Whether you are a first year student still trying to make your presence known on campus or a fourth year student trying to make your last year at UCSB worthwhile, reminiscing on what you have learned and how far you have come is a great feeling…or maybe not. Take a moment to think about what you can improve on to make your experience at UCSB just that much more amazing! These are the ten things you will learn as a UCSB first year, or, um, eventually.
1. There’s a lot more to “growing up” than just aging.
Growing up is more than just birthdays and wrinkles, it’s about maturing and becoming independent! Diana Valle, a third year student, put it the best way possible, saying, “I learned to grow up and how to be comfortably independent. The most important lesson to get out of ‘growing up’ is that new life situations will always be scary with unfamiliarity, but there is a valuable purpose for everything.”
2. The struggle is REAL when it comes to balancing your social life and your academic life.
By simply taking a casual stroll down the Arbor to go to lecture, you’ll notice just how many different activities there are for you to get involved in. All of your time will go toward hanging out with your club members and friends, you might sometimes forget to study. Finding the balance between being involved and being too involved is tough. But keeping a schedule is very helpful.
3. “Time Management” isn’t about planning your weekends around a hangover!
College students hear “time management” and think about scheduling their day around a lousy hangover. Here at UCSB, we party hard but study HARDER! If you’re like many students, it can be difficult to keep track of school, work, and possible extracurricular activity meetings.
Guadalupe Pulido, a second year student, manages her time best by keeping an organized planner. Having a planner is a great idea to manage your time, maybe even a cool smart phone app. Maybe we should all take some advice from her!
4. You go to a top ranked research University, act like it!
Whether UCSB was your first choice or “safety school,” you are privileged enough to attend an institution that is highly ranked. This means there is no room for slacking off!
5. Studying is more than just staring at your books!
Since you go to a top ranked university in the nation, you have to put in the work! Studying isn’t just about memorzing the material from your lectures, it’s also about learning HOW to study. For example, studying in groups is much more than just hanging out with your friends who just happen to have the same class as you, it’s about creating a learning space with classmates. On the contrary, some people like studying alone. Whether you need to isolate yourself from others or work better in a collaborative setting, it’s important to figure out early on what study habits work best for your needs.
6. Office Hours: there’s a reason for its existence.
We’ve all gone through the “what the heck are office hours?” phase. If you have a paper due, go to office hours. If you have a question about an exam, go to office hours. Use your resources, woman!
7. Having an open mind can lead you to wonders!
Whether it’s learning about inclusive language from your RA or joining one of the several ethnicity-based organizations on campus, learning how to keep an open mind is a useful tool. If you’re open to other people and experiences then your whole world will open up. Trust me.
8. You live by the beach, enjoy it!
Let’s go to the beach, beach! Let’s get away!
9. Embrace your identity!
Meeting new people is stressful enough, and small talk can make everyone uncomfortable at first, but it’s all worth it! Just as Diana says, “I am able to coexist with many of friends of various religious and ethnic backgrounds. I consider it a valuable cultural experience”. Learning to accept other people makes you a strong person, but accepting yourself makes you a superstar!
10. UCSB is beautiful, in case you didn’t know!
UCSBS is absolutely beautiful and the people here don’t compare to any other place! Enjoy your time in paradise, Gauchos. Olé!