<p>Hi, Just wanted to know who's out there. :)
Tell us what year you are in and how you came to choose your major(s)/minor(s)/concentration/future plans (mention what they are!). Did you come in as undeclared? Did you change majors? How's college treating you?</p>
<p>And anything else you'd like to mention. Favorite food/place at UCLA? You are allowed to be random, encouraged even.</p>
<p>Going into my 3rd year here. I came to choose Computer Science as my major because I enjoy using programming languages for problem solving and creating my own games, with Economics as my minor because I'm interested in learning my way around savings and investment. I didn't come in undeclared because it's a no-brainer - everyone has to declare a major and stick with it when he/she enters the School of Engineering. I plan on going to grad school within the UC system for my MS before I get into the workplace, but my parents want me to get some work experience under my belt first instead. Favorite place at UCLA is Powell Library because the atmosphere created by the indoor architecture helps me focus on studying. I also hang around the arcade in Ackerman a lot.</p>
<p>lol yaaa arcade is cool. btw during orientation u get free use of the arcade in Ackerman... so enjoy that.</p>
<p>come to think of it i've never been inside Powell...only seen it from the outside, and it's beautiful. i'm sure it's amazing inside.</p>
<p>"I didn't come in undeclared because it's a no-brainer - everyone has to declare a major and stick with it when he/she enters the School of Engineering."</p>
<p>really? im a 09'er and i came in/admitted as electrical engineer but i was definitely thinking i would change to either mechanical or aerospace later... is that really gonna be a problem?</p>
<p>It's problematic to change majors as an engineer, depending on your GPA for the classes you've taken so far, the impactedness of the major you want and the validity your reason for changing majors.</p>
<p>Changing from electrical to mech or aerospace would be easy since they aren't impacted while electrical is impacted.</p>
<p>Impacted to less impacted (Easy to do)</p>
<p>Not as impacted to impacted (hard to do)</p>
<p>yes its pretty easy to change major from impacted one in engineering to less impacted, like Aero or a major in L&S. Besides, Engineering first year is almost identical for all.</p>
<p>gracias 10chars</p>
<p>do students bring laptops to classes?</p>
<p>^ nope - or at least, very very few do.</p>
<p>I thought there was no such thing as an economics minor atleast that's what my poli sci counselor told me. How do you go about doing a minor in econ if possible?</p>
<p>"Tell us what year you are in and how you came to choose your major(s)/minor(s)/concentration/future plans (mention what they are!). Did you come in as undeclared?"</p>
<p>Hi, I'm going to be a 2nd year at UCLA. I entered as pre-political science but I'm not set on that yet. We'll see after this upcoming fall quarter where I'll be taking all poli sci classes. The new Global Studies minor and the top-notch Education minor are two minors that I want to pick up. I tried out some other classes for other majors (i.e. psychology, economics) but after taking a class in Global Studies and two classes in Education, I can just feel a difference in my interest for the material. Hopefully I'll get that same feeling from poli sci. Don't know what I want to do yet, but I have some general fields in mind, including law, business, international relations, education, government, or maybe a combination of the above. I plan on getting some type of post-undergrad degree though and I'll probably do something more demanding or exciting while I'm still young. My ideal job would be being the UN Secretary General. I would want to be a teacher later in my life however. I like teaching, I liked how I was able to be highly involved in multiple extracurriculars while in high school (band, tennis, MUN), and I love college admissions counseling! That's why I still frequent these boards! </p>
<p>"How's college treating you?"</p>
<p>Well, I'll recap my freshman year for all the incoming freshmen. Fall was fun, I was in the UCLA Marching Band and got to go to all the Rose Bowl games. Seriously, if you're going to be a UCLA student, you HAVE to go to a sporting event, preferably football or basketball. It is a waste to come to a big sports school and not even care about it. Have some school pride! The saddest thing is when a student doesn't even know how to do the 8-clap! One of the reasons why I chose UCLA was because as a child, I grew up watching UCLA sports. The basketball team was good and believe it or not, UCLA's football team was good and was much better than USC's when I was growing up. Winter quarter I decided to pledge for a fraternity, but I found out that wasn't my thing so I depledged (and saved my GPA too... although it was still below the UCLA average). Spring I did much better, was happy with the classes that I actually enjoyed, and earned something that I had not earned since the first semester of my freshman year in high school... let's just say a really good GPA. I've learned that you'll do much better studying a subject that you really enjoy. You're an adult now, choose what you want to do and not necessarily what others want you to study. In between all this I was highly involved on campus and met a plethora of friends through the many activities that I was involved in. Many of them also didn't believe me when I told them that I was a freshman, haha, especially in my upper-div Education class that was full of seniors (I was the ONLY freshman!). Although I will not be returning to the UCLA Marching Band, I still will be doing MUN (I'm an officer there) and some other clubs (those who have my facebook can see what I'm involved in). So perhaps I'll meet you somewhere =)</p>
<p>"And anything else you'd like to mention. Favorite food/place at UCLA? You are allowed to be random, encouraged even."</p>
<p>Um, I'm one of the few that prefer Covel over De Neve (on most days). But I'm also mainstream cuz I love Panda Express and Bruin Cafe. </p>
<p>Hmm... here's a random story. So from what I remember, fall quarter I sometimes stepped on the 6th step at Janss Steps and got an average GPA. Winter quarter I skipped the 6th step and got a bad GPA. Spring quarter I stepped on the 6th step and got a good GPA. Go figure. (I'm not superstitious, I promise; it's those orientation counselors' fault!)</p>
<p>Umm wasnt that 6th step story false?</p>
<p>The Economics minor is only available to Computer Science majors, and it's not a true minor, but rather fulfills my "technical support group" cluster of upper-division non-CS classes that every straight-CS major has to take. I call it a minor because it's just as many courses as one, and saves me time in explaining.</p>
<p>So that makes a grand total of 2 students. I thought there were way more students than that :P, but you should feel special. Make CC your getaway from the crowds..</p>
<p>flopsy: You create your own games? Describe some.
I guess you would have the high score? Well, then I must make a visit to Powell Library, thanks for the responses.</p>
<p>kfc4u: You're going to be a 2nd year? I thought you were at least an upperclassmen, esp with all your advice. You must be into college (admissions )counseling, from what I've read from your posts all over CC. I'm interested in the Education minor too. Best wishes on your future plans. Oh yeah, I'll definitely see some games. Lol @ your random story. Maybe you should run up the steps, skip some every so often,ignore counting while you're at it. Then you can't tell if you skipped it or not.</p>
<p>"Umm wasnt that 6th step story false?"</p>
<p>It is but I just tried it out anyway. </p>
<p>"You're going to be a 2nd year? I thought you were at least an upperclassmen, esp with all your advice. "</p>
<p>Haha, well, almost everyone thought I was a 2nd year. Most of the freshmen in the hall initially didn't want to hang out with me cuz they thought I was a 2nd year. When I took my first upper-div Education class with all those seniors, most of them thought I was either a junior or senior. I guess it's cuz I'm outspoken in (some) classes, and it's because I have a lot of initiative and try to learn as much as I can. I DIDN'T want to be one of those typical freshmen who gets lost on the first day of class. One advice to ALL incoming freshmen: everything's available to you at UCLA, you just need to take the initiative to find it! </p>
<p>"You must be into college (admissions )counseling, from what I've read from your posts all over CC."</p>
<p>Believe it or not, I DIDN'T know about CC when I was applying to college. I was very clueless... I didn't apply to UCSD cuz I had never heard of it at the time. My list of schools ranged from a Cal State to Ivy League... I know, quite the contrast, especially with me loading up on safeties despite having ELC cuz I didn't know what I was doing. I guess not knowing about CC kept me more true to myself and not being a prestige whore like some are here in CC. And I guess I'm here now to give others advice that I never had. </p>
<p>"I'm interested in the Education minor too."</p>
<p>Great! The Education minor is taught by faculty from the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, which is ranked #2 in graduate education by US News (only below Harvard). Classes are relatively easy... but it's also difficult to get admitted into the minor (I haven't been officially admitted yet... they usually admit real upperclassmen only haha). I actually took a class on "high school advising" (it was more like analyzing the factors that prevent students of low socioeconomic background from attending college), but my prof got her PhD from Stanford and has worked in Stanford admissions, and the 3 TA's have worked in Stanford medical admissions, Berkeley admissions, and Occidental admissions (good variety of perspectives). They brought in several good researchers as well as admissions officers from other schools too (UCSD, SMC, Occidental), and the class had a very good reading list. I think it'd be something CC'ers would enjoy reading. </p>
<p>One class I recommend ALL FRESHMEN to take is Education 92F - Undergraduate Academic Success. It's taught by Bruce Barbee (he might've talked at your orientation) during the winter quarter, it's only 2 units, it's an easy A, and I think you might learn something from it.</p>
<p>"everything's available to you at UCLA, you just need to take the initiative to find it!"</p>
<p>good advice. keyword is initiative. =)</p>
<p>Right now I'm working with some ACM friends on implementing a Java-based platformer that simulates student life at UCLA. We've got about seven levels completed (out of ten) and should be demo-ing the game by the time Fall Quarter rolls around.</p>
<p>lol is there a beta for this? =)</p>