<p>UCLA Orientation
Session 102</p>
<h2>So I just got back from a great orientation at UCLA and I thought I would give you all my account of it. I know people have posted their session 101 experiences but I'm gonna make this VERY VERY detailed so you know exactly what to expect when your session comes. I think you might find some things helpful, so you can avoid what needs to be avoided and take advantage of what needs to be taken advantage of. If you don't want to read this whole thing then skip to the bottom where I have the key points.</h2>
<p>Day 1:
I arrived at UCLA at about 7:45 (when you're supposed to get there) and had some minor difficulty locating the place where we we're supposed to go (Rieber Terrace). My mom was driving me so when we found the turn-around driveway where drop-offs for orientation are, I just got out of the car quickly as I saw a bunch of people there already and did not want to be seen. A few yards away there was a tent set up that said orientation or something. I figured that's where we signed in. I went over there stood in a short line and signed in and got my room key. I immediately went up to the Rieber Terrace building where I waited to get in the elevator along with several other people. I went up to the 5th floor (there are 9 floors), found my room, walked in and there stood two very tall guys. One was my roommate, the other his dad. They were both incredibly nice. Session 102 was for all the athletes so throughout it all, there were many brawny guys (and girls). </p>
<p>My roommate happened to be a volleyball player. I set my stuff down and I walked with my roommate down to the Covel Commons area where we were supposed to meet with our orientation counselors (everyone is put in a small group of about 8 people with an orientation counselor who is a current UCLA student.) We went up to the main desk (tables set up outside), the desk people gave us some folder with papers, a booklet, and a UCLA orientation backpack (not like a typical school backpack). Now my roommate and I did not receive our Bruin Cards in the mail on time so we had to wait in a HUGE line for the Bruin Card center (right across from Covel). While waiting in line for what seemed like over 40 minutes, we filled out several pages of surveys. We finally got almost to the door of the Bruin Card center when a guy comes out handing out Bruin Card application paper things and tells us that if our Bruin Card status is “mailed” then we can fill one out, return it to him, and then get your Bruin Card later. All that time in line for nothing. So I filled the paper out and returned it and that's when my roommate and I parted ways to go find our own orientation counselors. All the counselors were out in the “courtyard” area in front and around Covel commons holding up hand made signs with their name on it. Now in the folder that I got when I checked in, it had a paper with important information like who my counselor is and what time my major's counseling is. So I walked around, found Jenn, my counselor and sat down. My group was mostly already there. I gave her my surveys and then we all introduced ourselves to our neighbor. Then we had to introduce our neighbor to the rest of the group. I immediately made friends with my neighbor because he was pretty cool and was a fellow neuroscience major. Later on I made friends with another guy who was confused about his major, but nonetheless pretty cool. You get to know your group well. Throughout the entire orientation I never met anyone who was mean, everyone was nice. Even the big, burly jocks. The rest of the day was spent mainly in lectures. I personally thought they were pretty good but I was pretty happy just to be at UCLA so everything seemed cool. </p>
<p>For lunch we went to Ackerman union to eat using our Bruin Cards... O wait I didn't get one yet. So I had to use my own cash. Ugh. Had I got my Bruin Card on time it would have come pre-loaded with $15. After lunch, more lectures. I mainly sat with my orientation group during the lectures but you can sit anywhere. Dinner was at Reiber dinning hall which sucks, it's mediocre food and limited choices. I've eaten at De Neve dinning hall and it was 100 times better than Rieber. So in the fall, avoid Rieber when you want to eat. At night they have a “Club Jamba,” some Poker tables, and some pool tables set up in Ackerman. Club Jamba was just a closed Jamba Juice store with club music playing. Cool if that's what you're into. Poker was uneventful, as was pool. So if I were you I'd just go to bed and skip the first night event because you wont get much sleep the second night.</p>
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<p>Day 2:
Wake up somewhat early. Go get breakfast at Rieber (breakfast isn't so bad at Rieber, mainly lunch and dinner..) Day 2 is very unstructured. Basically it's full of appointments with your counselor (one appointment to plan your fall quarter schedule, one just to talk with your counselor about anything.. Both are supposed to be 30 min appointments) and workshops. Most of the workshops are optional, you just look at your schedule and see if they look interesting then go. I went to the Life Sciences 1 workshop and two work shops on financial aid and money. My counselor Jenn had a headache today so she wasn't all that helpful during my academic appointment where I planned my course load which was kind of stressful. A lot of classes, especially G.E.s were filled up or waitlisted (all the interesting ones that is). This made planning stressful and I'm not too pleased with my schedule. Most life science majors (myself included) are taking Chem 14A, Math 3A (i'm doing 3b cuz I placed into it), and a G.E. Class. Toward the end of the day I met a really cool girl and her friend, got her number. Later in the evening I met with my counselor for our evening appointment. We basically just chatted about random stuff, mostly UCLA related though. It was pretty cool, my counselor was great. At 11:30 there is this event called carpe noctem, which is basically a scavenger hunt but you use cameras to take pictures of the things you're looking for. It was very tiring but was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it. Especially since my group was awesome. Unfortunately we didn't win, we were close though. The winners get UCLA sweatshirts.</p>
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<p>Day 3:
Wake up. Woke up too late to eat breakfast. Go meet in counselors room with your group. We randomly took cards with numbers which dictated the order we get to enroll in our classes. I got 6. Fortunately it didn't take that long for my other group members to go through because we already had our classes picked and schedules pre-planned and there were two computers to use. You can't bring your own laptop or computer to enroll, they only allow you to use the two computers in the room to be fair for the other groups. Fortunately none of my selected classes had filled up since I picked them the day before so it went well. After enrolling we went to a lecture in Moore 100 (the biggest lecture hall in UCLA where all the lectures will be) about sex and alcohol. It was pretty funny actually, and interesting. After that we went to Ackerman and used our Bruin Cards to eat (by the end of first day I finally got my Bruin Card from my counselor). After eating we embarked on a 3-4 hour tour of the campus which we did with one other group. It was pretty fun. After the tour everything winds down. We head back up to Rieber Terrace and check out of our rooms, but before that we fill out a survey and get some cool send-off gifts: a book, ucla poster, and ucla calander. I said goodbye to my new friends and stuff and left. Good experience.</p>
<h2>KEY POINTS:</h2>
<p>**Be friendly and outgoing (but not creepy or awkward..practice your social skills =P). You may not make life long friends, but you can make friends as did I. I expect them to still be friends when I go back to UCLA in the fall. I'll be taking classes with some of them. And having some friends/acquaintances while at orientation makes it a lot more fun. I swear everyone at my orientation was really nice so don't worry about jerks because you probably won't find any. Go meet a lot of people and if you get to know some people especially well, ask for their phone numbers so you can text/call them, and/or email addresses.</p>
<p>**If you don't have your activated Bruin Card by the time you get to orientation. Just fill out the little paper that the Bruin Card center people will be passing out rather than stand in the big line. That way you'll just get your Bruin Card later in the day from your orientation counselor. Make sure you've got some money though cuz you'll have to buy your own lunch that day if you don't get your Bruin Card.</p>
<p>**Definitely participate in Carpe Noctem the scavenger hunt at 11:30. Especially if you make your own group of 10 people with friends. Try to win! It's a lot of fun roaming around campus in the middle of the night with friends. Skip the Club Jamba and stuff during the first night because it's not worth it. Just get some sleep or hang out with your friends.</p>
<p>**Your orientation group is generally composed of people with the same or similar majors and pretty much all the orientation counselors are current students which is really cool.</p>
<p>**Go to the Honors workshop, and your major's workshop on the second day. For example I went to Life Sciences I workshop, but there is a Life Sciences II (which is like psychology etc.) and Psychical Sciences I and others. It's somewhat helpful. Also if you're pre-med go to the Pre-Health workshop, it's somewhat helpful. All the other workshops I either didn't go to or I did go to and they were essentially useless.</p>
<p>**If you got a 5 on the AP Calculus test then don't take the Math placement test because you don't have to.</p>
<p>**In my humble opinion, Rieiber Dining hall SUCKS. Limited choices, not great quality. But don't think this is how UCLA's food will be in the fall. You can eat at any dining hall. I've eaten at De Neve dining hall before and it was GREAT. There's a reason why UCLA is ranked number one or two (varies from year to year) in the nation in dorm food, but it's not Rieber dining hall. Also try to eat early because it gets REALLY crowed in there because there are other summer camps that use that dining hall as well.</p>
<h2>** In all likelihood you WILL NOT get "lucky" during orientation so stop your wishful thinking/dreaming. I saw a lot of posts about that asking session 101'ers about it so I thought I'd just address it here as well.</h2>
<p>That's about it I think. I apologize for any spelling, grammar, logic, factual, or other errors/mistakes. I have not proof-read this post because it got too long and I got too tired.</p>
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