<p>hey guys, so, i've survived session 103 and here are my thoughts!</p>
<p>BRING A LAPTOP IF YOU HAVE ONE!!!
even if you think you've got your perfect schedule already, you WILL change your mind after talking with counselors and listening to presentations, and you WON'T want to wait for an hour in the comp labs.
that said, bring an ethernet cable and a lock. you can lock it to the desk, and there's an ethernet plug right under the phone jack behind the desks.
also, you can bring your laptop to your orientation counselor's room on the third day when you sign up for classes, and they can walk you through registering on your own.</p>
<p>other things you should bring:
- alarm clock (duh, but if you forget...)
- last-minute study materials for language placement (hopefully your french test won't have a bunch of nurses outside loudly demonstrating for better health care... aiee i couldn't concentrate!!!)
- dollar bills for diddy riese! if you're in westwood this is a MUST lol
- sun lotion... you will be needing it!!! especially if you're pale like me =P
- bottled water or cash for vending machines
- sandals for the shower... sharing with 6 ppl = interesting ;)</p>
<p>what you don't need:
- sheets, blanket, towel. you get them, but you prolly want your own (better) towel.</p>
<p>tips:
-at the barbeque/activities fair, visit the asucla table, sign up and get a 20% discount on ucla bearwear!
- do as much work on your schedule as possible before you come, you will be happy that you did!
- carpe noctem is SOO worth doing, even if your group doesn't win. what better way to bond then running around ucla with 9 other people at 1 AM??</p>
<p>have fun at orientation, it's a blast. oh, and wear comfortable footwear or you will die... lol.</p>
<p>Hey when you signed up for ascula you got a 20% discount on bearwear? I signed up but then I didn't get that. Is it like a card/coupon or what??</p>
<p>Apparently I was the rare one in my orientation group that actually knew for the most part what classes to take. Knowing what to take (or having a good general idea) helps mucho.</p>
<p>all of those tips helped me @ 101 so listen to them future orientation-ers...and make sure you USE that 20% discount postcard...i still have mine because i waited until the third day thinking there was gonna be free time to go buy stuff...needless to say, there wasn't any...but at least it's not going to expire before school starts ^^</p>
<p>Was there a curfew or anything? Or could you just leave at night whenever you felt like it?</p>
<p>And also, did you guys have a lot of free time during the day? Or was it filled with presentations and workshops? Do you have to go to those? Are you supervised?</p>
<p>there didn't seem to be a curfew. they have night activities that would last til 1:30ish and then some ppl would jst go off to bed since you had to get up around 8ish. they dont go around to make sure you're in bed. you can basically go to bed whenever you want.</p>
<p>you have a lot of free time the second day if you dont go to the workshops/presentations. they're recommended bt you dont have to go. i spent most of my second day working on my schedule and going to workshops that helped me decide which major to pick.</p>
<p>The first time I needed a computer at the lab I got one with no wait. The second time I had to wait about 5-10 minutes. So actually, I don't personally think a laptop is worth it. (Haha, I had just logged off and was about to leave the computer lab when the blackout happened though.)</p>
<p>Other recs:
1. Don't pick a class that is 100+. My OC would not let me take Film 106a and I had to find another class to fit my schedule. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you have free time the 2nd day (which you should have, cause honestly if you spent any time online this summer none of the workshops are worth it) try to take a nap or something. Carpe took my group till like 2 in the morning and I was glad I had taken a nap earlier.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to the tour on the 3rd day. Half my group bailed, but it's totally worth it. Yeah 4 hours is a long time, but remember 103 went to orientation during record breaking heat and we survived the 4 hour tour.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>When I was at 101, personally I didn't have an extremely tough time finding computers to use. However, for most students, who unlike me and didn't rush to the labs =P, I think it's useful, not mandatory, to have laptops. It boils down to convenience basically. As for a curfew, there was none at all. I met someone @ orientation and we walked to westwood @ 2am so you're pretty much independent. (Just be safe I guess!) But remember that you do have to wake up early the next day. I didn't think that there was an enormous amount of time to do your own thing. Then again, it is orientation so you do have a lot of preplanned things. I thought most of the workshops were beneficial and it's really in your best interests to attend them. Again, it's a personal decision. If you think you know it enough, by no means do you have to go. For myself, I thought it couldn't hurt hearing what current students/faculty have to say.</p>
<p>Most of the GE classes/freshman classes are huge and you can't really avoid taking those without having more than 100+ students. What did your OC say exactly?</p>
<p>P.S. I'm so glad I didn't go during this extreme heatwave/blackout period. How bad was it? I remember breezy 80ish degree weather. =)</p>
<p>I was refering to 100+ as upper division classes. (Why would class size matter???) My OC would only let us take classes from 1-99 (Lower division classes). </p>
<p>Of course if Film 106 is a lower division class (which my OC said it wasn't), then this just proves OCs can't be trusted and you should be more agressive with them.</p>
<p>oh i'm sorry fiddledd...i totally interpreted that the wrong way then..stupid me =/ ..thanks namaste for the correction..</p>
<p>and i found that the OCs can be pretty pushy when it comes to you picking the classes...some of them seem WAY too caught up in what THEY thought was the right schedule...i didn't say much when i was there...i just got home and changed the schedule to the way i like it through URSA.</p>
<p>the OC's won't let you take 4 classes. If you're a pre biz econ major, they won't let you take econ1 either. Not that you can anyway, it was all filled up even before orientation 101 started.</p>