I’m a current first year (premed) student at UCLA:) Feel free to pm or ask any questions about the first year experience at UCLA! Congrats for being accepted:) I was in your shoes last year, so I know how exciting and scary it is when deciding which college to attend! go bruins ~
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My daughter was just accepted. We are recent transplants to the west coast and I know very little about UCLA. Is the campus safe? Are there any safety concerns about being in LA? Sorry, I just hear all these horror stories about LA, and I don’t know what’s true and what’s not.
@yongxiu LA is a very large city, so you’ll definitely have rougher neighborhoods, but don’t worry about UCLA! UCLA is next to Westwood and Bel Air, so you are in a safer neighborhood. Unlike other LA campuses, you won’t have to worry about walking at night. Plus, there are many “safety” resources! I’ve used the campus shuttle, which gives rides to students at nights to anywhere in Westwood/campus so you don’t have to walk alone. Or, there are campus escorts to walk you back if you don’t want to walk alone. However, there’s always students walking alone, so I wouldn’t worry about safety. Congrats on your daughter being accepted!
@yongxiu Students walk around on the streets of Gayley and strathmore at 2-3am in the morning and it’s perfectly safe. Westwood is one of the safest places for a college to be in unlike the other school across town 
I will echo the others and say that UCLA is a very safe place. But you also need to be smart and not do things like walking around by yourself when it’s 2:00am. As long as you follow the rules of common sense and utilize the buddy system, you’re more than ok.
What’s it like being a pre-med at UCLA? I am also from out of state, so would it be worth it to go there?
is there any way to cut the cost as an oos student? i really want to go to ucla, but i am concerned whether or not it is worth the money in the long run. can anyone vouch for it being worth it?
how tough is pre-med? also…is bruin day really worth going? I have something semi-important that day but I also don’t want to miss bruin day if there is a lot going on.
@helpmegetinlol i would go to bruin day. i know nothing, but from what ive seen it looks worth the while.
Definitely go to Bruin day. For many students it is what convinced them to SIR!
@nerdy512 I did not apply to any East Coast colleges, so I can’t really compare between those and UCLA, but what I can tell you is that 1) I’ve met SO many people who are premed here, and that’s an indication already that UCLA prepares you well/has the resources if that many students decided to come here for premed! However, that does mean that you’re in a sense competing with others for the same positions, but there’s so many opportunities that you really shouldn’t worry! 2) the hospital is literally a 10 minute walk from the dorms, so volunteering/being involved with healthcare here is very accessible! plus you’re in LA meaning that there’s tons of hospitals, research institutes, healthcare internships, health fairs, etc so opportunities are plentiful
@helpmegetinlol I wouldn’t say premed is exactly easier anywhere, but from the lower divs I’ve taken (so far), you aren’t competing with others for that A. Everything is based on you and you only! The ones I’ve taken, curves are meant to help you, not hurt you. So your “raw” score is the minimum grade you’ll earn, meaning that you shouldn’t worry about having to compete:) Also there’s a lot of volunteering programs/ healthcare clubs because you’re in a very urban location so premeds thrive here in the sense that you can always find something to do. Also, Bruin Day is really helpful if you’re on the border between that and another school because you get to talk with students/faculty and see what life might be like here on campus. I committed after going to bruin day, along with a lot of others! I would highly recommend going, but obviously if you have other important commitments, that’s life haha
@neuroman I’m not OOS, but I do know that UCLA unfortunately does not give much financial aid to OOS:( However, there are plenty of scholarships through the alumni program/regents/honors plus tons of other scholarships in your community. I’m not sure what you mean by “worth it” because it’s hard to compare schools, but I can tell you that UCLA has 1) amazing food 2) tons of sports outings 3) great academics/prestige 4) central/safe location 5) plentiful opportunities for research/internships/jobs 6) beautiful location 
Again, it depends what field you’re interested in and what you’re looking in for a college, but I love it here
@ucla2021 thanks so much. i mean worth it as in is it worth it to spend a quarter of a million dollars in terms of post graduate job placement, salary, etc. I want to do well right out of college and was wondering if UCLA can give me ample opportunity to due that.
@ucla2021 i do not want to be in debt after ucla
What other schools are you considering? And what field are you interested in? @neuroman
@ucla2021 so far i have gotten into fsu, uga, uf, and waiting to hear back from some other schools (ivies and others). major is biology but idk what i want to do. maybe go oremed or maybe some other business job such as medical sales rep. really not sure. i want to go to ucla, i just need to see if i can financially. also far from home. brw thx for all the help! really appreciate it!
Are the classes difficult or crowded? My GPA puts me in the bottom 3% of the class (3.7-3.8 UC GPA w/ 1540 SAT) and I’m concerned I would find the courses too hard to even graduate! I also want to do graduate or professional school so I don’t want to graduate with a terrible GPA either. I did take a lot of APs, but didn’t do that well in them. (All B’s in my AP classes junior year.) Do you know anyone in UCLA with similar stats? Also, how easy was it to find a friend group?
I have so many questions and my parents can’t send me to Bruin Day so I’ll have to ask them online lol
I already know I want to go to UCLA thought, so is Bruin Day still necessary. This sounds stupid, but I have Coachella that weekend and it would be kind of a waste of money
Oh, and is it expensive to have a social life? Like do people expect you to eat out or go to parties?