<p>Hey guys, so like many of you wonderful people I was accepted.</p>
<p>However, instead of feeling happiness and relief, I feel extremely anxious.
I'm scared to death that I won't be happy there. I'll be too stressed by classes to do anything extra curriculars and will end up hating it. I'm a neuroscience major so I'm with all the pre-meds (though I'm more grad school than med school bound).</p>
<p>Does anyone else feel this way? My dream school was UCSB and I got waitlisted. I'm also considering UCR since they gave me a scholarship, close to home (aka friends will be there), and I'm in honors.. so priority registration.</p>
<p>I had the same anxiety and panic attacks I was choosing between ucla and davis but once I realized that UCLA was causing me too much stress, I decided that I should go to Davis where I will be much closer to home and be able to enjoy a smaller college town vibe. I am pre med too It’s hard to turn down such a big name school, so I understand your troubles</p>
<p>Remember that the purpose of college is to get an education, which you can get at any school. The purpose is not to impress the kids back at your high school with the name of your college.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should let the fear of being stressed out keep you from choosing the amazing school that is UCLA, they accepted you so they know you can handle it. College is what you make of it, if you come in with a positive attitude it’ll be great no matter where you go. That being said, I can’t recommend turning down UCLA for Riverside… but hey, that’s coming from someone who turned down Cal for UCLA. Go with wherever you feel like fits you best and where you can thrive!</p>
<p>@ookapi you should go wherever you feel most comfortable. College is a tough transition, so you want to go where you feel you’ll have to best chance to succeed. My daughter is turning down 5 UCs, including UCLA, to go to Cal Poly because she feels SLO will be a better environment for her; alot of her classmates are giving her a hard time, but she’s confident in her decision. Although we go to college to get an education, the experience is about so much more than what goes on in the classroom. Follow your heart.</p>
<p>A certain amount of stress is normal, this is a big life change. Only you know if it more than college/leaving home jitters. You have a few days. It’s a bit of a game with yourself, but mentally commit to go to UCR instead of UCLA and “live with that decision,” say over the weekend and see how it feels. Apparently deciding to go to UCLA is causing this anxiety, so make the other decision and see how you feel about it. Talk to people about this new decision and see if you can get to the root of what this anxiety is about. I have one that will apply to UCLA next year but one that didn’t go there in part because he thought he would get lost in the crowd there. There are all kinds of reasons to choose or not choose a school, decide what factors about a school are most important to you and only you. Being close to home and with friends is valid, but so is trying something new and a bit scary. But what are YOU really comfortable with? That is what matters here.</p>
<p>Neuroscience is a major to feel anxious about regardless of which school you decide to attend. To be honest, you will most likely change your major at least once during your time in college. UCR will not be significantly easier than UCLA. The only exception is having friends and family close by for support, which you have to figure out for yourself how to prioritize. College is a time of trying new things, and growing as a person. I personally believe that having some time away from familiar territory is good during your college career. It forces you to form a family of friends within your school. Finally, consider the fact that a degree from UCLA is highly regarded across the world, whereas a degree from UCR doesn’t quite carry the same weight in academia.</p>
Part of this involves calibrating your expectations of the workload. It is common for good students in math/science classes to need 6-10 hours per class outside of the lecture in order to study, do homework, do extra practice problems from books such as the “Chemistry Problem Solver”. Take 3 of these classes, add in lecture & lab, you can see its a significant commitment. If you’re getting by on native smarts and a lack of competition in HS, then something will have to change in college; your study habits or your major. UCLA accepted you so they believe you are capable of doing the work. They can’t predict if you are willing though.</p>
<p>The downfall of many students is confusing recognition with recall. When you do the homework you have the book right there and can thumb back to see how similar problems were solved. After a while the approaches become familiar, and then when you review the book before the test they may seem even more so. Thats why self-testing is so critical to getting an honest picture of what you know and what you don’t. Search for “testing improves learning” and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Two academic links discussing this are</p>
I was choosing between ucla and davis but once I realized that UCLA was causing me too much stress, I decided that I should go to Davis where I will be much closer to home and be able to enjoy a smaller college town vibe. I am pre med too 
It’s hard to turn down such a big name school, so I understand your troubles</p>