<p>Hi.
I graduated from UCLA Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa Honors and am currently going to attend a top 20 law school. I wanted to share my experience and answer any questions you may have. I hope it is instructive on how (in or not) life does not hinge on single admissions decision.</p>
<p>I nearly dropped out of high school due to family strife. I entered junior year of high school with a 3.9 unweighted GPA and graduated with a 2.5. I was so disgusted with myself I didn't even send my second semester transcripts to the UC's that requested it before accepting me. Instead, I forged ahead onto my excellent local community college, where I researched every day what programs they had to offer for transferring. I was dead-set on transferring into UCLA. I discovered they had the Transfer Alliance Program with UCLA giving students an 80% chance of getting admitted provided you maintain a 3.5 GPA in their Honors program. It may sound easy compared to high school, but it was one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. The majority of the Honors Professors were retired Stanford Professors who simply wanted to stop researching and just teach. Instead of decreasing their standards for community college students they would extend office hours to demand equivalent Stanford work. Instead of turning in garbage they made you spend the extra 10-20 hours per paper getting it right. I managed to barely graduate from my community college with a 3.459 - just barely qualifying me for the program. And I did get into UCLA.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story, getting in does not mean you are set for life or that things will get easier. The reality is UCLA and other universities are just tools. Tools you wield to accomplish your goals, whatever you decide them to be. A top university degree is meaningless without goals or actions. Its just a fancy expensive piece of paper. If you don't know what your goals are right away, don't worry. UCLA was large enough and had enough opportunities to help students understand and develop their goals. I decided to work for public interest law and help people. So good luck everyone and please remember that not getting admitted is not the end!</p>
<p>Holy s.h. to the i.t, I have like the same exact story lol, well almost. Except that i was barely able to graduate from high school (got into a lot of personal problems with my family and the law during my junior and senior year) because my teachers were kind enough to give me C’s so that i could have enough units to graduate. In other words I was a huge wreck in high school but then community college gave me a second chance at academics. I knew that if I wanted to ■■■■ of my low-life situation, I needed to study to get out of it and have a goal. But long story short, I have no idea how the hell i ended up at a university. because about 2 yrs ago, i don’t think none of this would be possible.</p>
<p>But anyways, you inspire me man. For all of us who didn’t get the opportunities to study in high school and grasp that second chance to the make the most out of it. I hope u do maintain your momentum of success and enjoy a bright future.</p>
<p>O yeah, and going to community college vs. university, or ucla vs. x university, don’t mean ****, cuz as long as you want something bad enough, that 's what matters in the end.</p>
<p>I loved my time at UCLA. I attempted a frat for 6 weeks(discovered the lifestyle was not for me), worked big time for a certain large political campaign that elected the current sitting president, partook in Lobbying legislators on behalf of student needs, participated and partook in Model UN. Met the love of my life. Met like-minded and had difficult but amazing conversations with un-like minded people. I participated in the Justice Corps program where you assist litigants who couldn’t afford attorneys at local courthouses so that they can represent themselves. My only complaint about UCLA would seriously be that I felt I didn’t do enough. I know this sounds crazy, but there are just so many amazing things going on at this campus at the same time. I felt I did a lot, but there was so much more I also wanted to get involved in.</p>
<p>Really depends on the classes generally a large portion of classes can be large. However those are only the lectures. They also have sections where students break down into 10-20 class sections with a TA to discuss the lectures in person. They can be very useful. However, I was in the Honors program with special honors seminars with between 10-20 students and one professor. These are more intense and arguably more interesting. Mine was with a UCLA law professor and we discussed in details Socrate’s final works and the academic work around it. I felt I was regularly challenged and intellectually stimulated by that class.</p>