Dear Incoming UCLA Freshman,
First of all, I would like to wish you my sincerest congratulations for receiving acceptance into UCLA! You are on your way to attending one of the finest universities in the world, the most applied to school in the nation, and the place I hope you will soon be able to call another home.
Everything you’re feeling right now: jittery excitement, anticipatory nervousness, and impatient recklessness while you wait for school to start—I’ve been there. You might have been to orientation already and experienced a small taste of how wonderful UCLA is going to be, and you can’t wait for school to begin. You might have already attended orientation and it just made you nervous to meet thousands of more people throughout the year. Perhaps you have orientation during a later session and you don’t know what to expect as you sit at home, watching your semester friends slowly trickle out of your hometown and leave to begin their new adventures in college. I understand the struggle.
One of my biggest fears before starting my freshman year was that I would not make any friends. I’ve never been an extrovert, and I feared that at a big school like UCLA, I would get lost in the crowd. Despite people’s exhortations and affirmations that UCLA wouldn’t feel like a huge university, I believed that I would be a little fish in a huge ocean. As I have just finished up my freshman year I can assure you—this fear was completely unnecessary. It’s the feeling that everyone has, and no one talks about—the fear of being alone. Every single freshman is in the same boat, knowing very few people to no one. Therefore, every freshman is looking for a friend. You will not be friendless, I promise. A simple hello, a stereotypical “what’s your major?” and you never know, you might make a lifelong friend. I’m not saying that everyone is going to be friends in perfect harmony; it may take you a while to find that person, that special someone worthy of being your best friend. But have patience, and (brace yourself for upcoming mom quote) be yourself. If someone doesn’t accept you for your weird quirks, think about it—you have thousands of other people that potentially could. It’s not the end of the world.
Make friends with the people on your floor; you’re living with them for an entire year after all. When you move in, keep your doors open so when people walk by, they can say hi! My floor mates this past year were like my family, and it was so cool to have such a close group of friends living in the same place as me.
Don’t be afraid to go for things. If you see clubs or jobs that you want to apply for—go for it! The worst thing that could happen would be that you get a “no” and the best would mean new friends, new experiences, and a relief that you didn’t back out just because you didn’t think you would get it.
My last piece of advice is to not compare yourself to anyone else. Last year I had a habit of doing this, and it quickly became one of my New Year’s resolutions: do not compare myself to others. Granted, comparison can create a competitive drive that not many other things have the ability to initiate. Comparison also leads to self-deprecation. You are about to attend one of the finest universities in the world; naturally there will be some people who are smarter than you, more athletic than you, or seemingly more involved than you. In the beginning of my first year, instead of letting that drive me to work on my weaknesses and expand in my strengths, I was left thinking, “Why did I even get accepted to this school?” Don’t forget that those lovely admissions people chose you for a reason: you have unique talents and abilities that ultimately add to the diversity and cohesive brilliance of the students at UCLA.
Sincerely,
An Upcoming Sophomore
