Editorial: Bruins should explore all that UCLA offers

A warning for incoming freshman and transfer students: UCLA
lights the way for you ““ you have to find your own
path.

For a complete Bruin experience, you will have to couple
individual effort with the latent opportunities lurking in the
campus community ““ only through this combination will you
reap the hidden benefits of attending one of the largest, and best,
research universities in the country.

Life at UCLA can be like life in a windowless factory. If you
choose to tackle nothing more than your basic coursework, you can
obtain a prestigious degree in few years and never look back
““ or around ““ but you will miss crucial elements
of college life.

Unless you actively seek personal enrichment, UCLA will not
force you to earn anything other than your diploma. The quarter
system and the constant grind of midterms makes UCLA a well-oiled
“degree factory” for those who desire nothing more.

But if you take this narrow approach to your time here, you will
miss social and cultural experiences, you will not develop a full
range of professional skills, and you will not have any college
stories to remember when you are old. Unlike life at many sheltered
high schools and private colleges, doors are not opened for you at
UCLA. You have to pick a door, walk up to it, grab the handle,
twist, and pull.

But once you make that effort, you will be amazed by the
opportunities.

And it doesn’t really matter which “door” you
open. The important part is just opening a door. Once you make the
decision to actively involve yourself in campus life, a multitude
of options will present themselves. There is an almost endless
number of extracurricular options for UCLA students to explore:
student government, community service, student media, cultural
clubs, religious groups, sports clubs, internships, research, on-
and off-campus jobs.

Many of these opportunities can be interrelated; others will
prepare you for what comes next in life. A long commitment with
community service groups may lead you to a job with student
government; an on-campus job may allow you to gain skills for the
off-campus job you really wanted.

Although it is important to enrich your college experience with
personal activities, you shouldn’t feel you have to
immediately find the perfect group or job. Some groups recruit
heavily, while other interesting organizations have no significant
recruitment drives. Some organizations require 30-plus hours a
week, while others only entail occasional meetings. It is important
for you to actively learn about organizations of all types before
you become too heavily involved in just one.

Ultimately, if you choose to become an active member of the UCLA
community, you will learn that UCLA is a great place that could be
much greater. You will learn that Los Angeles is a bustling city
with as many opportunities as problems.

Once your experiences as a Bruin build, you will begin to
understand where you fit in and what you can contribute. Just like
a real community, UCLA needs people with all interests and skills.
Don’t waste your years here traveling from the safety of the
dorm to the castle that is our college library. You have the rest
of your life to creep endlessly on the 405 Freeway from the your
house to your job and live a narrow life.

For now, explore this community freely, and don’t expect
others to make decisions for you.