Making the Most Of It - Even with Remote Learning!

Freshman year of college is a huge milestone. More often than not, the first year gets hyped up as that year to primarily make new connections, try new things, figure out what one wants to do with their life, and more! I know that I was really excited to move away from home for the first time, make new friends, dive deeper into my computer science and engineering major, make memories, and overall have my moment. This is gonna be my moment.

And then it wasn’t my moment.

The pandemic struck, and all my hopes for an amazing first year more or less vanished. I couldn’t attend in person classes. I couldn’t live in California. Heck, I couldn’t even visit the campus of my college because pandemic travelling was a no no.

I was really disheartened. Now of course I was still going to take part in all the remote orientations and preparations for my first fall quarter, but at first it just didn’t feel the same. I started to learn more and more about my new university, because 1) it’s my new university, and 2) what else was there to do? 

Through my, for lack of a better word, “investigation” into UCI, I started to learn more about the different opportunities offered at the university, and I also began to establish connections with fellow admitted students and current students (Albeit, purely online connections, but connections nonetheless!). Getting to meet all these wonderful new people, in this pivotal moment in life: that’s what I imagined being a freshman on campus at UCI would be like. That, and of course the actual academic and skill building portions of UCI as well. 

That feeling of excitement and opportunity was what I wanted to capitalize on. Despite all the challenges and losses from remote learning, I really didn’t want to allow this situation to deprive me of my exciting first year. This is where I made an important decision for myself. I was going to make the most of my situation. I was going to do whatever it takes to ensure that I have a great, educational, and fulfilling UCI freshman experience.

Alright, but now that that’s been decided...how exactly does one do that? Simple. One thing I learned about UCI was that there were career building and academic opportunities everywhere. UCI is always constantly bombarding you with networking events, skill sharing and developing, conferences, presentations, and more. Plus, there were many niche organizations to look into, and so many resources, like advisors and my fellow peers, that were all ready for me. To put it another way, I like to say that UCI has one big problem: there’s too many opportunities everywhere left and right! But that’s a good problem to have. 

So my game plan was to take advantage of these opportunities as they came to me. Venture into new, perhaps unfamiliar fields. Try new things. Now more than ever was the perfect time to try.

What else was there to do?

Early on in my first year, I was offered the chance to start a new club. Intimidating? Of course it was. Did I take it on? Heck yeah I did. What an awesome opportunity to learn about and demonstrate leadership at UCI, especially so early on! In my fall quarter, I got numerous career talks and lectures from companies. Did I attend these? Of course! Just for being a computer science and engineering UCI student I had the chance to meet many industry professionals, and get their information and advice for where to take my career! All throughout my classes, I had the chance to connect with professors through their office hours. Did I go to them? When I was being productive, yes! These office hours were the best way to get one on one help in this remote environment, plus to make sure I really stood out as a student. 

This year was full of difficult and unexpected hurdles, and yeah, it is hard to not get disheartened by the global situation. Yet, the idea of making the most of a situation is what kept me going and really transformed my situation into a remarkable experience. What’s perfect about having the “make the most of it” mindset at UCI is that UCI was able to satisfy this desire to do whatever I can. So I did. 

Making the most of it. That’s how I got my freshman year back.