University of California-San Diego Top Questions

I wish I would've known how challenging it was to manage time at UCSD. I came in full force, studying like no other, and essentially burnt out for the following two quarters. It also would've been nice to know how challenging it is to get your classes when you have a bad enrollment time due to coming in with a few AP credits. It's a battle for classes and it can give you a major disadvantage.

All the major's status (whether impacted or not) and how a typical class and quarter runs here at school.

I wish someone had told me to try to do MY best and not compare myself to others. I think competitiveness is a terribly way to look at school; I know it killed me when I could not be the top student in every class but I eventually learned to live with being happy and normal. No need to over-think or over-stress anything :)

I wish I knew about the 6 colleges and which ones to apply to.

I wish that I had taken more advantage of internships and job opportunities. I know that sounds really intense for someone who would only be a freshman, but you're only here 4 years. I wish that I had just thrown myself out there, but you can learn from my mistake. Any opportunity that you can take, TAKE IT. The biggest advantage of starting early is weeding out what you like and what you don't like early so you don't find yourself in your third of fourth year thinking maybe you never liked your major after all.

you need to be involved to be content wiht your college life

I wish I had known that in order to have a rewarding social life at UCSD, one needed to be in the Greek system, or at the very least join a club. I also wish I had known about the amazing research opportunities at UCSD sooner in my academic career, in order to take advantage of them.

everyone here is the same sort of personality, there are loud outrageous people here. If you have dyed pink hair or anything out of the slightly ordinary you stick out like a sore thumb. No is here to experience new things everyone is here to get a degree and get out, get a job and have 2 kids with a dog and white picket fence.

how unfit and unsocial UCSD was and how non-diverse it was

that there were many cool programs available as long as you go to the info sessions