Conversations with Alumni: College Experience

No matter where you are in your high school career, you likely have some questions about university (especially you Class of 2023 ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ). Just remember your senior year will be here soon enough underclassmen (; ω ; )ヾ(´∀`* )! I have interviewed 4 of LHA’s alumni who are in various stages of their post-secondary education to provide some insight as to what the transition from high school to university is like.

First, we have Christopher Cuevas-Johnston who graduated from LHA in 2021. He is attending the University of California, Santa Cruz and majoring in “Arts and Games: Playable media, or Game design.” He is currently in his second year. (＾▽＾)

• Q: Can you tell me a little bit about some of the classes you’ve taken and about your overall program?
  • A: “The classes are no cake walk for certain, especially with the addition of needing to work back up to get to where I need to be academically, I do however take General Education classes to make sure I’m not overwhelming myself with all the academics I need and I’m experimenting with things that [have been hobbies], seeing if i can consider alternative options.”
• Q: Do you live on/off campus? Do you have any roommates? What has your overall experience been like? 
  • A: “I live on campus, as the school recommends, and I have experienced 2 rooms, The Hextuple dorm room and a Double. From my experience both have their cons and pros, like social interactivity and cost of course[.] There is a lot more to note than what I am saying, and there may be some personal bias involved.”
• Q: Have you attended any school events or games? Is there a specific event/game that you’ve really enjoyed or found the most memorable?
  • A: “Unfortunately I am not really a sports person so I can’t speak on that matter.”
• Q: What did you find to be the biggest difference between university and high school?
  • A: “The biggest difference between the two is the nature of college and the standard. College feels a lot more loose and encourages to be outside the standard where applicable, while acknowledging that this mentality has been drilled into us.”
• Q: What is one common misconception about university that you’ve discovered since attending?
  • A: “I don’t really know, if i had to say one, its that college isn’t as bad as it may seem, still difficult, especially if you aren’t used to having so much freedom you ruin your time management, but that’s mostly you still adapting to the open opportunity to do what you want.”
• Q: If you could give a future college student one piece of advice, what would it be?
  • A: “If i had to give some advice, Be prepared after your first set of classes are completed, you may still be in a holiday mood so its harder to jump back into things straight away, and it may feel like too much, just work through it as best as you can, and don’t be afraid of getting C’s.”

Next up, we have Delicia Cuevas-Johnston who graduated from LHA in 2020. She is attending the University of California, Riverside and majoring in liberal studies. She is currently a third-year student. („• ᴗ •„)

• Q: Can you tell me a little bit about some of the classes you’ve taken and about your overall program?
  • A: “I have taken a wide variety of classes. One of my favorite classes was an English class based around dissecting poems from the mid-20th century but not from the most commonly known poets during that time. This quarter I am looking forward to my education class in which we are discussing the exceptional child, children who have disabilities. My program with one of the most flexible majors at UCR. I have complete freedom with my major to pick any classes that fall under the category. For example, I took a music class where I got to learn about audio engineering for my American Literature/Art Course.”
• Q: Do you live on/off campus? Do you have any roommates? What has your overall experience been like?
  • A: Since I started college during covid, I had decided that for my last two years in college, I was going to live on campus. Since last year, I have lived in the dorms and both times I have had two roommates. Last year was interesting. I wasn’t used to living with so many people. It was fun meeting new people and seeing how different things were from transitioning from high school to college. This year I live in a different dorm complex and it’s a lot quieter, which I like. The only downside is I hardly know the people who live in the rooms around me. I have absolutely loved living in the dorms and I was very fortunate to get amazing roommates both years.
• Q: Have you attended any school events or games? Is there a specific event/game that you’ve really enjoyed or found the most memorable?
  • A: My favorite event I have attended on campus was our Bonfire event for homecoming this year. Bonfire for us is where we have 3-4 performing artists, 2-3 local/decently popular artists, and a student artist. At some point during the night, they set off fireworks and set up the bonfire towards the back of the crowd. My friends and I all decided to attend and we had a blast just talking to each other and being able to meet up with each other.
• Q: What did you find to be the biggest difference between university and high school?
  • A: The biggest difference I have found is the amount of freedom I have. I know that it’s the freedom a lot of younger students have learned to idolize but we don’t fully understand just how hard life gets unless you build a consistent schedule just to make sure you attend all your classes, do assignments, meet up with friends, go to work/clubs/organizations. You realized that no one is holding your hand and you are doing everything yourself.
• Q: What is one common misconception about university that you’ve discovered since attending?
  • A: One misconception I have learned was false is that professors/TAs are not willing to work with you. A lot of the time I grew up hearing that “x won’t fly in college”. The thing is most professors are willing to work with you, so long as you talk to them. They understand that we are human and life happens. They would rather you go to them and ask for an extension than have you fail the class because you stopped trying after something came up and you got behind with work.
• Q: If you could give a future college student one piece of advice, what would it be?
  • A: The best advice I can give to a future college student [is to] talk to professors, TAs, and academic advisors. They are your best resources. Academic advisors are there to help you navigate what classes to take in order to stay on track and graduate in 4 years. When talking to professors and TAs not only are you getting better access to understanding the material for their classes but they can also give out recommendations/advice on where to look for internships.

Thirdly, we have Reann Macias who graduated in 2017. In the fall of 2021, she graduated from California State University, Sacramento where she received her Bachelors of Arts in Child and Adolescent Development. (＼(＾▽＾)／ wooooo!)

• Q: What was your favorite or most memorable course that you took?
  • A: “My favorite course had to be my senior seminar. It allowed me the opportunity to gain experience in my field and create connections to many different resources.”
• Q: Did you live on/off campus? Did you have any roommates? What was your overall experience like? 
  • A: “I lived off campus all throughout my college experience. I lived in an apartments that were close to campus and my roommates were friends from high school. I definitely enjoyed my experience, I have a lot of great memories.”
• Q: Did you attend any school events or games? Is there a specific event/game that you’ve really enjoyed or found the most memorable?
  • “A lot of my college experience was taken away due to COVID, so I didn’t attend that many events as I wanted to. However, I did attend football games. My most memorable event had to be the homecoming game.”
• Q: What did you find to be the biggest difference between university and high school?
  • A: “I didn’t really find a big difference between college and high school in regarding classes. However, it was an prioritizing my time for classes, work, study time, and a social life had to be one of the most challenging things for me at first.”
• Q: What is one common misconception about university that you discovered?
  • A: “A common misconception that I discovered is having to stick to the major you picked going into college. It’s okay to take different courses and explore your interests. It’s okay to change your major.”
• Q: If you could give a future college student one piece of advice, what would it be? 
  • A: “Advice for future college students, it’s not a race. Everyone’s journey is going to be different, but you will get to your finish line.”

Last but certainly not least, we have Ms. Bernal aka Ms. B (! *¯︶¯*) who graduated from LHA in 2016. She attended UCLA and graduated in 2019, although she was “technically the class of 2020.” Starting out, she was “a STEM major but switched to English with a minor in Film and Television Studies.”

• What was your favorite or most memorable course that you took?
  • A: “One of my favorite courses was a Poetry and Digital Media class where we analyzed poetry within the context of the internet. The professor was very cool, and the assignments were weird little creative projects. We even looked at a lot of memes.”
• Did you live on/off campus? Did you have any roommates? What was your overall experience like? 
  • A: “I lived on campus for the first three years in a triple (meaning three people to a room). Roommates were randomized the first year and I ended up rooming with one of them for the following years because we got along. I was very lucky with my roommates; I have heard stories where others were not. In my last quarter, I lived off campus, so I had to commute via bus which was very exhausting. One thing about the housing on the UCLA campus is that you have to hike up this very sloped hill to get to your dorms, so every day was a journey to and from class.”
• Did you attend any school events or games? Is there a specific event/game that you’ve really enjoyed or found the most memorable?
  • A: “I didn’t go to any games, but I would go to some movie screenings and theater productions the school would put on. I was also in a couple of film related clubs, and I went to events they hosted.”
• What did you find to be the biggest difference between university and high school?
  • A: “High school (Aspire specifically) preps you how to be a college student, but college preps you how to be your own person. There’s a lot less structure so you have to set it up yourself and are forced to develop time management skills.”
• What is one common misconception about university that you discovered?
  • A: “A big misconception is that you should know exactly what to study and what job you want when you enter college. I switched my major three times until I settled with English. You learn what you like and what you’re good at, so ideas and passions shift. If your first option doesn’t work out it doesn’t have to be a big deal because there are always other options.”
• If you could give a future college student one piece of advice, what would it be?
  • A: “The “college experience” is not universal so you should not compare yourself to others. If you’re lost, that’s okay. Everyone is constantly trying to figure things out themselves. Just follow the things you like, and you’ll land somewhere.”

Let’s have a round of applause for our interviewees (ᵔ◡ᵔ)ﾉﾉ”! Thank you so much to our LHA alumni for taking the time to answer my questions and provide some insight into university life! Similar to Reann’s piece of advice, everyone’s journey or experience is going to be different, so I wanted to provide a few different perspectives.

I’m hoping to write more articles regarding this topic, so if you have any other questions about university that you’d like answered or know of any other potential alumni for future interviews, please email me at [email protected] <(￣︶￣)>. For alumni recommendations, remember to ask them before handing out their information! I hope this little Q&A session answered some of your questions or tackled your concerns regarding university!

♡( ◡‿◡ )

*Note:  If you want to ask your personal questions to students that go to your specific prospective university, be sure to check if that college is holding any virtual/in-person events or if they have Unibuddy (or another similar program) to chat with their student ambassadors! For Unibuddy, it’s best to go through the university’s website. It allows you to chat with student ambassadors and you can search for someone with the major you have in mind. Not all colleges use Unibuddy, but they may have another similar option (just research their website a bit!)

(*￣▽￣)b