<p>I'll be transferring to ucla in a week from now and I'm very worried about my social life there. I'm a pretty shy person and I made a somewhat good number of acquaintances at my cc, but only a few friends, and none of them are transferring to my school. I hardly talked to anyone about anything outside academics. </p>
<p>Now I know that I'm gonna need to join some clubs to get more social. But since I'm gonna live in off-campus apartments, I wont get as much social interaction as living in the dorms. Would you guys recommend I get a meal plan for the cafeteria just so I can sit and eat and socialise with people there?</p>
<p>Plus I'll be starting my upperdiv classes in diffcult subjects, so I'll spend more time than those with normal majors</p>
<p>Anyone have any tips for transfers like me?</p>
<p>Are you worried about making friends SPECIFICALLY at UCLA or just making friends in general? Remember, you have the whole city of Los Angeles at your fingertips.</p>
<p>The greek life can accelerate your meetings with people. I won't lie to you, its going to be slightly awkward at first. I am a transfer student and we just started at Cal. It was sort of weird at first, being new- but older. It is, luckily, really easy to get into the scene at these schools. The clubs and organizations are not geared at only getting freshman, and youngins. They look for everyone. The key thing is finding groups of people (through clubs, activities, sports) that fit the type of people you would hang out with. </p>
<p>You just need to not be afraid. Coming into the game two years behind incoming freshman, you need to let go of your shyness a little more to make up for the literal lack of time you will have had at UCLA. </p>
<p>Just go otu and have fun. And don't worry, theres no time for that between having a good time and school :)</p>
<p>LA doesn't seem like the type of city to be at anyone's finger tips. It seems to me like making friends would be difficult in LA period. People dont seem to need to crash into each other as much as other areas with better public transportation systems, and metropolitan areas where everything is close together.</p>
<p>It seems like making friends is a little harder while living in a city where everyone has a car and gets from point A to B without meeting new people. Plus, LA people seem fake and cliquey. If my generalizations are wrong, correct me but keep in mind, they're generalizations.</p>
<p>I'm worried about making friends at ucla. I thought about greek life, but doesnt it have a reputation for being full of party-animals? and students who dont study?</p>
<p>Its true that its harder to meet people "out" in LA because it is a driving city. I was simply trying to point out that a large city like LA has a lot going on for a person to get involved in outside of the college. For example, any kind of music that a person might like is being performed somewhere in LA. Any kind of political group you could imagine has a chapter in LA. ALMOST any company in the world that you might want to do an internship with will have a branch in LA. I think you see what I'm saying.</p>
<p>I just mean that it is like going to a LAC located in some tiny little town. If the school doesn't have what you want you can look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Yeah, I get it. And I'm just saying its too cold a city. Great internships and the availability of a wide variety of organizations just doesn't really make up for the fact that the social scene is shallow and difficult to break through.</p>
<p>I rather go to a small town with a sense of community than somewhere as huge and impersonalized and spread out like LA..</p>
<p>DAMN IT I have to go to LA with my family this weekend lol, its going to be torture. I'm seriously considering choosing davis over UCLA if I get in to both. People think I'm crazy but I just dont know how i'll stand LA.</p>
<p>It's true that some people can be pretentious at LA but it is not impossible to make friends. Don't be shy and just start conversations, that's how I started making a lot of new friends at my CC.
I feel ya though, I am actually feeling a bit anxious thinking about the social scene at UCLA.</p>
<p>Even if LA is large the students that go to UCLA are the same as any other UC(give or take some IQ) and it won't be any more difficult making friends at one than the other. It's mostly people like YOU that are so over-conscious of yourselves and social status that hurt your ability to make friends. </p>
<p>If I, someone originally from LA, can go to Davis and have a freaking blast then transfer BACK DOWN to LA and still have a freaking blast with a totally different group of friends then anyone can. And I'm not the most social person out there, I'm actually pretty reserved until I know a person pretty well.</p>
<p>Stop trippin' and go with it, seriously. And to that dude bashing LA as a place to have a good social life, don't blabber about stuff you don't know until you've experienced it. You're just bringing other people's morales down.</p>
<p>I think that LA gets a little bit of a bad rap. While its true that LA is a big place and there are some pretentious/shallow people, I really think thats true of any big city. Yes, LA is a driving city which can be a serious pain, but I lived in SF for several years and I found just as many phonies there as anywhere else. Its a city with millions of people! You just have to find your element.</p>
<p>But if your element is something a little less ordinary than what you might find in middle America, LA is a great place. It will have what you need.</p>
<p>so far at my apartment here at ucla, its been rather boring with my roommates. One of them didnt even want to go to either the school concert, dance, movie, or activities fair. I at least went to the activites fair. So I guess I have to wait til school starts to get a better social life?</p>
<p>eddyx, do you live in LA? I mean, i dont understand why you are so pro-la/ucla. Its not all THAT great.</p>
<p>While the city of LA has a ton of things to do, LA is the least sociable city right behind NY. Dont get me wrong, i think LA is great, but it isnt all its cracked up to be. Neither is ucla and how materialistic/superficial most people on that campus are.</p>
<p>When I transferred to Berkeley, I lived in the transfer dormitory (Davidson Hall). I made lots of friends in the dorm and other chemical engineering transfer students, whom I met during transfer orientation.</p>
<p>Can it really be that much different at fUCLA?</p>
<p>los angeles can be a very lonely place. my advice is to live in transfer dorms if ucla offers them or atleast live with a roomate and try to befriend him/her. Its very hard to meet people in la in my opinion. i live in long beach but its all the same thing. Join clubs and dont be shy, talk your butt off when you can and what not. Thats what i plan on doing when i transfer to uci or ucsd (whichever takes me)</p>
<p>Just don't be scared to interact with people. Start conversations when you can. Go to Westwood and get some Diddy Riese ice cream sandwiches. LA is a great place. Like other people said, join clubs. Even try to find a part time job because you always meet a lot of new people at a job. Don't be too worried, LA has so much diversity you'll be able to find people who share the same interests. Lastly, just let loose and have fun. Enjoy everything LA has to offer!</p>