University of California -- Los Angeles
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: I’m currently a Biochemistry major but I’m switching to Psychology
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: White Heterosexual Male
Summary
I’m in Greek life, I just rushed a fraternity this past fall quarter. I’m planning on trying to joining some clubs next quarter or next year.
Background
Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
High School Experience: Public school in Corona, CA with a graduating class of about 850 students. There was a culture of going to college among the people I was surrounded by who were taking AP and Honors classes.
First-Generation College Student: Yes
Major: I’m currently a Biochemistry major but I’m switching to Psychology
Minor: None
Extracurricular Activities: I’m in Greek life, I just rushed a fraternity this past fall quarter. I’m planning on trying to joining some clubs next quarter or next year.
What impact has Greek life had on your experience?
I went through my freshman year not thinking about Greek life at all. I find a huge value in connecting with the people around me. I think building connections and creating a network of people is such an important thing to do. My sophomore year, which is this year, I thought Greek life would be a good way to do it. It’s been incredible. I’ve made so many close friends in such a quick amount of time. Last year I made a ton of friends, but I think Greek life has really facilitated that.
Academic Experience
Have you taken many Psychology classes yet?
I’m in Intro to Psychology right now and I’ve taken one other prerequisite for the major, so I haven’t gotten into any of the upper-division courses yet. I knocked out a few of the prerequisites last year while I was still doing Biochemistry too.
Can you describe the weekly coursework for your science classes?
Last year, since my classes were chemistry and math and then it switched to chemistry and life science, so it differed from class to class. I had an online homework for my life science class, and one problem set per week for my chemistry and math classes, so two problem sets per week total. I took what’s called a Cluster, which is a yearlong class that incorporates a lot of different subjects. I took one of those and it was very reading intensive and we had a lab every week, but it wasn’t too much written homework other than pre-labs.
Is there anything you feel the science departments at UCLA do especially well or poorly academically?
It’s hard to switch between different majors once you’re already in a sequence. Classes follow a certain sequence, so there will be 20A, 20B, and 20C. But, if you don’t like 20A, you can’t switch over to 14B even though 20A and 14A teach similar material. Like, I took an Intro to Thermodynamics, which is 102A and didn’t like it but still did well in it, so I wanted to switch over to a different sequence but they didn’t let me. That’s a big part of the reason for why I’m switching to a Psychology major.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly collaborative or competitive?
That varies by class because some teachers grade their classes on a curve, so you’re competing against the people in your class, but other classes don’t. I noticed that in humanities classes and social science classes, like my Psychology classes, they want us to collaborate a lot more than in my science and engineering classes. Overall, I think that any student in any class is willing to study and collaborate with you. I found somebody to study with in every class I took. People are very welcoming and everyone wants to do well. At a big school like UCLA, people bring different things to the table so I think that there is some collaboration if you can find it. There’s a website called Bruinwalk where you can look up reviews about different classes and professors.
How accessible are your professors?
They let you know very clearly when their office hours are and I find the office hours very helpful. I study on the other side of campus where all the classrooms are, so that’s where the professors will be, and I figure out questions I will have in that class and go directly to their office hours, which then will be a two-minute walk rather than a twenty-minute walk if I were to study in my dorm. I find them to be very accessible.
How was transitioning as a first-generation college student? Were there any systems in place to help you adapt?
Yeah, I think the orientation that UCLA offers was very helpful. They have new student advisors who help you pick your classes and show you around campus.
Reasons to Attend
1) The location is perfect. You are so close to Hollywood and L.A. is a huge city so you can find something to do so easily.
2) The size of the campus. It’s so easy to find people you fit in with. There are lots of clubs on campus, people are very friendly, and there are a ton of people to talk to at all times. It’s really easy to make a big campus feel small. Everywhere I go I run into at least one or two people that I know.
3) The relative prestige of the university.
4) We have great dining hall food. I’m vegan and I absolutely love the food at UCLA and all of my friends love it.
5) People in the greater Los Angeles community really respect UCLA so when you tell someone you go there they instantly like you.
Reasons Not to Attend
I don’t have any.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Rieber Vista with two roommates and three suitemates were connected by a bathroom.
Sophomore: Rieber Terrace with the same two roommates I lived with last year and three different suitemates and are connected by a bathroom.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
UCLA has transportation services for students, so if you are walking at night and don’t feel safe for whatever reason, there is a shuttle bus that will pick you up and take you wherever you need to go. Also, some dorms have access control where you have to present your student I.D. and a security guard will swipe you into the building. If you bring a guest they make sure they have a UCLA I.D.
Social Opportunities
What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in?
I’m not 21 yet so I can’t go to any of the bars that my friends do. I try to find other things to do on campus. Fraternities throw parties on Thursday nights, so I’ll go to those sometimes. On the weekends, I’ll go to Santa Monica and hang out at the beach during the day and at night I’ll hang out with my roommates or the people on my floor and enjoy each other’s company.
How did your nightlife experience differ before and after you joined Greek life?
Freshman males aren’t really able to get into many parties unless you know females in sororities and are invited to their parties where they rent out a club or bar. If you’re not in a frat, you’re not going to be able to go to any frat party pretty much. Since I rushed this past quarter, I have been to a lot more parties. We have an event of some kind every week that is some type of party. Fraternities are required to have a third-party security group at every party and they are at the one entrance where they check for an I.D. to make sure you’re 18. They only let in females because guys pose a risk of doing something shady and if that happens the fraternity gets in a lot of trouble.
How happy are you with the nightlife options at UCLA? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I think it’s as good as it can be right now since I’m not 21. Next year and the year after I think the nightlife will become a lot more interesting because I’ll be 21 and able to go to bars. When you live in the dorms, there is always something to do. You can talk to anyone on your floor and hang out with them and people are usually down to hang out. Especially at night and on the weekends when nobody has classes, you can always find someone to hang out with or something to do.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
My closest friends were all on my floor last year. Because we lived so close together, we hung out very often. My best friend at UCLA I met at orientation.
How would you describe the overall social scene at UCLA?
I’ve found that it’s very easy to talk to people. Especially when you’re a freshman, you can go up to whoever you want and start a conversation with them and it’s not weird because nobody has friends when you first get here. I think you can use that to your advantage to such a huge degree because nobody has many friends when you first get to college so you’re very open and willing to talk to whoever reaches out to you because it can be kind of scary to reach out to someone. Some dorms are not very social, but I was fortunate enough to live on very social floors both years, so it’s been very easy to make friends.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I think to a huge degree. I have friends from all different backgrounds and sexual orientations. It really isn’t an issue at all. [UCLA’s undergraduate population is about 3% African American, 28% Asian, 22% Hispanic, and 27% White.]
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
When you join some type of fraternity or sorority, you become caught up in that. My fraternity is a huge time commitment. Especially when you’re pledging, it’s hard to find time to just study and even harder to hang out with other people and meet other people, so I think that’s why people get wrapped up in it and don’t mix a whole lot. When you’re a freshman and not in a fraternity or sorority, you’re looking for friends and don’t have as much access to friends as you would if you were in a fraternity or sorority. When you’re in one, you get very close to the people in your organization very quickly which causes you to not want to reach out as much to the people around you and I think that’s kind of a setback to Greek life.
How would you describe the student body?
The student body at UCLA is so diverse. I don’t know how it got so diverse. If you look hard enough and reach out to people, you can find exactly where you fit in. There are lots of clubs and if you walk around the club fair long enough, you’ll find something that you’re interested in so it’s really easy to find your niche.
How has the size of your school influenced your social experience? [UCLA’s undergraduate population is about 31,000 students.]
Because there are so many people, I think it makes it easier to find your niche and the group of people who you fit in with best because there are more people with similar interests. I think the size of my class is a huge advantage and is something I looked for in a college because I wanted to meet as many people as possible.
Do you ever feel that you are more so a resident of Los Angeles than you are a student at UCLA?
I totally think I’m a resident of L.A. I was talking about this with one of my friends and because when you’re in Westwood, there’s so much stuff to do at all times. You can go to Santa Monica, you can go to Hollywood, you can be all over the place and forget you go to UCLA for school. There’s so much to do.
Careers
To what extent have you used the career office? How helpful were they?
I went to a career fair and I got information about that from the career office. I didn’t know what it would be because I’ve never gone to one before and I felt totally out of place. There were other students dressed in suits with resumes in their folders and I dressed in jeans and a polo and didn’t have a resume or anything. I just had my backpack from class. I was a little intimidated, but I went in and was friendly with the people who were working their booths and trying to find people to work for them, and I ended up getting a couple of job offers. One was for a restaurant in Westwood and another was an internship program where you help teach kids how to read and write over the summer.