Author: jiajiec3

There is only a week left until the end of my first year of university. Looking back on the bits and pieces of my life this year, I can say I had an enriched life here about this year at UCI. I still remember when I walked into the U/U office for the first time, I didn’t know anything about my future college life, and I was very confused about my choice of major. However, through my continuous efforts over the past year and the help of the staff in the U/U office, I have finally found my goal, and have the direction and motivation to move forward.

As an international student, I think U/U Zotblog gave me the most help when I first came to the United States and was unfamiliar with everything, it gave me reliable and warm support. Every member of the U/U office family is very friendly and helpful, and they helped me adapt to the living habits and learning rhythm here faster. I have also mentioned in my previous blog that without the help of this program, it is hard to imagine whether I would be able to carry out these subsequent activities and projects so smoothly. We often say, “Starting is half the battle.”, and I’m glad Zotblog helped me start my college journey and have such a wonderful life. When submitting the blogger application, it was very difficult for me to imagine that I could benefit from this program or so many resources and opportunities and allow myself to be improved in all aspects. I would like to thank Zotblog founder Lauren here. Lauren is the first UCI staff member I have met since I came to campus. Her enthusiasm motivates me to try and challenge more possibilities, and she is very attentive to help me solve problems when I need them. Another person I would like to thank is my advisor Dedra, who played a vital role in my choice of major and related extracurricular activities. Hope we can meet and chat more often in the future!

In this year of study and life, I think my biggest improvement is time management and planning. This was the worst problem I faced in high school. The procrastination in my studies prevented me from focusing on the learning content and put off all tasks until the last minute. As a result, I tried to make myself a weekly study plan, fill out all the timetables or schedule sheets, and try to follow up on those plans. However, I still found that I was not willing to complete the task or follow those shifts according to the plan, which made me under a lot of pressure and exacerbated my procrastination. In the process of finding a study method and schedule that worked for me, I realized that I was not the right person to stick to a schedule, and that’s when I realized the importance of being proactive. I realize that when I am doing what I love, I do not care how much time I spend on it and will complete them as soon as possible. For example, when studying professional courses or participating in some activities, I can always concentrate my attention and complete the tasks in front of me efficiently without thinking about procrastinating. It also allowed me to find a field of expertise that I wanted to study, and that I was willing to put my time and effort into. Passion gives me initiative and keeps me from worrying about procrastination. Not only did I stop worrying about the arrival of the deadline, but I could free up more time to do more things. Compared to me who used to use anime and games to evade tasks, I now seem to be more at ease in terms of time. Therefore, I hope that everyone can find what they love and the direction they are willing to work for and spend a fulfilling and interesting university life at UCI.

My Zotblog life is coming to an end, and I would like to thank you all for your company and support over the past year. Looking forward to the arrival of new bloggers in the next school year to breathe new life into U/U Office! Zot! Zot! Zot!

Hello everybody! It is really an honor that I could invite Miss Ma to participate in our Zotblog interview for Undergraduate/Undeclared students. Miss Ma is now studying in the Public Health Ph.D. program here at UCI, and she would like to share some of her own experiences during her University life with our undergraduate students. Although Ma’s undergraduate study was complete in China, through her experience of studying and teaching at UCI over the past year, she was able to provide very professional advice to students who have not decided on a major. This interview also helped me greatly in my choice of majors and my future college life planning. Thus, I highly recommend our students to read and learn something from it.

The major Miss Ma studied for her undergraduate is Traditional Chinese Medicine. When she was in high school, her grandmother got a severe illness, but she can do nothing at that moment. It was the feeling of helplessness, together with the motivation of learning the reason why people are ill that made her choose to study medicine. Ma said that she loves her major very much and has no regrets about her major choice. While she mentioned that data shows that only 10% of Chinese medical students will continue to practice medicine after graduation, so she advised students to focus on finding their favorite major or passionate field to study. In addition, in the process of finding a suitable major, students should not only study more about the specific knowledge to be learned but also know what it looks like in the job market. In the process of going from university studies to entering society looking for a job, many people will abandon the fields they have studied for many years because knowledge is presented in different ways when becoming a job. “If a student cannot find a major that he or she likes, they can choose one that is applicable to various jobs in the future. ” Ma explained. I think this option is very reasonable because I have experienced such a process myself. When I first have to face the difficulty of deciding on a major, I did not know if I liked social science, so I started with the broader field of it, which is psychology. While after quarters of studying, I developed a great interest in psychology, and decided on psychology as my university major and kept working hard for it.

Ma is now working as TA at UCI and she suggested students be more active during the class. She said professors like to interact with students and are willing to answer their questions, especially those active ones. In general, students who always get perfect scores, or have a lot of interaction during or after the class will leave a great impression on not only TAs but also professors.

Ma also gave some advice specific to students who want to study medicine. “You need to get years of training to become an independent doctor. It is an impressive long process so make sure you’re really interested in it before making the choice.” Ma said. “And sometimes if you have a background from another field, that will help a lot in your research or work. ” Ma then provided a couple of examples to help students better understand. For instance, a mathematics major will feel more relaxed when studying medical statistics, and a student who has studied psychological science will be easier to communicate with patients diagnose. Therefore, medical students can try to obtain a minor degree in other fields, which can not only help students determine their own preferences but also greatly help their future development in the medical field.

The content of this interview has come to an end, and I hope readers can benefit from it. It is believed that these experiences can not only help the current students of the U/U department but also help the future students to various degrees. Because I personally have gained a lot of useful advice from this interview, I would like to express my thanks again to Miss Ma for her willingness to share so many experiences with us. Thank you very much for reading and see you in June!

Happy Spring Quarter everybody! The spring quarter begins much quicker than I thought! After a fulfilling winter term, I feel like a week off is not sufficient for me to fully recovered. . . But since I am quite looking forward to the course and life of the spring quarter, I am very happy to open my new quarter.

In addition to the normal courses, there are three programs that I am interested in. The first is Discussion Leader training. As I mentioned in the previous blog, I am joyful to become a discussion leader for the next undergraduate student, and I will study hard for this position very seriously. Another program is SPOP staff training. It is glad for me to have such a chance to volunteer during the summer vacation to enrich my life. The last one is the English Conversation Program, which is an English language exercise organized by the international center. I highly recommend everyone to take part in this activity, because it can be good practice for your speaking. I believe that international students feel the same way. Some cultural terms or colloquialism are difficult to learn through books and ordinary language courses. However, at ECP, we can solve such dilemmas by communicating with native speakers on all kinds of topics such as food. Native English speakers are also very welcome to participate in this program, as you can get in touch with a variety of cultures from different countries. Spending an hour a week to get 1.3 P/NP units is well worth it in my opinion. This series of programs enriches my life in addition to my daily study and allows me to exercise in areas other than course studies, such as daily organizing, language usage, and even public speaking ability.

The end of this Spring Quarter means the end of my freshman year. It will also be the last quarter for many of you, which is the end of your university life. Therefore, finally, I wish everyone a cheerful new quarter! Enjoy this spring!