If you’ve experienced a pre-COVID UCSB, you’ve hopefully had the privilege of utilizing some on-campus resources like the massage chairs at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) or the service dogs that Health & Wellness bring to campus during dead week. While you can’t use a massage chair or pet some sweet dogs, there are still plenty of valuable resources to check out that are offering some great virtual services.
Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) offers so many great resources for students, especially first-generation students. Some of their services include counseling appointments, lots of info about campus resources through PowerPoints and their website and events like Town Halls and “Real Talk” where first-gen students can chat with EOP peers in a virtual setting. While EOP is a great resource for first-gen students, in particular, their services are available for all students! Check out their website to learn more!
Career Services is your resource for anything and everything career-related. Take self-assessments, learn job-search strategies, and get your application documents reviewed by Career Services’ staff. Counselors are still taking appointments, so if you want to talk about how to break into a certain industry or get advice on graduate school, make an appointment or come into Drop-In offered Monday-Friday from 10 am-12 pm and 1 pm-3 pm.
Campus Learning Assistance Program (CLAS) has helped me get through multiple courses, both in-person and online. They are still offering tutoring services through group and drop-in sessions for subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, economics, math, engineering, language and writing (so, pretty much everything). They offer workshops for topics like test-taking strategies, GRE info, study habits, etc.
Health & Wellness is famous for bringing service dogs on-campus for stress relief during dead week. While they don’t offer this specific service anymore, there are still plenty of events ranging from meditation and mindfulness to cooking. They also have fun challenges like the Sleep Challenge and the Happiness Challenge that you can participate in to learn tips and strategies about sleep or happiness.
ONDAS Student Center is a tragically under-used resource, especially considering they offer advising on just about everything. There are ONDAS peers in a variety of majors, including Psychological & Brain Sciences, Biology, Political Science, Sociology, Communications, and Environmental Studies. You can talk with the peers about anything from classes to campus resources, and they also offer academic advising from a College of Letters & Science advisor.
Pre-Law & Pre-Health Advising is a must for anyone who may be having trouble navigating either of these tracks. Their websites are chock-full of great resources and ways to get in contact with an advisor. The pre-health website, in particular, has every bit of information you could ever need about all the possible healthcare tracks: medicine, dentistry, physician’s assistant, optometry, nursing, and more. If you’re looking to go into either of these industries, this is a resource you need to check out!
It’s important to note that if you’re paying tuition, these resources are available to you for free. We don’t need to go into the fact that we’re paying full tuition for online education, BUT, make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck by looking into some of these awesome services!