Campus Life

A Guide to the Eight Clap

Posted by UCLA Undergraduate Admission on

There is one thing that all bruins, aspiring bruins, and bruin lovers must know and that one thing is the famous Eight Clap. It’s serious business. To begin, I am not very coordinated and even though I have a great memory, the Eight clap is somewhat difficult for me so I’m putting together this guide for myself and all of you. Future Bruins take notes and practice practice practice. Not that this will happen to you, but I myself have attempted it 4 or 5 times and only 1 of those attempts was a flawless success. I’ll be taking notes as well, and hopefully I’ll be able to complete an amazing spirited Eight Clap just in time for the UCLA Football Game against Texas this Saturday.

UCLA Eight Clap

  1. Begin with your hands in the air above you. Wiggle your fingers (yes, its a part of it). Then slightly bend forward, towards the ground, with your hands in front of you facing down.
  2. Then ever so slowly begin to raise your hands towards the sky while similtaneously shouting “Aaaaaaah” (I don’t really know how to describe this part).
  3. Once your arms are straight above you, quickly bring your hands down in front of your chest and clap loudly 8 times.
  4. Now this is where it gets tricky. Pump your right fist in the air once and at the same time yell very loudly “U“. Clap three times.
  5. Now pump your left fist in the air once and at the same time yell “C“. Clap three times.
  6. Pump your right fist again with a loud shout of “L“. Clap three times.
  7. And now pump your left fist in the air and shout “A“. Clap three times.
  8. Actually this is where it gets tricky. The following is a little quicker. It’s basically pumping your fist in the air like above, just without the clapping. Pump your right fist with a “U“, pump your left fist with a “C“, pump your right with an “L“, and pump your left fist with an “A“.
  9. Then pump your right fist high in the air three times and yell “Fight!” for each pump.
  10. Yay Eight Clap!!(that’s not a part of it). This is done very rapidly so its a little hard to keep up the first time, but that’s part of the fun in learning it.
Now this is just the version that I learned at New Students Orientation a few weeks ago. I’m guessing there’s a few variations. So there you go. Now when you see the UCLA Eight Clap being done, you can join. Fight Fight Fight!
Kendal McAlpin