University of California-Los Angeles Top Questions

I wish I had stressed scholarships more. Before going to UCLA, I wasn't aware of all the pressure my family would be under due to fiscal issues. Unless your parents are very wealthy or qualify for lots of financial aid, paying for tuition is hard. Because UCLA is a public school, it is strongly affected by the budget cuts- which blindly increases tuition year after year. Ultimately, I just wish I would have applied for more scholarships.

Before coming to UCLA, I wish I had known the level of competition I would be facing from my peers. If I had known this, I would have been preparing for my Fall quarter classes during Summer. This competition may seem daunting, but it will be a wake-up call and will push you to work toward and to achieve your full potential.

Although I loved attending this school, I wish I would have known how competitive the classes are. The courses I took always had several hundred students in them and they were always graded on a curve. Sometimes, depending on the professor, your grade could be curved down and lowered. Also, even though the professors are extremely knowledgeable, they are difficult to approach and sometimes hard to understand int heir lectures.

Plan out your course load ahead of time.

I wish I had known how important it is to explore all of the activities at the beginning of the year and not put all of my time and energy into rushing a sorority. By rushing I realized that Greek Life really isn't for me and because I spent so much time rushing I missed out on becoming more involved in other programs here at UCLA.

Before coming to this school, I wish I had known how little sleep I would get. My older friends told me how much free time they had in college, so I came here thinking that it would be the same. I was in for a surprise when I would actually look forward to getting in bed. The reason I'm not sleeping as much as I anticipated is that there is so much to do at UCLA, whether it be getting involved in campus activities, studying for midterms, exploring the city, or even just hanging out with your floormates.

How quickly the quarter system goes and how much work you have to put in to get an A--even for GE classes.

I wish I knew what I wanted to do before I entered UCLA because then I would have a set plan on what to do after college as well. This would help me out in picking my classes and activities that I wanted to get involved with.

I wish I would have known how competetive classes are here, specially in the science field. Since many science classes are based on a curve students are very competitive to get the highest grade.

I wish i understood the whole process of registering for classes (First pass, second pass).