<p>hi, everyone. i'm a senior right now trying to narrow down my college choices to the ones i really honestly think i could see myself attending.</p>
<p>so while i am interested in ucla, i was wondering you guys could give me a completely honest portrait of what it's like to be a student there.</p>
<p>maybe you could answer the following questions?</p>
<p>1.) what are the classes like? hard? fairly easy? interesting? lectures? small, discussion-based? etc.
2.) i want to be a movie editor/producer/filmmaker. i hear that ucla's film department has gotten really bad over the years. can anyone attest to the validity of this?
3.) i'm a bi guy, and i know ucla is gay-friendly, but are there plenty of bi guys/girls too? i want to make sure i fit in and everything. also, i generally get along better friend-wise with straight or bi guys than gay guys. i do have gay friends though, but i want to be able to have all different kinds of friends, gay, straight, bi. are all orientations well-represented at ucla?
4.) what do people generally do for fun at ucla? i'm interested in joining a lot of student clubs. but i don't like drinking or doing drugs. are clubs big ways of socializing? how prevalent is drinking/drugs?
5.) what's it like to go to such a big school? do you really just feel like "one of the many numbers"? does administration not help you out much at all?</p>
<p>and any other info about what it's REALLY like to be at ucla would be really helpful. </p>
<p>like is there any certain criteria i NEED to fit to be happy at ucla? (for instance, it's a lot better to be liberal at brown than republican.) does anything like this apply to ucla? thanks a lot guys!</p>
<ol>
<li> Varies from professor to professor, major to major, subject to subject.</li>
<li> I’m a comp sci major, so I’ve got no info on this.</li>
<li> UCLA is very diverse; if you’re looking for a group of similar people as you you’ll definitely find one.</li>
<li> People do a lot of stuff. If you can name it, there are probably people who do that for fun. Not in any clubs really, so I can’t answer the 2nd question. You’ll encounter alcohol/drugs wherever you go (unless it is Brigham Young or something). It isn’t too much of a problem here.</li>
<li> There are a lot of people. You get whatever experience you want from it. If you want to be another number, you can be another number. If you want to be unique, you can be unique. Simple as that.</li>
</ol>
<p>There’s no criteria for being happy anywhere. There are probably people who could pull off being happy while burning in hell. Make what you will of your life.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman at UCLA and honestly, the school is really big. There really is something for everyone one and I would say there is so much going on here all at the same time that you’ll go crazy trying to figure out what to do. This really is a big school and that saying ‘you can make a big school small but you can’t make a small school big’ really is true. I have already found an organization that really makes me feel like it’s a small family of people, yet at the same time I can meet new people on my way to class. You’ll see people you’ve met on a hourly basis as you walk around campus and hang out at popular spots.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The classes really just depend. Usually you’ll have around 200 kids in a lecture, and you’ll be put in a discussion group with around 20 people. </p></li>
<li><p>No idea. I think it’s still pretty competitive. </p></li>
<li><p>Plenty of gays, bis, homophobes, etc. It’s just really varied. You’ll find friends no matter what you identify yourself as. </p></li>
<li><p>Lots of people party, even more people don’t. You’re definitely not in the minority if you choose not to drink or do drugs. </p></li>
<li><p>It’s not as bad as people make it out to be. The TAs and professors are really accessible if you email them or stop by during office hours, and UCLA really tries to be student-friendly by offering counseling services, educational programs, etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1.) Like rage said, it varies. Some classes/majors, you can barely study and pull off As, while others (engineering/chem/Ravetch-taught classes) will require a boatload of studying just to stay afloat.
2.) It’s foolish to say that UCLA film school has gotten bad, it just hasnt progressed as much as the other top schools. It is, however, extremely exclusive, as there are only 30 students admit into the program (15 directly from UCLA. 15 transfer)
3.) Southern California is pretty liberal in general, and UCLA is pretty accepting. It’s a large school. so it’s common to find people of all orientations.
4.) I think drinking/drug use is prevalent in all colleges outside of Utah. But since UCLA is such a huge school, you can pretty much find a club or organization that appeals to your interests. And if you somehow can’t find one that fits you (near impossible) you can easily start your own.
5.) at times, you will feel like a number. This is especially true your first year or two, as you take large intro classes. most intro classes are graded on a strict curve, so you will often fell like “oh, i need to rank higher than N number of people” I think it may be discouraging to a lot of people, which is why its important to join clubs your first year. After awhile, class sizes dwindle down and you can enjoy those wonderful ly small student to faculty ratios</p>
<p>agree with the above. if you’re the type that needs small classes, discussions won’t do justice like i feel they would at a smaller private school. discussions shouldn’t be “review.” so far all my discussions have been just repeat of lecture and/or asking questions about material in lecture that a student didn’t understand.
maybe because i transferred in from a mix of schools, including one private, i am comparing ucla to my past experiences. I took for granted my experience at the private school Even at a community college level, my classes have been smaller. the whole podcast lectures, make it extremely easy to not attend class, which should be a plus for some.</p>
<p>Last question: yea You need to have a positive attitude, open-minded perspective, and more importantly, to be active/outgoing to make the most of what ucla has to offer.</p>