Admissions Blog :: UCLA Undergraduate Admissions

First Day of Summer School

Those of your who signed up for Summer Session A should be waltzing your way onto campus right about...now. (Or maybe sometime tomorrow. Or Wednesday) Congrats to you go-getters who decided to get a jump on your UCLA education! High school students, current students, admitted students, and all you regular folk are welcome to take classes over the summer at UCLA. It's not too late to sign up for Session C, which starts on August 6. Undergraduate Admissions serves as the student services office for Summer Sessions, so come on by if you have any questions.

As Kathy wrote in her post, the campus gets decidedly less peopled over the summer. And it gets decidedly hotter, too! My favorite ways to cool off are to walk down to Pinkberry in Westwood (although the walk kind of undoes the coolness of the fro yo); cat nap in Powell Library's rotunda, where it's chill in both sense of the word; or stroll through the Fowler Museum and enjoy the art in the climate-controlled galleries. I should try going for a swim in one of our many on-campus pools one of these days. Oh, and did I mention that we have two Baskin Robbins on campus?

UCLA Doesn’t Stop in the Summertime

As we all know, every day is summer in California. In the same way, the exciting activities and stimulating coursework associated with the academic year carry on at UCLA over the summertime. UCLA Summer Sessions and Special Programs offers over 600 courses, over 20 language intensives, and several short-term, all-day institutes on subjects ranging from management to translation. A lot of Bruins use this opportunity to take classes that they couldn't take during the academic year, to work on their major, take care of GE (general education) requirements, or simply explore a new field. (Some even choose to earn credit abroad through UCLA Travel Study.)

As an incoming first-year or transfer student, you can use Summer Sessions to get acquainted with academic expectations and explore the campus in a low-key, relaxed atmosphere. There are still plenty of people around but, with roughly one third of the student body, campus services are easy to access. The libraries, restaurants, gyms, and pools are particularly enjoyable. You can work out on any machine you want at Wooden and follow on to Ackerman where there’s no line to get your smoothie with a protein boost. Summertime at UCLA means studying on the beach, getting a tan up at Sunset Canyon, going to outdoor concerts, and having the luxury to concentrate on coursework without the hustle and bustle of a regular quarter.

If you'd like to know what's available, you can visit the Summer Sessions Web site. For help choosing a class or program, please contact Summer Sessions at info@summer.ucla.edu. Financial aid is available is qualified students. You can even live on campus!

My name is Kathleen Micham and I work with summer every day of the year as communications manager in the Office of Summer Sessions. I get to write about all of the academic offerings in the summer but I also get to help plan fun summer events like a wushu performance or a Gospel concert. I, myself, love being on campus in the summer because people are more laid back and the grounds are beautiful. I love going up to Sunset Canyon Recreation Center for a swim or eating my lunch outdoors at Café Roma.