Hello!
About me: My name is Lucas. I am from the Central Valley of California in a little town called Patterson. I am attending UC Irvine this Fall of 2024 as an Undeclared major, interested in the Sciences and Business-related majors. A few interesting facts about me are that I love to play basketball, hike/walk, listen to music, play video games, and bike!
My SPOP experience at UC Irvine: The main topic for this blog is my experience of UC Irvine’s freshman SPOP orientation days! This orientation consists of a 2-day and 1 overnight stay on UC Irvine’s campus, getting to experience and feel what it is like living and walking around the university. I went to SPOP #9.
Day 1
Starting with day 1, you will have to check in for your SPOP orientation days early in the morning (for SPOP 9, check-in was @7:30am). Unfortunately, I looked at the wrong schedule and missed the first hour of check-in where you receive your room keys and other information. I ended up having to carry my extra baggage for more than half of the 1st day, so make sure to double-check your schedules or contact UCI Orientation (Email: orientation@uci.edu, Phone: 949-824-5182) if you have any questions or are unsure of the schedule like I was! I was able to attend my first session at 10 AM for the academic advising and program planning session where I got to meet the administration from the Undergraduate/Undeclared school who spoke about their goals for us and how they will help us get into our desired major(s) that are offered at UC Irvine. Moving onto lunch, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet where there was a huge selection of different meals. Definitely something to look forward to if you eat breakfast that day. Course registration was not that hard at all, but since I attended a later SPOP date, I was a bit limited to the classes I could choose. It can get stressful not getting the schedule you want, so I recommend trying to attend an earlier SPOP date for more options! The rest of the day consisted of exploring the campus organizations and meeting new people. Make sure to take advantage of the last few of these sessions as you will get to learn a lot more about campus resources, new interests, expanding your network, and creating friends!
Day 2
I started day 2 off with a heavy breakfast because I got pretty hungry at night on day 1 since I stayed up late. Having a few snacks ready to eat is essential when attending these full-day orientations, you’ll need them! You will have a Day 2 overview that will take place the next hour after breakfast, informing you about the Day 2 schedule. There will be a few workshops to choose from to learn more about the UC Irvine community, such as on-campus programs, Cultural Centers, and other Anteater experiences. I attended the Real Talk UCI workshop, where a panel of current students hosted a Q&A of their UC Irvine experiences. It was a great way to explore and learn about the different pathways each student took during their years at UC Irvine. Next, students got to meet up with parents, who went through their Parent orientation at the beginning of Day 2. For the rest of the day, I and my parents attended workshops that included Discovering Research, where you get to learn about research opportunities at UC Irvine, and also attended How to Find Part-time on-campus Jobs, where you learn more about how to use online resources like handshake to help navigate your job options. After these workshops, there was a busy lunch hour where we ate lots of the food the Anteatery was serving. I was so full after that lunch that I didn’t eat at all for the rest of the day.
Conclusion
My overall experience of UC Irvine’s SPOP was great. Got to learn lots of new information about school programs/organizations, made many new friends/networks, and had a great overnight stay experience! It is a great way to experience what it is like living an independent life on campus, especially if you are dorming for the year.