<p>Not sure if its too personal but…how did you do in high school? More background info before you got into ucr would be nice.</p>
<p>hellooo123: Sure I’m an open book. I don’t mind.</p>
<p>In high school I was pretty lazy. I was far more concerned with having fun than getting into college. I ditched class a lot (I was a second strike “habitual truant”), and ended my 4 years with like a 3.6 weighted I believe. I’m not sure I ever studied once for any class throughout all of high school. Seriously. When I got to college, I literally had to learn how to study. My class schedule wasn’t that rigorous and I only took two AP classes (APUSH and Psych). I didn’t study for (or even try all that hard for) the SATs and got a 1900 when I applied (side-note: I retook the SAT’s in college to improve my chances of transferring to selective private schools and got a 2260). My SAT II scores were super low (again, I didn’t study).</p>
<p>One thing that I think really held me back from doing well in high school was sleep. I NEVER had enough sleep. I have mild insomnia, and I can never get myself to go to sleep early enough to get 8 hours if I have to be up at 6:30. However, since I got to college, I can schedule my classes later in the day to ensure I get a full night’s sleep. This has made a significant difference in my ability to focus and do well. </p>
<p>Anyways, despite my mediocre stats, I was pretty confident in my intelligence/ability and felt that if I put my mind to it I could transfer into somewhere great.</p>
<p>Not too sure if this is too personal as well but… how did you manage to get such high gpa to get into UCLA? (For example, how did you study, how long did you sleep at night and take a nap in the afternoon, and how much did you exercise, etc…?)</p>
<p>Hey GradSchool…definitely not too personal. Well it wasn’t incredibly easy, especially in an engineering college major. At the point of transferring I had a 3.96.</p>
<p>I had a few things going for me:
A) Confidence
B) Motivation</p>
<p>As in, I was confident in my intelligence and ability (I do think confidence makes a difference), and I reaaaally wanted to transfer so I stayed motivated. I wasn’t like a studying machine though. I actually partied about once a week and still had time to play basketball and video games and watch tv. Here’s my advice (and what I did):</p>
<p>1) At the beginning of each quarter/semester, print out all class syllabuses and put them in a binder. Make sure you understand the grading scale of each class.
2) Make connections in all your classes. Use them. Study groups help A LOT.
3) Study on your own…study groups are great for clarifying things, but you need to be prepared ahead of time to get the max benefit.
3) Keep on top of my work as much as you can (don’t miss ANY hw)
4) Don’t miss any lectures. When you start missing classes, not only do you not hear the material but you also get increasingly stressed out since you feel like you’re behind. For me, this feeling makes me even MORE likely to procrastinate. Not a good feeling.
4) Study like freaking hell when it comes to midterm/finals</p>
<p>For your specific questions:
How did I study? That really varies based on the class. Read the book ahead of time, pay attention in class, do the homework and make sure I understand everything. How long did I sleep at night? Depends on the night. I wasn’t so overloaded with studying that I couldn’t get a full night’s sleep or anything, though. I’d recommend always getting a full night’s sleep if possible: the benefits of a good sleep are almost always going to exceed the benefits of extra studying, in my opinion. My exercise regime varied. Freshman year I exercised a bunch, sophomore year not so much. I like to exercise though, don’t get me wrong, since I think it helps you relieve stress and clear your mind.</p>
<p>That’s very nice. I’m assuming you’re a third or fourth year right? So, are you currently looking for an internship or currently have an internship? If you do, how did you get an internship?</p>
<p>Yeah I’m a 3rd year. I got an internship for Qualcomm this next summer. How did I get it? Literally, they just called me and asked if I wanted to interview and then I went and interviewed and they gave me the internship. I guess the head of the computer science department had my resume (though for the LIFE of me I can’t remember why) and Qualcomm asked for good candidates and they gave them my resume. </p>
<p>My case is atypical though…just go to all the career fair events and all that and send applications.</p>
<p>Congratulations on obtaining an internship! I have one more question about an internship though. I’m about to get an internship soon, but I’m kinda worried about the interview because I have never really interviewed before. So, where do students usually go to interview? Also, what kind of questions do they ask? Are they not going to give me an internship if I say something wrong?</p>
<p>What kind of internship? What’s your major? This will make a big difference in what kind of questions they ask.</p>
<p>I’m getting an engineering internship from LSI Logic Corporation. My major is Computer Science and Business Administrations.</p>
<p>Ah, my internship was for computer science. You should be prepared for tricky, technical questions based on your major. My interview was very high pressure and tough. I felt like I got all the problems he asked wrong, nonetheless I got the internship so I reckon everyone does sorta bad.
You should also expect questions such as “tell me about some projects you’ve worked on” or “tell me about your experience working on a team”.</p>
<p>so how did you answer to those questions?</p>
<p>I have a question about the lectures. Do you usually take notes about what professors are lecturing? or do you just sit there and listen? I usually sit there and listen because I can’t really listen to what professors are saying while I take notes.</p>
<p>GradSchool: As best as I could? haha. I told them what I knew, what I didn’t know, and explaine my thought processes along the way.</p>
<p>Linoch: I take a small amount of notes. With no notes, I feel like I didn’t remember the important stuff from the lecture, and with too many notes I feel like I missed details.</p>
<p>hey arcadefire1027, who were your professors for PHIL001, MATH011, and ENGL1A?</p>
<p>one more. when you read ahead before you go to lectures, do you take notes while reading?</p>
<p>linoch: I don’t remember what professors I had. It would be best to take notes on readings before lectures, though oftentimes I am lazy and don’t do that (or even read it for that matter). I think it’s pretty obvious that note taking is ideal though.</p>
<p>are you handling the ucla coursework well?
anything you recommend to people who may have you follow your path? things you wish you knew, etc? :)</p>
<p>JelloBiafra: Yeah I’m doing alright with the UCLA coursework. I wouldn’t say the classes are “harder”, but the curves are obviously not as generous. My first quarter I ended up with my lowest grades yet (B, B+, and an A) though I mostly attribute this to being very busy. In addition to school, I also took on a research position and acted in a play. I dropped doing plays, so I expect to get better grades this quarter.</p>
<p>Hmm…recommendations. Well, for one, it would be great to realize your major right from the get-go if you’re planning to transfer. I didn’t decide on computer science until the final quarter of my first year, and thus had to plan ALL my transfer requirements for the following year. That was an incredibly difficult and stressful year. </p>
<p>I may also recommend going to a community college instead, though my feelings are mixed.<br>
Pros for community college:
It will be easier to get the necessary GPA to transfer
The transfer acceptance rates are higher…although I was accepted into both Cal and LA as a UC transfer, keep in mind my GPA was near perfect in very tough classes.<br>
Cheaper</p>
<p>Pros for UC:
You’ll be more prepared for UC level coursework (I’ve taken classes at community college and the difficulty difference is substantial)
Your GPA transfers over (believe me, it’s great having my UCLA GPA be in Summa Cum Laude range)</p>
<p>Hey, i was wondering if you finished all your GE’s for UCR or for UCLA/UCB/the other universities. Like on the “Degree Check” on GROWL, did you finish all of those? or did you throw it all in the dust and just follow a set of requirements that the other UCs wanted. I really want to transfer out of UCR because of all of the reasons you mentioned. Everyone around me feels unmotivated and I came out of high school believing I could get into a “better” school.
Thank you for making this thread, it really helped.</p>
<p>I didn’t finish my GE’s because I was an engineering college transfer. I believe in other colleges you might have to in order to transfer…I’m not sure so you should definitely research into that.</p>