From class planning to Pizookies, new students embrace spontaneity of orientation

This post was updated July 23 at 8:52 p.m.

Fast footsteps and competitive chatter echo around the Inverted Fountain and into the warm midsummer air. The spirit of new Bruins radiates during summer break at UCLA.

For incoming students, the “Carpe Noctem” scavenger hunt late at night is one of many New Student Orientation activities that helps them create connections and experience student life as they prepare for fall quarter.

According to the New Student Academic Program website, the first NSO session began July 5, with three-day sessions running weekly until mid-September. During their stay, students enroll in fall quarter classes, learn about their major and attend informational presentations and workshops.

New students said class enrollment is particularly anxiety-inducing.

“It was definitely stressful leading up to it, but I feel like we were really well prepared,” said Sarah Darzacq, an incoming first-year computer science student. “Our NSA had us all get five alternates for each of our classes, and different discussions and lectures and stuff, just to make sure that we would be able to get something.”

Brian Moreno-Alvarez, a recent alumnus who is working as a New Student Advisor, said his main goal during enrollment is to reassure his students that everything will be okay.

“Having a class on a Friday is not the end of the world, and it may be an opportunity for them to engage in a lecture that they didn’t think would be any of their interest,” Moreno-Alvarez said. “There is no perfect schedule.”

Some students said exploring class options also feels liberating compared to their class schedules during high school.

Julie Liu, an incoming first-year biochemistry student, said creating her first quarter schedule was a new taste of academic freedom despite it being the most stressful part of orientation.

“It made me feel like, ‘Oh, this is actually college,’” Liu said. “I’m actually here, and there are just so many things for me to learn and experience, and I’m really excited.”

New Student Advisors also said that part of orientation is allowing new students to discover ways to get involved on campus.

Elena Allen, a rising third-year psychology student who is working as an NSA, said she hopes to equip her students with extensive knowledge of campus resources and clubs so they have a head start when they arrive on campus in September.

“When we go to the Student Activity Center, we tell them about all the things located there, like the CPO office, like LGBTQ Center, etc.,” she said. “A lot of the clubs around campus come and set up a little station, and students can go around and learn about all those clubs.”

Allen added that students get an early taste of exploring on-campus clubs before the Enormous Activities Fair, which takes place at the beginning of fall quarter.

Moreno-Alvarez also said he tells students to embrace their unique identities when they arrive on campus. He added that although he initially felt a sense of imposter syndrome as a transfer student, he realized that it is students’ diversity of experiences and backgrounds that connects the unique student body.

“I think definitely it’s highlighting the experiences and the diversity that we come from and really just making sure that we can add to it,” Moreno-Alvarez said. “We never feel like we’re just a part of it, but rather, you can then make that first impression, that you can really connect with others who may not may or may not have a similar experience.”

Some incoming students said that they have already left campus with a greater sense of community and belonging after attending orientation.

Darzacq said she bonded over planning class schedules with a student she met in the library. She added that working in the library made her feel excited for her new college life.

Liu also said she joined a group of new students with her orientation roommate to try a Pizookie – a pizza-sized cookie served at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery and a staple of UCLA life – for the first time. She added that trying the Pizookie with fellow Bruins was a new experience that expanded her horizons.

“I tried the Pizookie for the first time with people I had never talked to and people who were very far away from my major,” Liu said. “That was really great because it showed me I’ll belong here, and I’ll find a community here.”