I am glad that I actually joined CSSA CAMP Summer Science Academy, which I highly recommend for those who are of a Chicano/Latino, African-American, Native American, or Pacific Islander and must be majoring in Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, Information and Computer Sciences, or Applied Ecology under Social Ecology. If this isn’t possible, then at least attend SPOP, which is for everyone. Both of these are in the summer and they will definitely increase your chances of making new friends and getting into the environment of UCI. In the beginning of my year, I saw many lonely people, so it is best to meet friends and feel comfortable before you officially come to UCI. You will also be surprised at how many people there are in classrooms. For my Biology Lecture class, I practically had more than 400 students, so don’t really expect to get personal attention from your professor, unless you meet with them during office hours. So if you’re having trouble with your classes, you can stop by and ask for assistance. They are always willing to help out a student since mostly no one goes to there office hours. This gives the students that do go, a better opportunity to learn. It is also best to take LARC, which is a tutoring program, and only free if you are eligible for the waiver. I took Chemistry tutoring and it really affected my performance in the class. You should consider tutoring, even if you took AP or Honor classes in high school, you’re going to see that you are going to need it. The Midterms and Finals are hard, but if you study and work harder than you had in high school, I assure you that you will do great at UCI.
Do you enjoy the experience at your school?
I really am enjoying UCI because it is a very beautiful campus. You either get to live in Middle Earth which is more of a community while Mesa Court is more of an outdoors type of living situation. In my opinion, you should choose to dorm, you will meet a lot of new people with great and interesting personalities. If you’re still not sure where you want to live, get a campus tour or even just go on the Irvine website. Practically you can find anything you want on campus. You can workout at the ARC or Helm’s Deep, go eat with your meal plan (you’ll have a meal plan consisting of 100, 125, and 165 meals about) at Pippins, Mesa Court, or Brandywine, or go to eat at Starbucks, Wendy’s, Panda Express, or even visit the libraries. You won’t really need a car, unless you’re ready to pay for the permit to be parking. What I also enjoy, is that there are several clubs you can be a part of. I have become a part of two medicine clubs, I have done volunteer service, and I have already gotten a leadership position in one of the clubs. You will enjoy many of these things, but don’t worry if you’re not sure which club you want to join, Welcome Week will help you with which club you want to join. You don’t have to rush things, its best to get adjusted to the life of a university, but when you get the chance, you should think of joining a club. I really recommend not to join fraternities or sororities but its up to you on how you want to experience your college life.
Do you feel you’re getting value for the money you’re spending on college?
In my opinion, there are schools that are much more expensive than this school. I think it’s almost about $29,000. Since you’re searching for scholarships, you probably don’t have the money that is needed to get into college. Well I never worked when I was in high school, and I still am not working. My parents did not have the money to pay for my college tuition and they didn’t really have a good income. So practically once I was accepted to Irvine. They ended up paying most of my tuition. They paid like about $24,000. I did apply though, for FASFA and Cal Grants, so it’s a good thing not to forget to do that. The rest of the money is being paid by the scholarships I got. So keep trying because I didn’t get my scholarships until almost the end of my Senior year. So I really do think you will get a bang for your buck if you come to Irvine because it worked out good for me. If you still have trouble, you can always do work study. You’ll practically be working while you’re in school to pay off for your college, and I’m sure by then you’ll have scholarships or even hopefully some of your tuition paid off by the college. If you really want to apply here, it’s worth it. Don’t think it’s going to be cheap at another college. The cheapest it can get is at a community college, but if you worked hard and you are willing to challenge yourself and not let any obstacles get in your way, then you will find the money you need to pay off for UCI.
Do you have any tips for prospective students?
Mainly my tips are: get a tour of UCI and visit their website to see if you like the school, live on campus because you will meet a lot of people and it will be more convenient when you are studying, send paperwork on time for when you are applying for Irvine and financial aid, do a summer programs for Irvine (don’t take classes during the
summer, because you won’t really meet people, my best suggestion is to do CAMP, if not, do SPOP), go to Welcome Week, but join a club if you have the time for it (maybe 1 or 2), go to office hours for professors, try to apply for LARC, if you are taking a biology class, you should look for free tutoring in this subject, because there is, check your EEE (for class quizzes, scores, evaluations, surveys and emails from professors), check your Webmail (email from the school or professors), and check your ZotAccount (to know if you owe any money to the school) . Also, I highly recommend you not to miss class, and be early to class, because seats will be taken quickly or you will come into class with classes already started and you sitting on the stairs. Keep a schedule of your day that you can see everyday to know when you have classes, and a planner will help a lot (to remember midterms and finals). Lastly tips for which teachers to take. I have only taken one quarter here at UCI, but these teachers are really good. For Biology 93, you should take O’Dowd and Warrior. For Chemistry 1A you should take Borovik and for Precalculus (Math 1B) you should take Mrs. Famiglietti. If you are still curious on which classes you need to take, you can always check ratemyprofessor.com.
Which types of students will excel at your college?
This school is more studious than party. So you have to be serious here, but it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun on your own. This school is not mostly for Asians, yes there are plenty of them, but anyone has the same opportunity to apply here. UCI is well known for its biology classes. It is a very competitive school in the Biology major, so best if you are trying to apply for medical school, and I guess you can say in the Engineering also, but anybody is welcomed to apply if there major is found in the school. The weather is more of a beach type weather, since it is near the beach, usually windy, but its still beautiful. I personally did it for the distance, and so if you want to live close to home and you live near Irvine, this can also be an option. Basically, the people are friendly, peaceful (not all), and overall it becomes a pleasure to be living and being a part of the campus of UC Irvine.
I am glad that I actually joined CSSA CAMP Summer Science Academy, which I highly recommend for those who are of a Chicano/Latino, African-American, Native American, or Pacific Islander and must be majoring in Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, Information and Computer Sciences, or Applied Ecology under Social Ecology. If this isn’t possible, then at least attend SPOP, which is for everyone. Both of these are in the summer and they will definitely increase your chances of making new friends and getting into the environment of UCI. In the beginning of my year, I saw many lonely people, so it is best to meet friends and feel comfortable before you officially come to UCI. You will also be surprised at how many people there are in classrooms. For my Biology Lecture class, I practically had more than 400 students, so don’t really expect to get personal attention from your professor, unless you meet with them during office hours. So if you’re having trouble with your classes, you can stop by and ask for assistance. They are always willing to help out a student since mostly no one goes to there office hours. This gives the students that do go, a better opportunity to learn. It is also best to take LARC, which is a tutoring program, and only free if you are eligible for the waiver. I took Chemistry tutoring and it really affected my performance in the class. You should consider tutoring, even if you took AP or Honor classes in high school, you’re going to see that you are going to need it. The Midterms and Finals are hard, but if you study and work harder than you had in high school, I assure you that you will do great at UCI.
I really am enjoying UCI because it is a very beautiful campus. You either get to live in Middle Earth which is more of a community while Mesa Court is more of an outdoors type of living situation. In my opinion, you should choose to dorm, you will meet a lot of new people with great and interesting personalities. If you’re still not sure where you want to live, get a campus tour or even just go on the Irvine website. Practically you can find anything you want on campus. You can workout at the ARC or Helm’s Deep, go eat with your meal plan (you’ll have a meal plan consisting of 100, 125, and 165 meals about) at Pippins, Mesa Court, or Brandywine, or go to eat at Starbucks, Wendy’s, Panda Express, or even visit the libraries. You won’t really need a car, unless you’re ready to pay for the permit to be parking. What I also enjoy, is that there are several clubs you can be a part of. I have become a part of two medicine clubs, I have done volunteer service, and I have already gotten a leadership position in one of the clubs. You will enjoy many of these things, but don’t worry if you’re not sure which club you want to join, Welcome Week will help you with which club you want to join. You don’t have to rush things, its best to get adjusted to the life of a university, but when you get the chance, you should think of joining a club. I really recommend not to join fraternities or sororities but its up to you on how you want to experience your college life.
In my opinion, there are schools that are much more expensive than this school. I think it’s almost about $29,000. Since you’re searching for scholarships, you probably don’t have the money that is needed to get into college. Well I never worked when I was in high school, and I still am not working. My parents did not have the money to pay for my college tuition and they didn’t really have a good income. So practically once I was accepted to Irvine. They ended up paying most of my tuition. They paid like about $24,000. I did apply though, for FASFA and Cal Grants, so it’s a good thing not to forget to do that. The rest of the money is being paid by the scholarships I got. So keep trying because I didn’t get my scholarships until almost the end of my Senior year. So I really do think you will get a bang for your buck if you come to Irvine because it worked out good for me. If you still have trouble, you can always do work study. You’ll practically be working while you’re in school to pay off for your college, and I’m sure by then you’ll have scholarships or even hopefully some of your tuition paid off by the college. If you really want to apply here, it’s worth it. Don’t think it’s going to be cheap at another college. The cheapest it can get is at a community college, but if you worked hard and you are willing to challenge yourself and not let any obstacles get in your way, then you will find the money you need to pay off for UCI.
Mainly my tips are: get a tour of UCI and visit their website to see if you like the school, live on campus because you will meet a lot of people and it will be more convenient when you are studying, send paperwork on time for when you are applying for Irvine and financial aid, do a summer programs for Irvine (don’t take classes during the summer, because you won’t really meet people, my best suggestion is to do CAMP, if not, do SPOP), go to Welcome Week, but join a club if you have the time for it (maybe 1 or 2), go to office hours for professors, try to apply for LARC, if you are taking a biology class, you should look for free tutoring in this subject, because there is, check your EEE (for class quizzes, scores, evaluations, surveys and emails from professors), check your Webmail (email from the school or professors), and check your ZotAccount (to know if you owe any money to the school) . Also, I highly recommend you not to miss class, and be early to class, because seats will be taken quickly or you will come into class with classes already started and you sitting on the stairs. Keep a schedule of your day that you can see everyday to know when you have classes, and a planner will help a lot (to remember midterms and finals). Lastly tips for which teachers to take. I have only taken one quarter here at UCI, but these teachers are really good. For Biology 93, you should take O’Dowd and Warrior. For Chemistry 1A you should take Borovik and for Precalculus (Math 1B) you should take Mrs. Famiglietti. If you are still curious on which classes you need to take, you can always check ratemyprofessor.com.
This school is more studious than party. So you have to be serious here, but it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun on your own. This school is not mostly for Asians, yes there are plenty of them, but anyone has the same opportunity to apply here. UCI is well known for its biology classes. It is a very competitive school in the Biology major, so best if you are trying to apply for medical school, and I guess you can say in the Engineering also, but anybody is welcomed to apply if there major is found in the school. The weather is more of a beach type weather, since it is near the beach, usually windy, but its still beautiful. I personally did it for the distance, and so if you want to live close to home and you live near Irvine, this can also be an option. Basically, the people are friendly, peaceful (not all), and overall it becomes a pleasure to be living and being a part of the campus of UC Irvine.