As many of you readers begin to SIR to UCI, you’ll begin the process of applying for housing. With so many different choices, I understand how difficult it can be to choose. I personally didn’t even know that there were differences between dorms aside from the obvious differences between Mesa Court and Middle Earth. When the application website told me to decide a housing option, I was taken aback. There were dorms that were researched based, outdoor/exercise based, and one that was even centered around video game players. In the end however, I decided to choose the First Year Excellence Dorm. I found the idea of extra assistance and counseling for undeclared students like myself very attractive, and I’m really glad that I made the choice that I did.
The FYEP dorm for Middle Earth this year was Grey Havens, and it has offered a ton of opportunities and resources to help me succeed as an undeclared student trying to transfer into business administration. I know it probably sounds like I’m trying to sell FYEP to you, but I’ve honestly found it incredibly helpful. One of my favorite parts about living in the first year hall is that every Thursday, undeclared/undergraduate academic adviser Andrea Licata comes to the dorm and provides counseling to whoever wants it. Normally, you have to go to the undeclared office and schedule and appointment to meet with a counselor, but FYEP makes it super convenient to meet up and discuss next quarter’s schedule or any other issues. Knowing what classes to take can be pretty confusing, so having Andrea there to help us whenever has taken a big burden off of our scheduling confusions.
One of the other cool things that we had was the philanthropy project. It’s basically a voluntary project where you and your dorm mates help to organize and execute a philanthropy/community service oriented event. I know you’re probably thinking, “Dude I already have so many other obligations and responsibilities. I thought community service ended in high school.” To be honest, that’s what I thought when I first heard about the project too. I was reluctant, but after going to the first meeting I kind of liked the sound of it. It not only serves to better the community, but it also helps to get something on your resume, which is likely relatively barren at this point in your college career. For us, we organized a roaring 20’s themed dance party at Brookdale Senior Living, and it went awesome. I was initially worried that we wouldn’t have enough participants, but the event ended up going really well. If you choose to go for FYEP, I urge you to at least check out the first meeting for your philanthropy project. You may find it to be a lot more interesting than it seems.
I’m sure that all the other dorms offer a lot of great things for you incoming freshman, but for undeclared students specifically, I would absolutely recommend choosing FYEP. It’s helped me to become way more acquainted with my counselors and undeclared peers than I would have otherwise.
