<p>yay BirdKiller for making another Q&A thread. Nice work. I would like to join in on the fun of answering questions once again, haha. Below is a little about me.</p>
<p>Year: 2nd
Major: Electrical Engineering
Residency: Dartmouth Court (off-campus apartments)</p>
<p>Hooray another Q&A forum! I'll try and answer questions, too. Also, PM me if you have anything to ask.</p>
<p>Class: 2011
Housing: Middle Earth
Major: History and PoliSci or English w/ Latin minor (whew, mouthfull)</p>
<p>prolixity, i noticed you're in middle earth!! i'm considering housing there. Do you like it? Also, how's the partying scene at uci? What do most people do during the weekends?</p>
<p>i really like it here in ME! the food is a lot better than MC (friends don't let friends eat at mesa commons), there are always programs going on, and its a pretty sweet living situation as long as you're not in phase I dorms. they're not as spacious as MC, but it tends to be quieter here. MC has the reputation for being the wilder housing of the two, but in my opinion, i'd rather be able to get away from the party than live around it. ME is definitely closer to campus and most of your classes. ME is near the ICS/Engineering/Bio while MC is right next to Humanities and the Arts. This shouldn't affect your decision too much, because the walk is never that bad. you tend to get a lot closer to the people living in ME, since there's not as many buildings and they're situated pretty close, instead of spread out like MC. </p>
<p>THE PARTY SCENE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT. (to all of you) Yes, it gets pretty dead on the weekends since it's a big commuter school. But if you're looking for a party, there usually is one, it's just going to take a bit more effort to find it. and plus, nothing is stopping you from throwing your own party, as long as your careful and not a jackass about it. </p>
<p>most people go to the mall, the beach, hang out in the dorms, go to movies, and do homework. a lot more homework is done on weekends than you think. also party, too. haha</p>
<p>Ok. My question seems weird to me. But I was an English major, switched to Lit. Journalism, and now am worried I won't love being a journalist when I grow up. I'm kind of really thinking ahead. Is it easy to change majors within schools, or take classes not pertaining to your subject matter?</p>
<p>basically, the earlier you switch, the better. your first year is mostly doing GE stuff and getting that out of the way. If you want to switch from LJ to Classics or Philo, its easy because you're already within the school of humanities. you could switch fine, you'd just have extra units from those classes that aren't part of your major anymore. But if you're trying to switch from LJ to Chem or Bio, you'd be behind a year because you didn't take the pre-reqs for that class. </p>
<p>It's easy to take classes not pertaining to your subject matter - that's what breadth (GE) classes make you do. I'm a humanties major, but I still had to take a math class.</p>
<p>hello,</p>
<p>This is going to seem like an incredibly ambiguous question, but as a freshman, how difficult is it to get straight A's? I know it depends on the classes, but I'm sort of a perfectionist and can't deal with getting a bad grade. Care to share any thoughts?</p>
<p>it's not impossible, but its highly unlikely.</p>
<p>in college, the heavenly ideal of straight A's is thrown out the window. you're dealing with so many factors - living on your own, difficult material, different teachers and teaching styles, socializing - that really, you shouldn't be focused on trying to get straight A's. yes, of course you should be going for the gold. but its the sad reality of college. </p>
<p>honestly, i broke down in tears when i got a C- in calc, since i've never gotten a grade that low ever in my life. but depending on what your major is, especially biosci/engineering, you'll end up praying for C's and B's. </p>
<p>like i said, its not impossible, but its unlikely, especially your first year. i know someone who got a 4.0 with easy/medium classes, people who got below 3.0 in engineering classes (physics, chem, writing, math), and someone who got on AP (academic probation) her first quarter as a bio major. don't make straight A's your focus, because it really won't end up that way (unless you're ridiculously smart, which I'm sure you are, since you got into UCI :] )</p>
<p>Another question: Are there any tips and advice for preparing for the placement exams?</p>
<p>sorry :( i personally wouldn't know anything about placement exams - i've never had to take one. but there has to be someone else on here who would know :)</p>
<p>Thanks anyway...hopefully someone else will stumble upon this later :)</p>
<p>NYUJosh:</p>
<p>Because UCI is a public university, grade inflation is moreso absent. Getting a 4.0 has been one of the hardest goals ever as an EE major at UCI. I totally understand your urge for perfectionism, but I believe you should work on handling poor grades well. It can definitely impact you in many ways such as emotionally. You won't perform well if you're not entirely happy, right? </p>
<p>Achieving straight A's or a 4.0 is definitely not impossible though. I've found it to be more of a time management/prioritizing issue. I'm juggling a lot more than just schoolwork nowadays due to my involvement on campus activities, so I've been falling short from 4.0's since I'm still working on prioritizing. It gets very tedious though. Oh yea, if you didn't know already, A-'s are rated as a 3.7 gpa instead of a 4.0. It's another reason why I fall short :P.</p>
<p>PoorCookie:</p>
<p>I'm not sure what placement exam you are taking so I'll answer your questions on a more general level. From my experience and other's, the placement tests are generally easy as long as you know the material. I also noticed that the tests covered only the topics listed on the placement test info page. For example, all the chem questions fit under the topics listed on the chem placement test page and did not go outside of those topics.</p>
<p>jas0n</p>
<p>i never got to bake you cookies for all your help last year. :(</p>
<p>haha, cookies!</p>
<p>As someone said, don't look forward to straight A performance, you're only going to get yourself depressed for single or few mistakes after a quiz or exam thinking the error would send your grades down to oblivion.</p>
<p>hey jas0n, what classes did you take in your first year as a EE major. also how is tuition paid if i am using financial aid</p>
<p>kevinf:</p>
<p>During my first year, I took 17, 18, and 17 units during the fall, winter, and spring quarters, respectively. I recommend you take less units during your first quarter to better transition yourself into the college world. It'll help you decide wether you are ready to take 16+ units the next quarter also. My classes are listed below. I've never received any financial aid so I'm not exactly sure how it works. However, my roommate does and he gets enough financial aid to pay for rent and for tuition every quarter. It seems like he's getting the money into his bank to pay for everything.</p>
<p>fall:
anthro 2a
eecs 10
math 2d
physics 7a/7LA</p>
<p>winter:
chem1a
math 2j
physics 7B/7LB
writing 39B</p>
<p>spring:
anthro 41a
math 2E
physics 7D/7LD
writing 39C</p>
<p>when do you choose courses? during SPOP week?</p>
<p>jhuscla:</p>
<p>Yes, you will register for courses during orientation unless they change it up again.</p>