Admissions Blog

The Wheels on the Bus (and the Bike and the Scooter...) Go Round

Hey everyone! I'm Andrea Gutierrez, an Evaluator over here in Undergraduate Admissions. My job is mostly making sure you get credit for transferable coursework completed outside of UCLA, in addition to reading the seemingly endless supply of freshman and transfer applications every year.

Though a lifelong Bruin fan (my father was a UCLA student in the '60s), I earned my bachelor's degree at a tiny women's liberal arts college of only 800 students. You can imagine my culture shock of coming to an institution as big as UCLA. It's been like a second college experience for me, and there have definitely been some perks that blow my mind.

For example, the transportation options are surprisingly endless and relatively painless. It's no secret that parking at UCLA has long been tricky at best.

But why worry about keeping and maintaining a car when UCLA Transportation offers up a slew of alternatives?

In the '60s, they called it the Bruin Bus Tram (5 cents a ride!).

In the 21st century, we call it the Campus Shuttle (FREE rides!).

Getting around the LA region is easier than you think, with Westwood as a major hub for multiple bus lines (Metro, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, Culver City). It's also one of only two locations in Los Angeles where the new FlyAway bus to LAX picks up and drops off ($3 each way) 24 hours a day. Most, if not all buses feature bike racks, and though Westwood sports a hilly, huff-and-puff inducing terrain, there are plenty of racks and lockers and bike lanes around campus. Motorcycle parking is free, and for those of you planning to live at home, there's always the option of a van- or carpool.

Best of all, most of these options can be had at a deep discount for UCLA students and staff. Bus passes are very reasonably priced, and Santa Monica and Culver City buses are only 25 cents with your Bruin Card during the fall, winter and spring quarters!

So get on board! Anything to not deal with traffic and parking...

P.S. To all of you applying for transfer to the School of Engineering for Winter 2008: It's less than three weeks until your application is due on August 17. Get crackin' on those apps!

Black & white photos courtesy of UCLA Library's nifty digital photo archive, Changing Times: Los Angeles in Photographs, 1920-1990.

The Simpsons Movie

Stacy and I took a stroll down to Westwood Village yesterday afternoon because we heard that the Fox Theater and the Bruin were being taken over by the Los Angeles premiere of The Simpsons Movie. The movie already had its world premiere in Springfield, Vermont on July 22. D'oh!

Our walk did not disappoint. The street between the two historic Westwood movie theaters was taken over by a bright yellow carpet. Marge's blue hair-do festooned the Fox and Homer's bald pate topped the Bruin. Many movies premiere in Westwood -- and UCLA students turn out in droves to peep celebs as they pull up to the red (or yellow) carpet.

Here, Stacy gracefully motions to the sacred Simpsons-colored ground with Marge's blue hair rising above.

Here's Homer's dome on the Bruin Theater across the street.

UniCamp

It's summertime, and, for thousands of kids across the country, summertime means summer camp. And the camp of choice here at UCLA is UniCamp, the official student charity of UCLA. UniCamp is an independently funded non-profit organization that links UCLA with the surrounding community. Each summer, nearly 1000 children from low-income families come to UniCamp to have a great time with the 350 student volunteers who serve the camp each year.

UniCamp takes place at Camp River Glen, where kids can swim, make arts and crafts, do archery, or fish in the nearby Santa Ana River. If that doesn’t sound like enough fun, they’re making plans to install an Alpine Climbing Tower and ropes course.

But there's more to UniCamp than just having fun (although fun is definitely a key ingredient!). UniCamp is all about paying it forward. The mission of UniCamp is to create "the opportunity for today's kids from underserved communities to eventually contribute to the development of tomorrow's underserved kids." The idea is that children from underserved communities will become UniCamp campers who will be so inspired by our amazing student volunteers that they will want to become student volunteers themselves someday, and hopefully those student volunteers will become community leaders who will make the community and the world a better place for everyone.

If you’re interested in UniCamp, or want to get involved, please visit their website:www.unicamp.org.