Dear U/U Student,
Congratulations! You made it into UC Irvine! You might be excited/nervous about going to college or looking forward to building your career or brimming with questions. To me, it was imagining what my first-year experience would be like.
Now that I am in my near-end of my first year of college, there were several moments, events, and tips I experienced as a first-year U/U.
My first lesson: try. Back in high school, I never actually tried anything new, which led to some boring years of high school. Coming into college, the first interest was applying into a business fraternity. I went to every event hosted to hopefully get selected for the interview. I was rejected. I was really devastated that time, but looking back, I think it was a wonderful and necessary experience. When networking with members, I made friendships I probably never would have met. Another example: U/U office sent out an application to apply to be a Zot Blogger by submitting two different answers to their prompts. Thinking I got nothing to lose, I applied. Two weeks later I got an email saying “Congratulations on being accepted as a Zot Blogger!”. I was shocked, because I never gave it too much thought, and answered honestly, without worrying whether I would get in or not. My point here is that I want you to try something, anything without worrying about anything. Don’t expect anything and try, and enjoy surprises from life you probably never imagined. True, some surprises will never be pleasant, but there is always a silver lining if you know where to look.
Another lesson, more of an insider tip: explore. This one ties a little bit into the first lesson, but the main idea is I want you to know that your education is not limited to the courses you take. This is college, meaning there are organizations and clubs and research opportunities you should take advantage of. Mark Twain once said, “Don’t let schooling interfere with your education” and he is right. School is just scholar learning, which is necessary, but education has no bounds. Explore talking to people, because each person you make friends with is bound to teach you something you never thought of. As a U/U I felt that those with majors are already learning things I haven’t, but that is not necessarily the case. For one, it helped me discover what I was interested in studying further and what I was not. Back in high school, many people told me taking economics was not worth the effort, but after taking an econ class (which I would have never done if I had a major) I am now working on minoring in Economics. I am not saying that having a major is bad, but my point is to explore what this university has to offer.
I know it’s not your ideal starter pack for success in college, but I truly believe if the above is done right, your college experience will be worth remembering.