UCSD Admit Day

Today dad and I attended UC San Diego's freshmen 'Admit Day'. I was accepted into Revelle College - one of UCSD's six colleges, and I was accepted into UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering. Revelle, the first of UCSD's college, focuses on getting a broad and in-depth, and thus rigorous, education so we can all be Renaissance students...woo. But allegedly it is the school to be in if you have a science major, although the composition of students for each major draws from each of the 6 colleges.

For Admit Day, each college had random tables outside where they gave away candy and got you excited about something like ... I don't even know what. After fumbling around for a bit found we waited in line for a lecture about Revelle and found Steven Buell, whom we earlier felicitously encountered upon our arrival to one of the Revelle parking lots. Steven also happened to apply to UCSD (independently of me) and also happened to choose Revelle, although his major is bioengineering whereas mine is computer science.

After being given the opportunity to ask questions to two 2nd year Revellians outside while we waited in line, we entered a theater where the Revelle College administration told us about housing, AP credits etc. Then, while parents remained seated, students went into another theater that was behind the current one. There, we were alone with other 2nd year Revelle students. Here we could ask questions that we wouldn't ask with parents and administrators around. Sounds exciting, huh? The first question was "Is there an honors program?" Yeah that was a big whammy of a question -_-, and it didn't get much better. But here, Steven and I found Lauren Waggoner. We were the three coolest people in the class by a landslide. Hah...landslide.

And then, a tour of Revelle in a group of about 7 people with a tour guide, who was also a 2nd year student. We saw where we'd eat and took note of the numerous bike racks. UCSD students are encouraged not to use cars. We get stickers that let us use San Diego's super public transportation system for free. Bikes are best for navigating around campus. As for dormitories, there are 6 separate buildings, or 'fleets', in Revelle. Each is named after a ship because of Revelle's theme that has something to do with the seas. Since Revelle is the oldest of UCSD's colleges, it is the most prestigious. But it also has the oldest buildings and dorms. I do not particularly care about the prestigiousness of our college and certainly the most exciting thing about going to college is supposed to be the humongous modern buildings, but not to worry. Next year we will be able to move into a new apartment complex that they are currently building, and WE will have the newest dorms. But for this year, I will live in one of two possible types of dorms. Three of the 6 'fleets' are the oldest buildings in UCSD. They have very thick brick walls, so wireless technology does not work well. (Don't worry! There is wired internet access.) I felt like I was in a castle when we toured these dorms. People were volunteering to let us visit their rooms so it was kind of awkward walking in and seeing others trying to study. Each room had 2 actual bedrooms, each with 2 beds. Then there was a bathroom and this small living area with a TV. You can bring a microwave into the room if you wish, but eating elsewhere is easy. Each building has a washing machine and a drier. My tour guide says he makes an effort to use the washer early in the morning to avoid conflicts with others. The second type of building/fleet is slightly newer and much larger with 4 floors, each with its own laundry area. Hopefully I will adapt to the oldness of these dorms with time, but this is unrealistic. I will find a friend in the Sixth College - the newest college - and spend all my time loitering in his room.

Then King Dabby and I (King Dabby is my father) had to sprint halfway around the world to make it to the Jacobs School of Engineering for a presentation about itself. There are 6 different majors - Computer and Information Sciences is only one of them, and Computer Engineering is another. Some of the professors talked to us in this gigantic room and discussed the kinds of problems we might solve, but then we split off into groups according to our majors. In a smaller theater we had a chance to ask questions to a panel of other students who are computer science majors. Supposedly we will be getting many job offers via email every day since companies love to recruit UCSD students for their computer science skills. At UCSD they send teams of students to work on projects for other companies to solve real problems. Companies like this because the teams are much better at solving problems independently than individuals who would otherwise be a burden. They said it would be realistic to get an internship after our second year during the summer, but I have a feeling that many of the students there didn't have much background in computer science. So for me it would be realistic to get an internship after my first year. There is a program to study abroad that they encourage everyone to do. Not many do it currently but the number of people who do grows each year. If you know another language then you can go to another country like Sweden and take general ed classes over there for credit and not fall behind. The atmosphere of the computer science classes is much more collaborative than competitive at UCSD. This is not the case at schools like Berkeley, where students are very competitive. One of the graduated students in the panel mentioned that she was originally a bioengineering major, but switched to computer science because she didn't like the competitive atmosphere of the bioengineering classes where people are fighting for a limited number of jobs. Luckily there is a plethora of jobs available for computer science majors, so it looks like I'll be working with a congenial group.

Finally we visited the building where our classrooms were. It is beautiful! I will look forward to biking down to this building every day and will sprint from the bike racks and, on the first day, I'll run right into the door. But then I'll learn, and I'll get really good at running up the staircase. It is such a large and magnificent modern building. Upstairs there were classrooms. On the main floor there was a ... well you see, we ate here before exploring so I don't know if it was a type of cafeteria or if it was just set up as a cafeteria just for us. Anyways, there was a floor beneath this which is where all the computer labs were. There are 4 or 6 labs and each has about 30 computers, all of which will boot into either Linux or Windows. They made a big point to come in an ask any of the tutors for help if we ever have trouble with our code.

King Dabby and I would have visited the track but it was rather far away. So we drove home, stopping by 7/11 to get Vitamin Waters and then by Wendys for eating purposes.

I am no longer considering the other colleges into which I was admitted. UCSD is amazing, King Dabby and I agree. UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering is ranked #9 internationally. The staff is friendly and supposedly you can walk in any time to any of their classrooms and they are happy to help you out. College Board reports that 100% of the students come from the top 10% of their graduating high school classes, and that 80% had a GPA of 3.75 and higher. The Jacobs school supposedly only accepts 10% of those who apply. The campus is huge and most of the buildings look great. I am excited to start college - more now than I was. UCSD makes high school seem like a joke. I belong at a university!