied, and the university will welcome admits at Transfer Bruin Day on May 16.
Hana Aman said her parents – who are from India – were unfamiliar with the United States’ education system, which made navigating the college application process initially confusing.
But in March, Aman opened her application portal to an acceptance letter from UCLA – an opportunity she said she always dreamed of.
“People always told me, ‘No, you can’t really do it. You’re behind,’” she said. “But anybody can really do it.”
Jazmin Aquino, a first-generation student who was admitted to UCLA, said while UCLA was not originally her first choice, the university’s sense of community stood out to her at Bruin Day.
She added that she particularly enjoyed learning about UCLA’s Academic Advancement Program – which provides first-generation, low-income and historically underrepresented students with tutoring, counseling, mentorship and research opportunities, and also hosts campus events.
Aquino said she hopes to become a lawyer, with the goal of addressing issues with housing in California.
“I heard of the housing crisis in California and how a lot of people cannot afford proper housing,” she said. “I wanted to help make policies that change that. That’s why I decided to major in political science.”
Timin Patwary, an incoming civil engineering student, said the dedication his parents put into helping him access education – including immigrating from Bangladesh – was a major factor in his decision to come to UCLA. Patwary said he attended a Bruin Day event hosted by the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, during which he learned about different engineering fields and met his future professors and classmates.
“Being a first-generation student, I wanted to go to one of the best schools I was gonna be offered, and for me, that was UCLA,” he said. “The fact that I can make my parents proud with this decision really played a big role in my choosing.”
Patwary said his father helped him navigate the college application process by providing feedback on his essays and extracurriculars.
James Berestoff, an admitted student, said he traveled to campus from Kodiak, Alaska, with his family.
Berestoff said he believes attending a competitive university can create feelings of imposter syndrome, but students’ encouraging words at Bruin Day gave him confidence.
“People who get into such prestigious or competitive schools always come with this breath of imposter syndrome or feeling like you’re not sure if you belong,” he said. “Hearing them say that it wasn’t luck, or it wasn’t chance, and that we deserve to be here was really reassuring to hear.”
Berestoff said he hopes to make the most of his opportunities while studying at UCLA, inspired by his father, who began undergraduate education but took a 30-year break before later earning his degree in recent years.
“I could only really recognize my success through standing on their own shoulders,” Berestoff said. “The fact that they’ve been so supportive and are able to give me the experience or opportunity that they didn’t have when they were my age is a big motivating factor for me.”
Aman said her acceptance to UCLA meant her and her parents’ hard work paid off.
“They fought their whole lives to get here and paid all the taxes and everything, and I fought my whole life to get here,” she said. “It’s meant to happen.”
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