University of California-Los Angeles Top Questions

I play sports (football, volleyball and soccer) during my spare time. Video games are also really popular. My closest friends are from my high school that go here, and friends i met through them, or people i live with. On a saturday night i play video games, ping pong, board games.

I am involved with the Bruin Democrats. Its a great place to go to discuss and keep oneself updated and involved in what's happening politically; especially considering the rapidly approaching election.

If your'e not in the Greek system, good luck finding a social life. The big problem is, you have to be with people you like to enjoy a good social life, and good LUCK finding people worth liking. Oh, and as for Westwood, it's good for the occasional visit, but once you live there, you realize how little there is to do. The bus system can take you other, more interesting places around LA, and it's not terribly difficult to navigate, but it does take a long time to go anywhere on buses, so it's not very practical unless you block out whole days at a time.

Greek life is a big thing, but for the most part, kids get phased out of that scene by their 2nd year I find. There is a big apartment party scene and I pretty much see the same people every weekend at these smaller, apartment parties. Athletic events are huge, especially bball and football and especially when we play SC. I hated dorm life but that it where I met my closest friends, and I was not very social in my dorm and got very tired of the experiene. I dont know much about the dating scene, random hookups seem the norm all over the world. The weekdays can be quite at night, as people are serious about studying, but my friends will randomly go out and party during the week. Welcome week is huge, espeically for freshman, and is accompanied by a big concert. Undie run is big, dance marathon, spring sing, but i havent participated in any of those. People party thursday-saturday night and parties get decreasingly more regular/crazy as midterms and finals sneak up. Last weekend I went to several parties, often a couple a night. I also went to a bar in westwood and visited some friends at USC and partied there. I have no idea what you could do on a saturday night that doesnt involve drinking-maybe a movie and dinner in westwood???? Off campus, i go to good LA restaraunts or bars or visit friends at other schools.

Many students in dorms leave their door opens to talk to them. Athletic events are super fun and important at UCLA. There are usually guest speakers discussing world events and everything at UCLA. Theater is very prevalent at UCLA, because many events can be held at the gorgeous Royce Hall, UCLAlive events always happen there. The dating scene is very diverse - you have a lto to choose from. Traditions that happen every year are BEAT 'SC week, when we have the football game against USC and there are events all weekend to support our school and to show school pride. Depending on the group of people, people can party every other week or less, to many times a week, just depending on how heavy your courseload is. Fraternities and sororities aren't vital to college life, but they are fun to go to when you are looking for somewhere to go. Saturday nights don't have to be for drinking - many people are down to just play board games, watch movies, hang out in Santa Monica.

Christian groups, racial groups. I think people group up too much based on that, it creates seperation outside of the classes.

Group-wise, the school has too many to judge them by order of popularity. Athletically, I’d say the basketball following is the largest. Within intramural and sports, Frisbee and softball have a pretty big following. But Greek life is by far the biggest social “club” on campus, as we’ve got a very large number of fraternities and sororities, most of which are very large in and of themselves. UCLA is one of the schools that originates the frat boy/sorority girl stereotypes—it’s usually not hard to pick out the Greek students in a crowd, but an equal number of people thinks that’s a good thing and think it’s a bad thing. If you’re not in a frat or sorority (first of all, don’t worry, there are plenty), the next most likely source for friends and social groups is probably your neighbors, as the dorms are a pretty well-oiled social machine, in that everyone wants to get to know everyone. As a rule the residences get more social as the quality of the building itself decreases, as the older returning students with priority usually have already established groups of friends (and are more than likely living with these people) and thus are less dependent upon their neighbors. Freshmen seem to coagulate in the older dorms, trading a private bathroom for a social atmosphere which I wouldn’t hesitate to call priceless. Three years later, I live with friends from my freshman dorm, who have become my inseparable friends. If you’re in one of these predominantly freshman dorms—which I would recommend—you’ll find doors open to eager neighbors just as excited to meet new people and try new experiences as you are. There’s also a big sports culture that comes out of IM and club sports, which are generally more relaxed and recreational than the varsity sports, and, in my opinion, a matchless source for a rewarding extracurricular and a group of extraordinary people. I’m a member of the Sailing Team, which is at once incredibly rewarding and enjoyable, and also a formidable experience in team-building and cooperation. At the beginning of the year, every year, there’s an Activities Fair, featuring every single club and group on campus with a booth, representative, and information. I must emphasize—it is overwhelming. But it’s also the best way to find some way to soak up your spare time with something more worthwhile than Facebook. If you can’t find something that interests you, you didn’t look hard enough—there are cultural clubs, volunteer organizations, intramural and club sports, and hobby groups. The school is very self-sustaining, in that we’re large enough to function like a small city, thus the students rarely need to go outside school to find something to do. On-campus events, like sports games and movie screenings, become the main gatherings. But even if you venture into Westwood, you’ll find it very easy to connect with other students, because, like I said, the campus and immediate surroundings provide a very magnetic center for student life. There are plenty of activities, whether organized by groups or by individual circles of friends, that don’t require any drinking. Simply exploring the town of Westwood is exciting by itself, as there are plenty of comedy clubs, theaters, restaurants, coffee shops, museums, etc, that allow students to go out and mingle outside of a party, and lots of those opportunities are free. If you’re interested in getting out of Westwood for a day or night, the Big Blue Bus of Santa Monica offers a student discount, so you can get to essentially the best parts of town for 25 cents. We also have a pretty well-developed sense of tradition. Some highlights include the Beat ‘SC Week (I think it’s been changed officially to “Blue and Gold Week” for political correctness) and the culminating bonfire, which is a must for any sports fan. In addition, on the Wednesday of every finals week, thousands of students gather for the “Undie Run” across campus, which is exactly what it sounds like, in an attempt (usually successful) to blow off the steam from the pressure that builds up at the end of the quarter. The party scene, like many aspects of life here at UCLA, can take up as large or small a part of your life as you’d like. There’s no overt pressure to “go out” unless that’s a feature of your social circle, because while there’s no shortage of parties if you’re looking for them, there are just as many people who stay in the dorms on a Thursday night (typically the busiest night in the frat party circuit) and watch movies in the common room or play group video games. Again, it’s one of the perks of such a large school—regardless of your preference, there will be others who share it.

I guess some dumbass Korean Christian shit is pretty popular.. Maybe it's not. There is a lot of that goin' down on Bruinwalk though. I lived in sunset village when I was in dorms and that was pretty cool and I guess people left their doors bolted? Not always and they weren't wide open. But it was like a little community in B5 anyway so you could just knock and go hang out with someone. Athletic events are way popular and the people who attend them are broish and dumb as shit. Dating scene? I don't know about a SCENE. Since when is dating a SCENE? I met my closest friends in the dorms freshman year! Dance marathon happens each year and I don't give a fuck about it. Oh man how important are frats/sororities? Really important. Important in keeping sexism and inequality alive and healthy! It's really miserable that people buy into that shit. It really is a great way to encourage young men to think like date rapists (and act like them.. literally). Also the sorority girls are just being taught "their place", and how to impose that place upon other women as well. It makes me sick. It's still the weekend... I was in Las Vegas! Normally I don't drink on a saturday night though- I study/play video games/have a ton of hot sex (drunk sex is terrible)... you know.

Social life in the dorms vary according to where you live. If you live in the Halls, you tend to have more contact with your fellow floor mates, as you are forced to shower with them, pee with them and have bowel movements with them on a daily basis. Yes, they must share public bathrooms. If you live in a suite, you get your own private bathroom, so such poignant experiences are regrettably not possible. Most of the time though, the doors in the Halls or the Suites are open, (the halls, more often than in the suites, mind you) and facilitate and welcome socialization. Many times, students just hang out in the corridors or the floor lounge, which is technically for studying, but turns more into a common room of sorts. Sometimes, one room on the floor is informally designated as the "social room," possibly becuase of their T.V, xbox 360 elite, wii and playstation. Floors frequently go out on outings together (ours went to Pink's Hot Dog in Hollywood - I got the Ozzie Osbourne dog - it is amazing, you should try it with onion rings) or arrange other activities to do together; movie nights, karaoke nights and the like. Your sleeping schedule generally becomes extremely irregular during your stay at the dorms. People stay awake till dawn doing absolutely nothing, and becuase of this, you inevitably end up staying up till dawn doing absolutely nothing. It is rather hard to sleep when you hear other people chatting right outside your room eating pizza, and the walls are very thin. UCLA also invites many musicians, actors and speakers/comedians to come perform at Royce Hall, and students can obtain tickets to these events for a really good price. Ian McKellen came to play King Lear here, Tom Cruise came to speak, Joshua Bell came to play his violin as well as many others. Bill Clinton also came for a big event here, which was of course, open to all students. The students themselves also put on many really good performances. The Opera group once did Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica which was thoroughly entertaining, even to my friends, who stated that "opera is not my cup of tea." Once you leave the dorms though you must make your own social life happen and this can include more than getting drunk at a random apartment on a Thursday night. Like I mentioned before, there is plenty to do in LA, and you can go watch and Opera (I enjoy opera. Maybe you noticed?), go to the theatre and watch a musical (Wicked, is really good) or take a drive down the Sunset strip. Also one can go to Santa Monica during the weekends to go shopping or do hang out on the beach or the pier.

UCLA has a ton of clubs and organizations for students to join. Being politically active is quite popular, and even the Republican minority at UCLA is extremely visible. One of the best things about UCLA is its ability to draw an amazing array of guest speakers and interest from people outside the UCLA community. UCLA students see a plethora of famous people, from movie stars, to politicians to authors come to campus and speak. Due to its location in Los Angeles, UCLA gets tons of free sneak peak movies, as well as the actual movie premiers in Westwood which provides a great oppurtunity for star watching as well as a chance to attend the premier. Perhaps one of the strangest things about UCLA is the celebrity presence- Adam Sandler plays basketball in our gym, how much closer can they get? The highrise dorms at UCLA are perhaps the greatest way to meet a variety of people with interests of all kinds. 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of my friends this year are friends I met on my floor as a freshman. The dorms do an amazing job of getting people involved, from floor government to karaoke parties to gingerbread house making, there is something for everyone. The dorms are a great place to bond with people just by sitting in their room and chatting, and many activities are just sit back and relax. Nintendo is a favorite pastime of my friends, as well as board games and beer pong. Greek life is only important if you want it to be important. While i chose not to join a sorority, I still attend frat parties at my leisure. Dating is not impossibly if you're not into the Greek life, in fact, most people tend to meet significant others through their friends! Dating doesn’t usually happen per se, rather just general hanging out, with the occasional date for a special occasions. There are tons of on campus activities that couples can do together (such as go to an Ackerman $2 movie). Weekends are filled with anything from going to beach, going shopping in Santa Monica, or just going to the On-Campus Sunset Recreation center to swim or play some volleyball. At night, a trip to get cookies from Diddy Reise in Westwood or playing Pictionary is the perfect way to hang out after a rough week. UCLA has tons of on-campus theatre production, both student run and professional. Additionally, museums, such as the Fowler or the Getty are great afternoon places to check out.