University of California-Los Angeles Top Questions

The classmates I have had the pleasure to know are obviously smart, but in addition to that, they are eager to learn and are very curious, they are willing to help each other and work as a team, they are not afraid to ask questions and seek help for themselves, they work hard, they play hard, they make me laugh when studying becomes stressful, they keep me focused and motivated, and most importantly, they are sincerely great friends to have.

bright and unique

Diverse, obnoxious but friendly

Class mates are quiet students who do not answer or question in general.

My classmates come from diverse backgrounds that broadened my knowledge on other cultures and enhanced my sensitivity and tolerance to differences in our society.

A diverse group of people, many of whom are from different walks of life than yours, and some who share the same interests as you.

My classmates were extremely helpful; they were open to discussing class material and creating study groups during exam time.

They are nice if you are nice, but if you don't really get out and introduce yourself to people, you will find yourself very lonely. People are nice! Go and talk to them.

UCLA is called the most diverse student population in the country, which is especially appropriate being that Los Angeles is the most diverse city in the country. And much like the city in which it resides, this would be an advantage if it wasn't also deeply segregated. Every single ethnic group has a corresponding extracurricular club that in effect (and probably not intentionally) divides the student body into hundreds of fragmented sub-groups organized around ethnic identity. There's a South Indian Dance and Culture Club, there's a Central American Heritage Initiative group, there's an Afro-American Evangelical Christian Ministry Step Dance Ensemble, there's a Mandarin Only A/V Club... in other words, a lot of student life centers on race. UCLA as an institution and as a student body is obsessed with race and ethnic identity. Not that this is unusual for a school or negative for the student body, but as an example, a true disadvantage comes when I go to the most diverse school in the most diverse city in the country and by the end of it I only know white poli-sci majors from San Luis Obispo. The great advantage of attending an extremely diverse campus comes from the social and intellectual contact and discourse between groups and people of differing backgrounds learning and exploring together. In practice, this is not how it actually works here. There is not significant contact between these groups. This is only natural considering most of them have nothing in common with the other groups enough to sustain any meaningful contact. For example, you're not gonna see the Bruin Republicans and the Arab Student Alliance playing ultimate frisbee at Drake Stadium. This fragmenting is probably due to the fact that UCLA is a large school with a large student body and people tend to form micro-groups within any organization that large, and those groups tend to organize around race/identity. I understand the need for this sub-grouping, but it is a shame, because I believe that at a campus this large, to the detriment of all students, this is really just auto-segregation. An interesting glimmer of hope; there are TONS of courses offered on this very thing. Students of all backgrounds are encouraged to take early chicano lit or subjects in Sub Saharan Economies of the 20th Century or a variety of super unique courses that bridge the gaps between cultures and local histories, and it is in these classrooms and study sections where the real discourse occurs. Unfortunately, I've found that many of the students here are too involved in their own ethno/political club activities to give a shit about intellectual discourse. Others of course are the super driven type that make everybody else feel like they need to do the readings again. In summary, MOST of the student body here is HIGHLY annoying and fragmented into thousands of ethno-special sub categories completely tangential to academics, intellectual discourse, or other cliched constructs of what is now known in America as "college life."

The classmates in my lectures are all very serious when it comes to academics and education; however, they also know how to manage their time wisely because they are able to factor in not only study time, but also social and relaxing time as well. It is because the students at UCLA understand how to intelligently manage their time for both education and non-education activities that they are able to maintain their superb grades in class, thus, leading UCLA to be one of most wanted universities in the nation. According to UCLA 2009 admissions, more than 55,000 applied.