Well the day has finally come! I have officially graduated from the number one public university in the nation. I am officially a UCLA graduate! This journey has certainly been one for the books, and I really could not be more proud of myself for having made it to the end. Unfortunately, given this year’s coronavirus pandemic, I was not able to walk through Pauly Pavilion with my friends for my family to watch. UCLA provided us with a virtual graduation, and there will be an in-person ceremony at a later date, which I am most certainly looking forward to. Graduation day means a lot to all of us, and I cannot imagine being robbed of that. We all worked too hard to not have a real graduation when it is safe.
Until I have an actual graduation ceremony to write about, I thought I might reflect on these past four years with a little Q&A on my college experience. I have decided to keep it real, raw, and an accurate reflection of my UCLA experience. I hope you enjoy the read!
What degree did you graduate with?
Although I started college majoring in physics, I decided to switch to economics because of the versatility it would give me in the job market. When I changed my major, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I suspected I would go into finance. I even secured a number of finance internships. Now that I have decided on law school, my economics degree will be a good fit to help me enter the world of law and business.
What is your favorite part of campus?
It really depends on the time of day, but I have always had a soft spot for Royce Hall under the arches. It is especially beautiful in the evening during golden hour and right after you get out of an 8am lecture. However, I spent most of my time in between classes in the library or sitting on the floor outside my next class. In a way, UCLA’s nooks and crannies are just as much my favorite as its most famous building.
What is one thing you would fix about your freshman year?
Absolutely nothing! I am among the few freshmen that don’t feel like they partied too hard. I got out and lived life, but I didn’t gain the freshman fifteen by spending every Thursday at the frats. My freshman year is where I met the people that wound up being my circle of friends for all four years of college. I cherish these friendships deeply, and wouldn’t trade them in for anything.
Any advice for your freshman self?
It sounds corny, but I would tell myself to enjoy the ride. I definitely did enjoy the ride, so I suppose it isn’t advice I needed. It’s more just advice I would want to remind my younger self of. I have a tendency to think in the future. For me, this usually means planning for every possible obstacle I might encounter or imagining the fabulous future I have planned for myself or daydreaming about how the next chapter has to be even better than the current one. Learning to live in the moment has always been one of my harder lessons in life. The blog has helped with that a ton, but I do need a reminder every now and then. In general, I think all freshmen should be told that college moves fast, so they should enjoy it and not speed it up.
Were you in Greek life?
No! I went through the sorority recruitment process, and received a bid from a chapter at the end. However, I felt that the whole process was so judgmental and demeaning. It was not something I wanted to be part of. I was developing great friendships with my roommates and neighbors on my floor in the dorms, so I decided that those relationships were the ones that I wanted to invest in instead. While I am sure I would have enjoyed sorority life if I had really committed to it, I do not regret my decision to not join Greek life at all. My relationships with my friends are the most valuable thing to me, and I wouldn’t trade those friendships for anything.
What was your favorite class?
I took Management 108 (Business Law) during spring quarter in my junior year. After all four years, it is still my favorite class I have taken. When I enrolled for this class, I was seriously considering a career in law, and this class sealed the deal. Even though it was at 8am (which is considered to be the crack of dawn for college students), I enjoyed learning about contracts, common law, bankruptcy, and all that good stuff. The classes for my major never got me excited about anything, but this class did. That eagerness to learn about law was a major clue that it was something I wanted to pursue.
Some other front runners would be Management 180: Real Estate Finance, German 59: The Holocaust in Film and Literature, and Scandinavian 141C: Scandinavian Short Story. The class on real estate finance is very closely related to what I hope to maybe do in the future with my law degree, so I naturally found it very interesting. However, I think the class I took on the Holocaust really surprised me. I considered myself to be educated on that part of history prior to taking the class, but I learned a lot about myself and what I want to make of my life along the way too. I was able to meet a survivor, whose memoir I read as part of the class, and I found her absolutely inspiring. She gave me a renewed determination for my chosen career path.
Any thoughts on grades?
They’re important, but they aren’t everything. If you are considering graduate school, then they carry significantly more weight for you than other students. However, you learn so much more during your time in college than just what you learn in the classroom. Some of your greatest growth will come outside of those lecture halls. It’s important to go and chase those experiences too because it’s all worth it, even if admissions boards for graduate school won’t care as much as you do. I would personally say that I learned more about myself in the past four years than I did about economics. Although finishing my last quarter at UCLA with straight A’s was certainly a nice way to end this chapter!
Best study tips for college?
Work smarter, not harder. Don’t create work for yourself you don’t need to do. So long as you understand the material and can do well on exams, then you will be just fine. Do whatever works for you, but be sure you don’t skip lecture unless you have to. Skipping here and there for a doctor’s appointment or other necessities is one thing, but skipping just because you don’t want to go is something else. In all four years, I have only missed maybe one lecture per school year. I personally think that it is your responsibility as a student to show up, but that’s just me.
What is one thing people might not expect to know about your college experience?
I went all four years without checking out a single book from the library! It might sound weird, but nearly all of my professors would post articles and journal readings online for us to read. I also found the different databases for the school to be a very efficient method of gathering information. It wound up being one of my favorite ways to obtain trustworthy articles for papers.
What is one thing you didn’t expect to happen during your college career?
It might sound silly, but I didn’t expect to develop a love for coffee! Everyone said it would happen, but I still didn’t like coffee when I started college. The smell of it even used to make me noxious. I could not stand the smell of Starbucks! At the end of my freshman year, I was extremely tired and ordered a vanilla latte with 2% milk, hoping it was full of enough sugar to hide the taste of coffee while I prayed it would get me through the day without falling asleep in lecture. Instead of wanting to puke, I fell in love with the taste! I like a strong, rich flavor, and coffee is just that. Luckily for my ego, my order has evolved from my sugary introduction to caffeine to a simple oat milk latte.
How do you feel about graduating college?
My take on college has always been that it is sort of a fake adulthood. Turning eighteen may make you a legal adult, but college is this pseudo-adulthood where you are learning how to be an adult while still having safety nets in place. Graduating college sort of feels like initiation into the real adult world. While I am still not quite done with my formal education, I know that graduate school will be different. I am looking forward to that next chapter, but it is still a bittersweet goodbye to this one.
What was your favorite part of UCLA?
Aside from the respect that comes along with a top notch education, my favorite part about UCLA is the experience it gave me. School is school to a certain extent, but my college experience would have been a lot different had I gone somewhere else. I wouldn’t want to exchange my experience for a different one. I love my friends, the city, the atmosphere, and all the other people that I met here. I would hate for all of that to not have happened.
What was your least favorite part of UCLA?
Everyone is really competitive. The people at UCLA are among the brightest minds in the world. Unfortunately, that also means the work life balance of many students isn’t always the best. This isn’t the case for all students, but I found many people to have tunnel vision for their academic pursuits, when there is just so much more your college years can offer. Life outside of college is competitive, so this competitive environment does in fact help prepare you for the real world. Everyone here values their education a lot, and I do too. However, I also value my own personal growth in addition to my academic growth. I am a good student, and I always will be. However, I am more than just a student. I am an athlete, a daughter, a friend, a traveler, and so many more things (and a blogger, obviously). While some things take priority over others at different points in time, I value working toward a well-rounded, happy life.
Any regrets?
A few, but not many. Everything was a learning experience. It was all so incredibly valuable, and I cannot imagine trading in any of those experiences for something else. After all, who are we without our experiences and memories? Even though 2019 was easily the worst year of my life so far (yes, even compared to the disaster many would consider 2020 to be), I learned how strong and resilient I can be. I surprised myself with my ability to roll with the punches and keep moving forward. While at the time, I may have regretted spending so much energy stressing about the things bothering me, I now know that I learned too much from that year to really regret it now.
What was your biggest struggle in college?
Academically, quarantine made college awful. Humans are social creatures. We aren’t meant to learn through a computer screen. Online learning is a fantastic substitute for those who need an alternative method of instruction or are balancing a full-time career and need to work on their education with a more flexible schedule. However, ending my college years on an empty campus was just sad. As articulate as I am, I cannot think of many other words to describe it in the same capacity.
On a personal note, 2019 was easily the most difficult year of my life as a whole, not even just the college years. While I doubt I will ever go into immense detail about that year, I will say that going through just one of my distractions would have been difficult enough. I was juggling numerous health issues on top of heartbreak and pressure, all of which made the day-to-day responsibilities of life extremely difficult. I can happily say that the worst of it is behind me, and I am ending college on a fantastic note! However, it is still the biggest hurdle I’ve had in my college years.
Was is it that you will miss the most?
Is everything an option? I will miss walking to lecture, eating my lunch in the library, getting an omelette at the North Campus student center, living with my best friends, driving to class and parking in lot 3 when I oversleep, last minute dinner plans in Sawtelle, late night drives to Lala’s on Melrose, Bachelor/Bachelorette nights, setting off the very sensitive smoke detector with my cooking, and just being so carefree. At no other point in my life will I have so few responsibilities. The next chapter ahead is pretty amazing, but I would relive my college experience in a heartbeat.
Hopes, dreams, and aspirations for your future?
Honestly, I feel like I have the whole world ahead of me. Now, it’s time to start taking action towards the things on my life’s dream list. I want to go become a successful Los Angeles lawyer, own property, travel, get married, have children, and live the best life I possibly can. My top financial goals for the near future will be managing law school tuition and loans and saving to buy property in the city. I have a budding passion for real estate, so perhaps I will delve further into that industry. Maybe I will even monetize the blog someday. Regardless, I have big dreams for the life I will live, and I am starting to think that they might all be able to come true!
So what’s my next step?
Law school! Yes, this means I’m not done with school quite yet! I am taking this year off after graduation to apply to law school and get experience in the industry. However, LA is home, and I plan to live the rest of my life here. This city is magical and just has the strongest spell over me.
I have absolutely loved my UCLA experience, and I cannot believe it’s over. A part of me is sad, and a part of me is relieved. I am sad to see one of my favorite chapters of my life come to an end, but I am relieved that this period of intense growth will slow down a smidge. I cannot thank my family and friends enough for everything they have provided along the way. They have been my best support system, my best laughs, and have shown me immense love. I am excited to see where the future takes me, and I look forward to taking all my readers along for the ride!
xx
Emily
