It’s officially that time of the school year when we approach the second half of the school year, and when high school seniors start making their transition from high school and into college. I see plenty of social media sites featuring upcoming college freshmen, whether through sharing their profiles on UCI class accounts or asking for advice through UCI social media forums that make me think about my own first experiences as an incoming freshman. Of course, it’s not always the ideal route to be a commuter in college. Due to the external pressures of dorming having been considered the “better” college experience, there’s probably a lot of anxiety from incoming freshmen about having a genuine college experience if they’re commuting. UCI’s reputation as a commuter school likely does not quell these concerns, and I will be honest, sometimes I still get these anxieties.
I personally believe the college and campus life experience is different for commuters and dormers, so I wanted to provide a guide of UCI for incoming students based on my knowledge and experience. Granted, I am still a freshman since the school year has not ended, but remembering my confusion and lack of knowledge about UCI’s campus and culture coming into my first quarter convinced me to provide some guiding points for incoming Anteaters this upcoming fall quarter.
Campus-Commuter Culture
For UCI commuters, one of the big things you may want to know about the UCI culture is what it’s like getting here. You may have already heard that parking at UCI can be a pain, so it’s important to know that morning classes are best to find yourself a close-to-campus parking spot. If you’re able to, getting to campus before 9 A.M. is prime time to get a guaranteed spot.
Another difficulty is experiencing the full college life if you don’t live on campus. For example, if you go by a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, and a campus event takes place on a Tuesday, you may not feel it’s worth driving to UCI for an hour or two of that event. So, it’s important to know the different areas on campus to make the most of your time commuting!
Whether you’re a dormer or commuter, the social life of UCI is pretty laid-back, so you’ll most likely find a lot of the hustle at UTC, the strip mall with restaurants and stores connected to UCI or Ring Road. Almost every day, there are booths and clubs selling food, crafts, and other goods throughout Ring Road, and there are often campus organizations giving out free stuff, from pens to lanyards to tote bags! I typically choose a parking spot near Ring Road every quarter so I can be one of the first to walk through the different booths and markets. Towards the end of each quarter, UCI hosts a vendor fair for about a week, where small businesses come to UCI to sell their products, so that’s something you could definitely keep in mind when figuring out what times to stay or drive to UCI.
As for Campus traditions, there is honestly still a lot that I don’t know, considering I don’t live on campus. However, the biggest one that comes to mind is Petr, a spin-off cartoon drawing of our mascot, Peter the Anteater. Petr is usually given out as limited edition stickers that UCI students rush to get from anonymous creators on spontaneous dates. Although the original Petr creator resigned from releasing any more Petr stickers this year, there are still many creators on-campus that follow the same tradition in releasing their rendition of Petr-based merch.
Keeping Up Grades
This does not apply to commuter students only since every university student likely struggles with maintaining study habits or understanding the material to get good grades. However, the easiest way to predict how well you do in your classes is through accurately planning them out, which technically makes this section applicable to more than just commuters — but useful nonetheless.
For me, two of the most vital websites that I use every time it comes close to a registration date are Zotistics and Rate My Professor. UCI students, and any other college student, may already be familiar with Rate My Professor to have a general idea of what professors to get and avoid, but Zotistics is catered to UCI students. It helps you know what to expect about your future courses and your likelihood of getting an A. Knowing ahead of time the distribution of As, Bs, etc. for your course will provide you a great foundation for your first year at UCI.
Additionally, the UCI-specific website AntAlmanac also creates your schedule for you! You input the course names or codes of your classes, and it automatically provides you with a weekly digital calendar.
Campus Geography
The campus is definitely a hike from class to class, as with most universities. As commuters, we might already be tired of the trek from our parking spots to our classes, so it can be a pain when the quarter starts and you’re trying to find a class or building on the other side of campus. However, after a week or two, I realized that UCI is essentially one big circle, with Aldrich Park at the center. Once you notice that, lecture halls get easier to find and navigating your way around campus becomes a piece of cake!
As commuters, it also may be hard for us to get the chance to explore the campus since we want to just come home by the end of our last class. A really helpful tool for those commuters who don’t have time or energy to figure out the entire campus by themselves can do so with the app “ZotFinder,” a map of the UCI campus designed for UCI students! You can download the app for free through the App Store and type in your desired campus location for drawn-out directions (and an ETA!) to get there.
And for those who want to be involved…
Campus organizations are important and a great way to be involved and make friends. Alas, for us commuter students, this can be a pain since many of them meet in the evening, and staying at one place the entire day to drive home can be exhausting, especially when you have to drive home at night. If clubs are something you want to commit to as a commuter student, then it’s a great idea to explore and figure out what you like. However, if you’re not keen on staying until evening to drive home, then there’s a solution for finding extracurriculars to boost your resume:
Similar to Indeed or LinkedIn, Handshake is a site that connects people to jobs, except it partners with certain universities and is only accessible to college students. This means you can find jobs, internships, research positions, and many other ways to be involved, whether in-person or remote. UCI students have access to Handshake, and you can start figuring out what opportunities lay in your area of interest.
There are likely some aspects of being a UCI student that I am missing. However, throughout my first year at UCI, I thought these sectors of the school and culture were vital to what made my first experiences here worthwhile, so I hope that these pieces of advice are something that can be passed on to incoming Anteaters!