UQ Program: Bachelors of Commerce/Science
I attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for the winter quarter of 2011. I am currently in my fourth year of a Bachelor of Commerce/Science degree and studied Economics, Finance and Accounting subjects at UCLA. The University of California uses the quarter system which consists of ten weeks of classes and one week for exams. It is extremely competitive academically with students ranked on a bell curve against each other and grades assigned to your rank in the subject. Because of this system it is extremely important to keep up to date with your studies and perform well against your peers even on a pass/fail exchange program to gain credit for your exchange. Aside from the competitive nature of students and classes I found that the subject matter was of a similar standard to UQ and my professors were extremely interesting people who often shared real life experiences, tips for the workforce and brought various partners of large financial institutions into classes to enable students the best opportunity to gain internships or graduate positions.
UCLA is definitely one of the most famous universities in the USA surrounded by Bel Air and Beverley Hills. Its spectacular campus is often used for movie sets and visiting sporting teams as a training base. With year-round fine Californian weather and the beaches of Malibu, Newport and Laguna only a short drive away it is common for students to go surfing before or after class. UCLA is also perfectly located for travel on weekends to various locations such as San Diego, Santa Barbra, Yosemite National Park, Las Vegas, San Francisco so there is always something to do. UCLA was an excellent university in which to get a balanced "college experience" with respect to fraternity parties, sporting/social/cultural activities, student clubs and the young professional scene of Hollywood and Beverley Hill’s clubs and cafés. Overall UCLA allowed me to make many new friends both from the USA and abroad through its challenging academic program, sporting teams and social scene that I currently keep in regular contact with. It was an amazing opportunity to challenge myself academically and personally whilst travelling through a great area of the world.
Tips for UCLA:
1. Enroll into classes as early as possible, as it is quite hard to get into classes. If you don’t have access to classes you want to take or if classes are full go and see the professor in person as they will often accept you into the course since you are on exchange.
2. Experience the American fraternity party, house party and college bar scene not only at UCLA but also at nearby colleges like UCSB in Isla Vista and SDSU both throughout the weekdays and on weekends.
3. Attend the orientation at the start of the quarter, as it is the best way to meet other exchange students from around the globe. Vice versa join a sporting team, student club, fraternity/sorority since it’s an easy way to make friends and find out what social events are on.
4. It is easy to get lazy and eat/socialize on campus but make the effort to go to the café’s, restaurant’s, clubs and theatre’s in the West Hollywood area as you will often bump into celebrities or sporting stars and the area is reasonably priced for what you get.
5. Most UQ or study abroad students choose to take three courses per quarter and attend two quarters on exchange, this has its positives in which you get to spend more time at UCLA since the eleven week quarters are very fast paced. However you can take extra courses whilst enrolled for one quarter and still gain a full semester’s credit at UQ. Although only doing one quarter is more intense it means you finish classes in mid-March compared to June allowing you to travel the rest of the USA/world for almost five months before returning to UQ in late July for semester 2.
6. With respect to housing you have a few options you can live on campus in one of the dorms, live in a student run co-operative housing complex close to campus or rent your own apartment off campus. Each option has its positives and negatives with respect to price the student co-operative housing is the cheapest option, it is a good way to meet new people as you are living with them and it usually has less rules alcohol/party wise but you have to work for a few hours each week and it’s a luck of the draw process with respect to roommates, location and facilities. Living on campus in the dorms is more expensive and has rules with respect to alcohol, party/noise wise and you’re surrounded by sometimes immature 17-20 year old Freshmen/Sophomores. However the dorms are usually linked to meal plans at the on campus cafeterias which serve a wide variety of good quality food, the dorms are located close to campus and very safe and secure and you are living with groups of other people so it helps making friends. The final option is what I decided to do which is renting your own apartment close to campus whilst it is a little bit more expensive than the dorms and you need to make more of an effort to meet people you have your own kitchen to cook meals and have no rules with respect to alcohol, parties, visitors and you can study in your own room in peace. This option was perfect for me as I often had groups of visitors for days at a time flying in from Australia, I could throw parties whenever I wanted and when I needed peace and quiet to study/relax I had my own place.
7. Make the most of UCLA’s location by visiting nearby locations such as Santa Barbra, Malibu, Santa Monica, San Diego, Orange County (Newport & Laguna Beach), Las Vegas, Yosemite & Grand Canyon National Parks, Lake Tahoe and San Francisco.