Admissions Blog

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Silence. I’m not talking about that old time favorite Christmas song; I’m talking about absolute silence. That’s right, it’s dead out there on campus.  In fact, its dead week at UCLA: the week heading into Final exams.  The UCLA vs. USC football game is this weekend and there isn’t that familiar buzz that I am so used to the time of year. As a recent alum, and especially when I was a student at UCLA, I always look forward to that oh so famous Blue and Gold week when everyone on campus comes together in preparation for the biggest game of the season, the rivalry game.

However this year is different.  No sound of smashing windows form the famous Blue and Gold car smash.   No solid gold sound of the UCLA Marching Band from the Blue and Gold Parade.  No screaming and cheering from the Blue and Gold Rally.  No sweet crackling wood sound from the burning blaze of the Blue and Gold bonfire.  Instead it’s the sound of turning pages, pens furiously writing, clacking of laptop keyboards, and countless stressful student sighs.

When Your Professor is a Former Univesrity Chancellor

This quarter, one of the classes I've taken is called, "The 2008 Presidential Election."  I remember sitting in a hotel lobby in Spain over the summer, enrolling in courses and I saw the name of the instructor listed on the course.  "Who is this 'C.E. Young?" I asked myself.  It dawned on me a few months later that it was Charles E. Young - the same former chancellor whom a research library in the north part of campus and a road that wraps around camp is named after.

Young was chancellor of UCLA from 1958 to 1997 and was responsible for developing the school into one of the nation's top research universities. He was the youngest person, at age 36, to run any American university and retired after an almost 29 year career.  I had known that he was still involved at UCLA through the School of Public Affairs and last year, he was a guest speaker in one of my classes. However, I did not know he was still teaching.  In fact, up until this semester, he was not teaching. Chancellor Young came out of retirement (for the third time) to teach the course, because, as he said to our class, "it was such an important historical election."

It is that time of year!

Many of you are preparing your college applications.  Understandably, there are questions, doubts, and concerns that come along with process.  However, in the next few weeks your applications will be complete and submitted.  Then you have the remaining academic year to concentrate on your studies and enjoy school as you await decisions in the Spring.  We encourage you not to stress too much over the process.  We look forward to receiving the thousands of applications.  This is an exciting and busy time of year for us as well.  In the mean time, check out why some current students choose UCLA.

Why did you choose to go to UCLA?

• It was my dream school.
• It was the best school my parents were allowing me to go to.
• It's my dream school, what better place to study than LA for Chicana/o Studies major and the prestige and esteemed professors.
• It was the best school that I go into.  Had sports and academics and would open up the most networks.
• The size of the campus brings so much variety and opportunity.
• Closer to home and family.  I loved the campus and all the resources UCLA offers its students to become successful Bruins.
• I like the location.  It's far away for me to be independents form my parents but close enough to home to drive down to when I'm homesick.
• The environment.
• It would help me achieve my goals in life and career.
• Berkeley turned me down!
• Feel in love with campus and diversity.
• It's a good school with a good reputation.
• Best school I got into.
• My father and I have always like this school. It was a personal mission of mine to be a student here.
• Nice campus, different opportunities.
• Prestigious school close to home, but still far enough away from family.
• The strength of their programs. The enthusiasm and participation of students in on-campus activities as well as the location.
• For many reasons.  Primarily, the fact that it lies within the LA metropolis. Not too far from home and a well respected academic program in any study.  The school offered my particular major with a great program to develop my interests.
• Raza day persuaded me over UC Berkeley and USC.

For the curious......

I recently conducted a mini survey of our student workers. First, you should know, that our UARS students workers are very much appreciated. They are a wonderful dose of relativity for our staff.  As such, I was curious to know their perspectives on academic and campus life at UCLA.  Over the next few weeks I will share the results.  Enjoy!

What is your favorite UCLA memory?

• Living in the dorms, learning the 8-clap, beating USC, seeing President Clinton speak, tasting Diddy Reese (www.diddyriese.com/home.php) for the first time!
• UCLA game against USC and winning
• Fall 2007 rush week parties
• Taking summer school here in 2006 and when UCLA beat USC that year
• Beating USC Fall 06
• Hanging out with dorm mates
• Finishing the year as an ally to youth in the community through a community service project I was able to be a site coordinator for a project at Hawthorne High School. A year of hard work culminated into great youth participation.
• Beating USC in football in 2006
• Finally finishing my most difficult quarter
• No one particular memory, just fun times with new friends I’ve made
• Dinner with 12 strangers (www.uclalumni.net/CalendarEvents/d12/home.cfm) and Spring Sing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCLA_Spring_Sing) are really fun
• Meeting international students during the summer and talking to them about life at UCLA.
• Dancing for 26 hours at UCLA’s Dance Marathon (http://bruindancemarathon.org/) to raise money for pediatric aids.
• Meeting Jordan Farmar and James Franco
• Blue and Gold week 2006
• First year dorm life

Blue and Gold and Green!

Many people at UCLA--students, faculty, and staff--are ever more concerned about their impact on the environment. Transportation is a significant concern when living in Los Angeles, where many people commute to campus.  There is a new blog, created by UCLA Transportation, for Bruins to share stories and tips about green commuting, and get in touch with other green-minded Bruins.

”As part of UCLA Transportation’s Be A Green Commuter kickoff initiative, students, staff and faculty are encouraged to participate in the Green Commuter Contest. Any Bruin who posts a comment will receive a free T-shirt and will also be automatically entered into a prize drawing to win an iPod Shuffle.”

Please check out the site.  www.beagreencommuter.com/blog/

Bruin Spirit

It's Blue and Gold Week on campus, one of the most exciting times to be on campus at UCLA. Bruin spirit is evident all around campus and there are tons of really cool events to get the student body excited for the big football game against Stanford at the Rose Bowl this Saturday. Blue and Gold Week is usually held in December right before the big game against our crosstown rivals (USC).  Although, this year it's happening a little bit earlier this year, it's still a highlight of every UCLA student's fall quarter.

Starting on Monday and lasting throughout the week, students gather every three hours at the John Wooden Center, our student gym, to participate in a 8-clap rally, our official cheer. During the week, there is also a car smash where students get to release their aggression. Also, we have a "Get out the Red" t-shirt exchange where people can swap their red t-shirts for a cool blue "I Heart UCLA" t-shirt. There's a community service fair, a concert Thursday afternoon featuring Tokyo Police Club, a "Bruin Night Out" with student discounts in Westwood Village, and a Campus Movie Fest, which allows students to produce their own short film in five days.

Tonight is the big culumination of Blue and Gold Week with a school rally on the Intermural Field ending in a huge bonfire, which is just an amazing sight to behold. (Plus, fire is just really cool.) Thousands of screaming Bruin fans get together to support the athletes and show their pride. There are student group performances and skits; it's like a high school pep rally, just a couple hundred times bigger.

It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement and school spirit during the week and with so many different fun activities going on, it's really one of my favorite annual traditions as a Bruin.

For more information, visit www.uclalumni.net/calendarevents/bluegold/2008/home.cfm

Study Abroad

This is Edward, a student worker in the Public Response unit.  Summer at UCLA is filled with an interesting mix of people – including many prospective students and their families touring the campus, people taking summer session courses, and visitors from various camps and programs roaming the school.  But many UCLA students, including myself, take the break to travel the world and go abroad.  Studying abroad is a very popular option at UCLA and we have three different programs: the Education Abroad Program (EAP), Travel Study, and Quarter Abroad.

I participated in Travel Study, enrolling in the Spanish Language and Culture program.  I spent 6 weeks in Spain and during the course of my adventure abroad I saw Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Seville, and Barcelona.  If you are ever in Andalucía (the autonomous Southern region of Spain), you must visit The Alhambra—it’s amazing. Also known as “The Red Fortress,” it is a palace/fortress complex built by Moorish rulers in the 14th Century; today it is one of Granada’s major attractions.

The temperatures reached up to 40 degrees Celsius (or 104 degrees Fahrenheit), but we were exposed to so many beautiful historical sights and places and met and interacted with tons of interesting and new people. I even found out that some people from my program were also student workers in Admissions’ systems unit!

What is cool about Travel Study is that you get to take classes too. I enrolled in an intensive Spanish language program that covered Spanish 2 and 3 in just four weeks, thus fulfilling my foreign language requirement.  I'm the "busy-bee" type, so it was neat to be able to sort of take a vacation, but still be productive. Also, where better to sharpen my Spanish skills then in Spain?

A lot of my friends also had their own travel experiences away from Westwood.  While I was in Spain, other people I know studied Italian in Florence, did research with a professor in Greenland, worked for the U.S. consulate in Thailand, and interned at the Associated Press in New York City.  UCLA offers its students a variety of different options so you can spend part of your summer abroad, or spend the quarter (or even a whole school year) studying in a different country.  Often times, the cost of the program is comparable to the normal cost of attending UCLA and the classes are guaranteed to transfer as credit.  Students are also eligible for financial aid.  Most college students agree: going abroad is one of the most unique and memorable parts of their four years in school.  For more information on the different study abroad options, visit the UCLA International Education Office at www.ieo.ucla.edu.

Transcripts, transcripts, transcripts!

Admitted students:

Have you submitted your final official transcripts?  It is very important that you submit your transcripts by the following deadlines.

Freshmen -- You must submit final official high school transcripts and official results from ACT Assessment plus Writing or SAT Reasoning Test scores and official results from two SAT subject tests by Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Transfers -- You must submit final official spring coursework transcripts by Friday, August 15, 2008

If you have not submitted the above materials, a hold has been placed on your student record and will not be removed until the materials are received. Additionally, if the materials are not received by the deadline, your offer of admission is subject to cancellation.  Please meet the deadlines to avoid cancellation!

Dorm Life

Hello, my name is Brian Mercer, and I’m a 3rd year mechanical engineering student here at UCLA and I recently started working in the Systems Unit (where they process all the transcripts and applications). As many of you are gearing up to start school in the fall, I have a feeling you might also be curious about dorm-life at UCLA.  After all, about 92% of incoming freshmen will be living in dorms.  I’ve lived in the dorms for the past two years here, and it’s been an amazing experience. Even though I’ll be moving out into an apartment this year, I’ll always think about and remember the great times I had living on campus, and all of the lifelong friends that I made there.

Living in the dorms on campus is really a once in a lifetime experience. It’s probably the only time in your life where you’ll be able to live in close proximity with potentially nearly 100 of your peers on the same floor. I made almost all of my close friends from the people who lived on my floor, not from classes or other activities I was involved in. And it’s not just about the close friends you’ll make; you’ll meet many new and interesting types of people on your floor. I can’t tell you how many new TV shows I watch, new foods I eat, and new music I listen to and play on my guitar because of the people I lived with while I was in the dorms.

Signing off

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of....not blogging anymore.

Yes, unfortunately friends I am going to be leaving UCLA Undergraduate Admissions and officially resigning my post as UARS blog mistress at the end of the month. I've loved posting and reading your comments, and I swear it's not you, it's me. I'm going to be returning to my Northern California roots, but I won't forget all the great experiences I've had during my time here at UCLA.

Fear not, fans of the Admissions Blog (all both of you), Marisela is at the helm and we will still be tapping other experts around the office and the campus at large to answer your pressing admissions questions.

To our incoming students: enjoy your summer and get ready to begin your exciting new lives as Bruins. My time at UCLA has been incredibly memorable, and I hope that yours is too!

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this blog and submit your comments and please keep it up!