University of California-Los Angeles Top Questions

Knowledge is power. That is my family’s motto, but I never really took it serious in high school I just settled for ok work and ok grades. Until I was in 11th grade and was faced with the decision on what to do with the rest of my life. I had a lot ides in my head but it wasn’t guaranteed that they would come true. My family’s motto came to mind and I really thought about what the motto actually meant. Is knowledge really power? Everyone says, “The mind is a terrible thing to waste” and maybe if you push yourself and your mind you intellect will open the doors for your success. When high school ends it is a very scary thing, it feels like your childhood is over and the responsibility of what your life will consist of weighs heavily on your shoulders. Since knowledge is power it was only right for me to go to college and do the best I can do. Knowledge is my power and I am getting stronger every minute.

If I could go back in time when I was a high school student and give my self college advice I would tell my self to begin acquiring better study habits because although things in class seem easy, tests are not as easy. I would tell my self to apply for more scholarships while in high school because it will help me in the future because having to worry about money while trying to focus in studying makes things more complicated. I would also tell my self to not be shy or scared to join new clubs or activities in school because at the end those are the things that help you relief stress from all the class work that is given in college. I would tell me self to get in the habit of excersising from the first day of college because trying to get back into that habit half way through the year is not as easy as people think. THe last advice I would give my self would be to go out and have fun when the time permits since this is my first year in college and I should have fun.

Keep a positive attitude. You will need this everywhere you go in the world. There are those who will discourage you from doing whatever you want to do for the sake of seeing you fail. There are even those who think this negativity helps you succeed. However, just think about the last time you were running up that long hill in Cross Country, and you will see that by keeping your mind focused and fresh, you were able to complete the race and do your personal best. Be flexible. Whatever's in the way may be the way. Sometimes, things get into our way of getting whatever it is we want/need. Just use them to your advantage the best that you can. It may seem like students may not understand your low-income backgrond, and that this gives you disadvantages in every aspect of life. However, there are plenty of ways to seek help, and in doing that, perhaps you will learn valuable lessons about people, community and preserverence. UCLA coach John Wooden once said, "whoever doesn't plan is planning to fail". So plan, try, fail, plan, and try again, each time growing as a person.

If I could go back in time to talk to my high school self, I would have three words of advice. First, I would make sure that I hammered into my head the importance of getitng the ball rolling early. College admission and scholarship apllications are long processes and need to be handled early. Second, I would stress the importance of staying ahead of homework and reading. Falling behind or evn not doing the reading at all has not worked out too well. Last, I would tell myself to not stress out so much about the money. with all of the grants and scholarships out there, it is not impossible to put together a decent amount of money for your tutition.

Spend time thinking about what you want to major in so you can avoid taking classes you won't need later on. Make sure to be really friendly because you never know when you might need someone's notes for class when you're sick. Don't drink or smoke, this is California, so there's plenty of fun things to do besides getting wasted.

The first thing I would tell myself is to not let anything, especially grades, get in the way of your learning. Just because that microbiology class is an easy A or has an easy professor does not mean you should take it. You should take classes based on what will hold your interest and expand your intellectual horizons, not what will boost your GPA so you can get honors at graduation. The second thing I would say is to join a variety of clubs as soon as possible. Joining a few clubs at the beginning of the year would have made making friends a lot easier. It also would have prevented many dull nights you spent in your room not doing anything. Plus it would've exposed you to a great deal of new experiences that you haven't thought about before. Finally, I would advise myself to just enjoy college and not to worry too much about getting out quickly or what the job market is like. Yes, those things are important, but thinking about those things too much will just serve to lessen my enjoyment of the college experience.

I would tell myself first that I made the right decision going to UCLA. The second thing I will tell myself is to really try and study my best to understand the material better. Because learning is a fundamental fact of college life that requires time and effort to succeed in the classroom. The third thing I would tell myself is to get to know the professors because they themselves have viable knowledge in assisting in writing or the material in general. So far these are the things I would tell myself if I could return back in time, but most importantly at least I learned from my mistakes.

The advice that I would give myself would be to work harder on my SAT. I would advise myself to take an SAT prep course class becuase your SAT score and SAT 2 are the most important factors in what college you get into. I would recommend that I get more involved with my highschool, such as running for a studen body position. That way I would not only get leadership expereince but also be involved in the school. Last but certainkly not least, I would advice myself to be more open to people. Originally when I was in high school I stuck to the same groups of friends and now that I am in college, I find it increasingly difficult to make new freinds. So if I were to go bacj in time, I would advice myself to be more open to receiveing people, and to not be afraid of putting yourself out there.

Growing up in a suburb of San Francisco, I was a really big fish in a very small pond. School, athletics, family, and social life all came easily for me. When I was leaving to go to college, I had no doubt in my mind that I would continue to accel in every aspect of my life and that it would not be any harder to do at UCLA then it was at Carlmont High School. However, once I got to school, every other student in my courses were also the top of their class. They were just like me, student body president, star athlete, and valedictorian. Suddenly I realized all my past accomplishments meant very little. I could no longer base by self-worth on my successful endeavors of my past; I needed to embrace my uniqueness, find myself, and learn to treasure what aspects of my personality makes me a great individual. I learned that those past successes gave me the opportunity to attend this prestigious university and start my adult life with a blank slate. I had four years to jumpstart my life in the correct direction and learn to love myself in the process.

Many go to college in search of a career. While attending UCLA did lead to greater professional prospects, it offered something much more valuable: the opportunity to become a well-rounded person. Through my college experience, I gained not only the academic but the personal wisdom necessary for success. This wisdom was achieved through my scholastic, social, and internal experiences while at UCLA. My coursework taught me to think critically and intelligently about life and society, while a rigorous academic environment helped strengthen my work ethic. The extracurricular activities in which I participated lead me to adopt new interests, learn about diverse cultures, and gain compassion for various social causes. Encounters with people on campus, from professors to roommates, opened my eyes to new ways of thinking and communicating, and lead to life-long friendships and connections with some of the best and brightest in the country. Lastly, learning to live independently and productively contributed to personal discoveries that would otherwise not have been made. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCLA with a baccalaureate in psychology, but the greatest reward I received was gaining life experience amongst wonderful influences that contributed to my becoming a well-rounded human being.