Monday, June 15, 1998
UCLA preps students for real world
EDUCATION: Living away from home, department counseling helps
students go out on own
By Brian Fishman and Teresa Jun
Daily Bruin Contributors
You finally completed all those units. You’ve picked up your
Gradpak and stood in line for your photo package. And in less than
a week, you will officially graduate into the "post-college"
world.
But are you ready? Did UCLA adequately prepare you for life in
the real world? More importantly, for all the money and time you
put into college, what did you really get out of your four, five or
six-year adventure?
This year, U.S. News & World Report rated UCLA as the
5th-best public university in the nation.
But that magazine’s ratings system, like so many others, is
based mostly on academic criteria, when there is much more to a
college education than what is learned in class.
For Jennifer Murray, a graduating English student, what she
learned here wasn’t necessarily limited to what she was taught in
class.
"If you’re resourceful, you can find what you need (at UCLA),
but you need to be self-motivated," Murray explained.
She emphasized that UCLA has all the resources a student could
ever need, but its enormous size can create access problems.
"I think it might be easier to find resources at a smaller
university," Murray said. "It’s easy to get lost (at UCLA)."
But fears that UCLA’s size hinders its ability to help students
may not be justified. Individual faculty members are as helpful at
UCLA as they would be at a private school, Murray said.
Other students felt the same way, saying also that the rewards
for searching out hard-to-find information is well worth the
effort.
"You’ve got to find stuff. But I expected less than I got," said
Taly Ravid, also a graduating English student. She explained it can
be difficult to access resources at UCLA.
Using a department’s resources, rather than the university’s,
may be an easier way to get counseling and job placement assistance
that Bruins need after college.
"In the English department, there were several people who
encouraged me to find contacts," Murray said, arguing that
university counselors are often harder to get a hold of.
"That (advice) came from the department, not the university,"
she said.
In addition to the academic education and department resources
students received from UCLA, Bruins will also take with them
valuable lessons they received outside of the classroom.
Most seniors, like Elizabeth Le, a fifth-year international
economics student, say they feel prepared to take on the real world
independently because of their college experiences.
"College really teaches you how to live on your own," Le
said.
"For most students, this is the first time you’re away from home
and it teaches you to rely on yourself in terms of everything."
"You have to learn to manage your own bills and finances. You’re
definitely on your own," she added.
Le said these practical skills were easy to learn at a place
like UCLA.
"Here, you’re not just thrown into the world," she explained.
"There’s so many others who are in the same situation."
Seniors say they also learned how to become more
well-rounded.
"You come to UCLA. You study, you work out, you socialize," said
Kamran Nahid, a fifth-year economics student.
"It’s such a busy campus, and everyone’s doing so many
things."
After graduation, Nahid said he plans to continue this
well-rounded lifestyle.
"Even after I get a job, I’ll still continue to do community
service and travel," he added.
UCLA also taught Nahid how to accept people from different
ethnicities and backgrounds .
"At UCLA, I got to meet a spectrum of people," reflected Nahid,
who came from a high school that largely consisted of a single
ethnicity.
"The world isn’t made up of only one ethnicity. The diversity at
UCLA is like a small model of Los Angeles, so I was able to learn
how to understand other cultures," he said.
Knowledge that students gained outside the classroom doesn’t end
there.
"I learned how to meet deadlines (and) how to manage my time,"
said Gianna Carotenuto, a fourth-year art history student. "They’re
really important skills that I didn’t have before I came here."
For Doug Aoyama, a fourth-year computer science student, the
educational experience at UCLA would not have been complete without
learning how to stand up for himself.
"I learned how to challenge authority, (and) how to stand up and
yell at your professors if you need to," he said.
Even UCLA alumni can vouch for the skills and lessons they
learned during college.
Cathy Wilson, who graduated in 1975 with degrees in sociology
and psychology, recalled an enlightening experience.
"In college, I tutored kids with learning disabilities," she
reflected. "I learned how to look at small changes and always be
positive about small successes."
This lesson is one Wilson still values today.
"Small successes can really add up, and this applies to
everything," she said. "It’s about seeing the good things and not
focusing on the bad stuff."