As a sophomore, I’ve been thinking about choosing a college, though it’s still something very blurry in my head. Coming down to the decision of choosing a college is very nerve-racking but important.
Getting the news that I was going to visit California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) felt like a jolt of excitement. When I stepped onto Daniel Pearl Magnet High School’s campus the morning of the field trip on Nov. 10, everyone was buzzing, talking about their plans and where they’d sit for the trip. Juniors were going to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and CSUN while seniors were going to CSUN and Pepperdine University (Pepperdine). Arriving at CSUN, I was immediately struck by the sight of the campus and that feeling repeated itself when I stepped onto the UCLA campus later in the trip.
Stepping off the bus at CSUN early in the morning, I was awestruck by the scene: quiet pathways leading to the main building, the smell of coffee, and people studying everywhere. Math teacher Tuan “Duke” Huynh shared a personal story about meeting his wife at the library and spending most of his time there, which made the place feel more special.
It was a short field trip to CSUN. We started off with an orientation with school representatives mostly talking to the seniors and juniors, not much to the sophomores. After the meeting, we left the building and waited in the center for our guide. While we were waiting, we bumped into DPMHS alumni and we had a wonderful time. We did a short tour as our tour guide just pointed at the different spots. As the time clicked closer, we had to leave. Before we left, we saw the mascot of CSUN, the Matador, which they called “The Good Luck Charm.” Students give roses to the Matador during finals season.
Finally arriving at UCLA a bit early in the schedule, the other students and I had time to go to the student store and the food court. When entering the food court, it didn’t feel like back in high school in which everyone was talking during lunch. The UCLA students were so concentrated on their own work and they even did work during the break. It made me feel intimidated by their strong minds and hard work knowing that college is something serious and important.
Around 10:40 am, we went back to the meeting spot, and as we all settled in, our tour guide arrived. We started our journey and saw so many parts of UCLA. It was pretty, winning my heart over and filling myself with inspiration with every step I took, which made it amazing.
”One thing I found or you could learn was that UCLA was founded in 1919,” freshman Skyler Saji said. “UCLA has a lot of clubs to offer and they have a nice environment and culture which really grab my attention and speaking about the clubs there not just one specific club there are so many to your liking and with your culture which is very welcoming.”
While the tour was going great, we walked through the quad and saw many stands with different types of clubs. As our tour guide saw this, he started going into detail how each club is different from the others and explained how the students create their club and going in depth with the students’ emotions.
“One thing I learned from UCLA was how they like art and showing how many people can be creative in their own way and showing that they are welcome,” sophomore Alexa Franco said.
My mindset has not changed. I don’t think it’s changed my intent of becoming a lawyer for immigrants and helping them achieve their rights. Seeing all these college students so focused made me more motivated to keep on going and achieve the goal I have for myself. Something I definitely learned from this experience is that college is something you like to do and you don’t feel the pressure of the amount of responsibilities it comes with. This is also with making my parents proud and learning to be a human being.
UCLA won my mind but I still have other opinions to consider. UCLA is beautiful and the outside walks to get to your classes makes the campus so much prettier and comforting.
