Hello, new Undeclared student and welcome to UCI! I hope this letter finds you well and not too burnt out in your final year of high school. My name is Teresa and I’m a first-year U/U student as well as a commuter.
My first real taste of UCI was during the summer when I had to attend freshman orientation or SPOP (Student Parent Orientation Program– no one calls it that, though). I actually didn’t realize that the program was overnight until the week that it happened, so I had to quickly rearrange my packing list (notably adding shower shoes) a few nights before. I’m someone who is quite shy and would rather not stand out and SPOP gave me my first chance to practice adapting that to the independence of college: one of the first things I learned is that at UCI, your time is pretty much completely your own (with the exception of mandatory things, in which case you probably owe it to others to be somewhere). With that being said, my introverted self has found this meme to unironically be a pretty good piece of advice.
There’s a lot going on at UCI all the time: you’ll get upwards of ten emails a week inviting you to various campus events and I’d highly recommend going to any ones that seem even a little interesting to you, especially if a) they’re free, and/or b) you have friends who are willing to go with you (my friend and I went to a tote bag decorating event the other day and let’s just say I am now richer by one more cute tote bag and two more free notebooks). As a commuter, events like these have gave me a chance to be part of the greater UCI community, outside of my own little bubble of activities and classes. However, since coming to college, I’ve spent a lot more time thinking about what I want to do every day, rather than just following the daily bell schedule and being where I need to be like I did during high school. So, try new things, but still make the most of your time: succinctly, if it sucks, hit da bricks!
Moving along, I hope you enjoy your time as Undeclared; whether you’re coming in with a major in mind or eager to find a direction to take your life in, this is a chance to explore new interests! Sometimes, you won’t be able to register for the exact classes you want due to them filling up before restrictions drop, but this just provides you with the opportunity to try something new; UCI has a lot of different classes and gives you many chances to learn that thing that you kinda maybe sorta found interesting when you were younger but never got to fully dive into. I’ve been taking a lot of Linguistics courses – something I definitely didn’t learn about high school – and I’ve found it so interesting that I now intend to double-major in it.
I guess what this post boils down to is that the best part of my first year in college has been being able to get to know myself; UCI is like the world’s biggest sandbox, letting you play around and experiment, building tiny castles and destroying them or reforming them once they no longer serve purpose to you. Being aware of that fact has helped me enjoy college even more, and that’s why I want to impart that knowledge on you.
With that being said, I remember being in your place, just a year ago: I hope you’re all excited to get here in the fall, but I also hope you all make the most of all of your final days in high school (without failing your exams, notably). Enjoy your super long summer! UCI will be waiting for you on the other side.