University of California-Riverside Top Questions

At UCR there is a wide variety of student organizations. Because of this it isn't difficult for students to find a group of people they feel comfortable interacting with to get involved. The most popular groups on campus seem to be the fraternities and sororities, probably because they tend to be the only orgs that are easily identified because of their greek letters. In the dorms students are encouraged to leave their door open which tends to be practiced in all the dorms. Personally, I don't attend athletic events mostly because I am not a fan of the sports practiced at UCR; my sport is football which, unfortunately, UCR does not practice. There are many single students that are ready to mingle and the dorms are a great place for meeting potential love interests. Furthermore, large classes, libraries, student org activities, and, of course, parties, are great places to meet people. I met my closest friends through a student org I am getting involved with. If I am awake at 2am on a Tuesday I am at a friend's apartment or house kicking back and taking a break from school. There are a few annual concerts which I haven't attended because they haven't had any performers I'd like to go see. Other than that, I can' think of any other traditions or annual events. I'd have to say that people party a lot, though never excessively nor to the point that partying begins to affect grades negatively. Because there are so many student orgs on campus, I don't feel it is important to join a frat or sorority. Many people don't and have great social lives. Drinking isn't necessary to enjoy a Saturday night; this not only applies to school but in general, intoxicating oneself is never necessary to have fun. There's may things to do in the evening and having fun becomes a lot more easier when one has friends.

The most popular team on this campus would probably be between the soccer team and the basketball team. Everybody goes to those events. However, I believe if we had a football team that would probably be the most popular. I was involved with the Lift Every Voice Club. It was a spoken word club that allowed poets like myself to come together and share our work with each other. I'm not really a spoken word type of girl, but it was interesting to meet students who have been involved with it since their high school years. Yes, there are students in dorms who leave their doors open. It really depends on the residence hall. For example, I live in East Lothian, and sometimes the doors are open, it really just depends on the people. I personally never keep my door open. I like my privacy, but I have friends who stay in AI and their doors are always open, no matter what time of day it is. We do have guest speakers, it depends on what department you're in. For my Environmentalims course we had guest speaker Vandana Shiva come and speak. I'm always getting emails about auditions for plays so I'm assuming that plays are pretty popular here. There are a lot of couples on this campus. It's normal to see a couple holding hands walking around campus. I met my closest friends because they knew some of my friends in Northern California. For example, my close friend Mia was bestfriends with my cousin, even though I had never met Mia before attending this school. My other close friend Helen was bestfriends with one of my friends back home, even though I had never met Helen prior to this either. My other close friends that I met here live in East Lothian with me so I see them all of the time. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I'm usually studying or listening to music. Every year UCR has an annual block party, which is a huge back to school event. They offer different varieties of food and we usually have a guest performer. This year Big Sean performed at the Block Party. People party pretty much every weekend, not during finals week though. In the beginning of the school year there were parties every weekend. Fraternities and sororities are taken very seriously here. I personally wouldn't join, but a lot of people are interestes in becoming apart of a brotherhood or sisterhood. Last weekend I was studying for finals. On a Saturday night I can go to a party without drinking, or I can go watch movies with my friends in their dorm rooms. I'm not really a drinker or a smoker so I don't need to drink or smoke in order to have a good time. Whenever I'm off campus I'm either shopping or going to the movies. We have buses that go to the Moreno Valley Mall and the Tyler Mall.

When I was a freshman, I lived in East Lothian which is a co-ed hall that consisted of about forty other freshmen. East Lothian is a part of the Lothian building with the other side being West Lothian. In my opinion, both sides of the Lothians are the most social dormitories on campus. One reason is because we have more students per hall than Pentland plus the halls are less cramped than Aberdeen-Inverness so there's more room to group together and talk. In my hall, a lot of students kept their doors open so if I'm walking down the hall I'll be able to walk in and talk to whoever lived in the open room or at least wave. Open doors were more common during the first few weeks of school but they were closed more often during midterm/finals week. I met my closest friends through the dorms and athletics. A few of my closest friends now are the ones I lived with in the dorms. The other friends I have made I met through athletics (some on softball, some on track, some on soccer). In a few instances, I have made friends through my upper division classes where the class size was smaller and the time was longer. If I am awake at 2am on a Tuesday I am either... a) Pulling an all-nighter for a paper I procrastinated on (Most likely) b) Satisfying my munchies at Denny's with my friends (Likely) c) Partying (Likely) d) At a hookah lounge on University (Likely) The most important traditions/events on campus are Block Party/Heat/Spring Splash/Homecoming. All of these events involve concerts, dancing, great food, games, giveaways, and awesome post-parties. We have had big time artists come to our campus to perform and everyone just goes crazy and enjoys themselves at these events because it's just a time to kick back and have fun with your friends. Last weekend I woke up and walked to a little sandwich shop next to campus called Sub Station that makes the best sandwiches in Riverside. I promise that big chains like Subway and Togo's has nothing on this little mom and pop shop. After a quick lunch I took the bus to Moreno Valley,which is a town about ten minutes away from Riverside, and shopped for Christmas gifts at the Moreno Valley Mall and went to the two dollar movie theater (which is a great place for some entertainment if you're low on cash). My friend then picked me up and we went to Happy Hour at Duke's Bar and Grill which is only a hop, skip and jump away from campus. The next day I woke up and called my friend up who was bored just like I was. Our solution? Disneyland. Yep, we hopped in the car and went to Disneyland, which is only a short forty-minute drive away.

There are no groups on campus that are more popular than the others, and I would say most groups, since there are hundreds of student organizations and fraternities, are equally popular. Sororities and groups set up their symbols and tables around the bell tower and interact every afternoon. I was involved in the Muslim Student Association and a political group called Students for Justice in Palestine. We often created events with groups like the African Student Union and the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA). We brought out speakers and did fundraising for certain causes like the earthquake in Haiti, and raised awareness on occurrences like the Gaza massacre. Organizations and Departments bring guest speakers to campus everyday. I met my closest friends through these student organizations and I continue to keep in touch with them today. I also met my fiancé the same way. Athletic events like basketball games and softball games are not as popular as the huge annual concerts like Spring Splash and The Heat, but they are important to many students regardless. There are also numerous plays on campus, that often times have packed houses. Parties happen moderately, since students are quite studious, but they happen more often around the beginning and the end of the quarters, however there are many things students do that actually don’t involve drinking, like going to the movies, going out to dinner, on a road trip, to the beach or shopping, to downtown riverside or simply hanging out on campus. Last weekend, I went out to dinner with my friends at an outdoor shopping mall called Victoria Gardens.

There are no groups on campus that are more popular than the others, and I would say most groups, since there are hundreds of student organizations and fraternities, are equally popular. Sororities and groups set up their symbols and tables around the bell tower and interact every afternoon. I was involved in the Muslim Student Association and a political group called Students for Justice in Palestine. We often created events with groups like the African Student Union and the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA). We brought out speakers and did fundraising for certain causes like the earthquake in Haiti, and raised awareness on occurrences like the Gaza massacre. Organizations and Departments bring guest speakers to campus everyday. I met my closest friends through these student organizations and I continue to keep in touch with them today. I also met my fiancé the same way. Athletic events like basketball games and softball games are not as popular as the huge annual concerts like Spring Splash and The Heat, but they are important to many students regardless. There are also numerous plays on campus, that often times have packed houses. Parties happen moderately, since students are quite studious, but they happen more often around the beginning and the end of the quarters, however there are many things students do that actually don’t involve drinking, like going to the movies, going out to dinner, on a road trip, to the beach or shopping, to downtown riverside or simply hanging out on campus. Last weekend, I went out to dinner with my friends at an outdoor shopping mall called Victoria Gardens.

Off the top of my head, Kappa Alpha Pi is our biggest Pre-Law frat, Alpha Kappa Psi is the most popular business frat, Alpha Phi Omega was our biggest community service frat before they were apparently suspended by their national base so I've been seeing Beta Phi Delta a lot more. There is an abundance of social/cultural frats so I'll just list some pretty popular ones: Sigma Kappa, FIJI, Alpha Chi Omega, Lambda Phi Epsilon and etc. In the last three years, I was involved with Circle K international but quit this year in order to work two jobs and save for a large community service project I will be working on for a year after graduation. But it was mainly through that club that I found most of my friends. Because Circle K is an international organization with it's own rules, things such as drinking are strictly prohibited. However, you may go to other social functions. During my freshman year, I lived in A&I - which is basically the most crowded of the dorms but I didn't make many friends from my hall because I was always so busy with my own activities with other people. However, A&I is definitely the most social of the dorms, followed by the Lothian dorms and finally Pentland Hills - where there are just a few people in each hall and is usually very quiet. Most people will leave their doors open as long as they are there so it's easy to get to them. We have these shirts/sweaters for sale at the bookstore that say something like "undefeated since 1975." The joke is that we haven't had a football team since then. Therefore, our largest athletic game is basketball at Homecoming. But in addition to having the usual soccer team, baseball team and what not, we also have many intramural sports including volleyball and football.

So far i have been to every home basketball game to support the team. We aren't the best but I'm sure we will get better.I love the anime club because i was in the anime club in high school so it reminds me of my friends and i know i have things in common with the people in the club. There is always an activity going on to help freshman especially, to adapt to college life

One club I am involved in is the apple of my eye. It’s called Senryu Taiko. Taiko is a form of Japanese drumming with large, wine-barrel size drums. Senryu was one of the first college groups to sprout up in the UC system in the 90’s., and I am proud to be part of that history. I first joined because I had missed performing in high school on the color guard team. Although taiko is drastically different, it is a high-energy style of music that is a 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} crowd pleaser at any event, whether it’s a school assembly or a festival. And trust me, there is nothing more euphoric then a crowd cheering for an encore. Go ahead and Google it: you know you want to. If anything, taiko also saved me from that dreaded Freshman Fifteen. There is no shortage of clubs in campus: a club will save you from the dreaded “dorm hermit” syndrome. But there are also other things to do on campus, and what’s great is that the campus is small enough to get anywhere within fifteen to twenty minutes, walking. The HUB is home to popular eateries, and La Fiamma’s build-your-own-pasta is amazing. The Rec Center is the place to go for basketball games and there’s always something going on at the baseball fields. On Wednesdays at noon, bands from around the school and community come and play at the Bell Tower. The Village is a short walk away and boasts a movie theater and plenty more restaurants: in general you definitely won’t go hungry here! There are always events going on and presentations in the theatre: from plays to culture club nights and festivals, to taiko performances (that’s Senryu!) and famous guest-speakers like Gary Marshal and Maya Angelou.

The most popular organizations would have to be the frats and sororities. They are always in the center of campus even during gale force winds. However, they are not that important to join. Some athletic events become popular, but only if UCR is playing a well known team like USC. On campus there are several events held like poker nights on Wednesdays where students compete for gift cards and entry is free. There are battle of the bands concerts as well as shopping boutiques that are erected once a month in the center of campus. Every year there are three huge concerts held on campus. One in the beginning of the year, one in February, and one in the Spring. Popular artists like Lil John, The Dirty Heads, Gym Class Heroes, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Common, and Kid Cudi have all performed at UCR. These concerts are by far the mot popular. As a freshman living in the dorms is the best way to meet new people and make friends. The roommate I am currently living with is a guy I met freshman year and is one of my best friends. My girlfriend I met my freshman year and she happened to live on the floor just above me. On typical weekends there are restaurants about a 20 min walk from campus that offer good food as well as a movie theater for entertainment. Party night at UCR is on Thursday though I never understood why since Friday would make more sense to me. But that is the day a people tend to party often unless it is finals week. UCR offers a wide variety of things to do and though some are quite popular the only ones that matter are the ones that interest you.

In terms of organizations, ASUCR and ASPB are very prominent groups on campus that facilitate student activity and engagement with the school. They are in charge of putting together events like concerts, guest speakers, and more. The dorms are a great experience for first and second years as well, for they are excellent places to meet and make new friends. In most cases, students leave their doors open for others to come in and talk or spend time with, which creates a friendly, family-like environment that welcomes all. I am involved with the Running Club at UCR, where I am the club's Historian. My task is to keep track of records for the club and to write out information to be distributed to its members. In the club, we meet to run as a group, around campus and around town. This provides a great cardiovascular workout, as well as a new social group to meet friends. There are countless other clubs on campus that offer the same amount of versatility and enjoyment of any particular subject. Students are also encouraged to start their own club! One event that happens in Winter quarter of every year that most students look forward to is the Heat Music concert. Here, popular modern music acts are brought to campus for a night of free fun with friends. This is one of my personal favorite events, and is something I anticipate each new year.