University of California-Los Angeles Top Questions

I find it to be very frustrating when I show up to class and my teacher will not. I think that the teachers need to be responsible to let the students know before hand if they are not going to be coming in to class, so we dont waste our time coming in to school.

I often feel as if students are constantly settling— from relationships, to courses offered, to campus dynamic. Many are selfish and keep to themselves. Others' problems are not their own. Although we advertise ourselves as the pinnacle of “diversity”, this is not synonymous with inclusivity. Often times, everyone of their own ethnic/racial group will only interact with each other, creating little pods of division. Even amongst minority groups, there is a clique-type atmosphere. From how queer you are to how Taiwanese you are, it’s difficult to find your niche in a campus of >40,000 students.

How big it is: getting lost and a fear of becoming just another face in the crowd are universal constants at school. They tell you to try to make an impression on the professors, to get to know them. It is not so easy when you're competing for attention with 500 others from your lecture

We have very large classes so it can be difficult to form a relationship with professors.

Being a moderate sized campus with many students it was often diffcult to find a place to study or to sit and eat during lunch hours.

My school is extremely helpful. One thing that I do strive for is more help in creating a career. I also really would like it if affordable housing near campus was easier to attain. Another aspect may be agreements to help students move closer.

With all the academic success and drive the school spirtit sometimes gets lost in the shuflle. The lack of spirit would be ok if we were not such a powerhouse school at so many sports. UCLA leads all schools in total NCAA Division I championships, something that you might not know from looking at a random slection of students. Students hoping for the Wooden era level basketball entusiasm or a school that gets any sort of rivalry ferver may end up being disappointed.

I prefer focusing on the positive opportunities at Ucla. I love how there are libraries to go & a beautiful hill to go to study. There are great professors that listen to my questions and are eager to offer help. It is astonishing that there are 1000+ clubs to attend to cultivate my interests in the business & medical field. Overall, I love every aspect of Ucla, there is so much to love, that the only fustrating thing is that there is so much competitition. Though there may be competition, I find this essential because it encourages me to work hard.

It is difficult to enroll in classes so make sure to prepare ahead of time.

The fact that there are around 40,000 students yet people still tend to stay in racial cliques.

Refer to first question.

The most frustrating thing about my school is the congested walk ways and long distances to classes.

They do not seem to be overly efficient or organized. For the age of the school, they did not meet even the quality of the community college I attended previously.

The cost. Living in Los Angeles is a pretty penny in itself, but when you add the out-of-state tuition, housing, and textbooks into the equation the financial burden can be overbearing. The fact that I am in debt for more money than I have made in my life is frightening and demoralizing. It looms over me like a black cloud that can even make sunny Los Angeles seem bleak sometimes.

The most frustrating thing about UCLA is that the classes are generally quite large and it's difficult to forge relationships with professors and to get professors to remember you, which can really hurt when it's time to get letters of recommendation.

When the dining hall offers only pizza, hotdog, and french fries. I think they could cook little better than that.

There is not a frustrating thing about the university I am attending.

The most frustrating thing about UCLA is that you are forced to take courses that you are not interested in to satisfy your core requirements before you can begin taking courses for your major. I understand the concept of having a well-rounded education and trying out different fields, especially for those students that don't know what they want to major in. However, for the students like myself, who have known exactly what they want to do for a very long time, it seems like a waste of time and money to take courses that are completely unrelated.

The cost. It continues to increase every year and is already expensive for out-of-state students.

People are very clique0y

One of the most frustrating things about the University of California system in general, is the rising costs. It is becoming more ridiculous to finance an education at a UC, considering the many budget cuts. I wish there were more cuts in the salaries of some of the UC Regents, some of whom range in the 6 digits. There also needs to be more transparency, especially in regards to funding and money. In general, there is a need to redistribute and reprioritize where we spend our money in California. We spend more money on our prison systems than our schools.

Although it's more of a state crisis, the budget cuts are extremely frustrating. As an out-of-state student I couldn't afford the tuition before but now? It's nightmarish.

As a public school, it is sometimes very hard to get the classes that you want (though I haven't had too much trouble with this). Also, the tuition hikes are pretty frustrating.

The most frustrtating things is that because the student body is so large, it is impossible to know everyone that you are attending school with.

The most frustrating thing about my school is the challenge of completing a degree while being consistantly deployed around the world with the U.S. Military. While online classes have alleviated many of the issues pertaining to the challenge classes with a more flexible timeline need to be implemented for those students who are working professionals.

Enrolling for classes is really tough because there are so many people. Everyone gets two appointment times to enroll for classes, and you really have to think about which ones are your priority. Plus you have to find subsitute classes for all your classes and try to make everything fit into a schedule because you're guaranteed to not get at least one class that you wanted.

I think the most frustrating thing about school is the fact that there are so many frustrating criterias and financial problems that are always on the back of the mind, and this impedes studying at certain times. I would love to study without worrying about money or deadlines and whether I have planned my schedule correctly; however, all of this does teach someone how to survive, be independent, and responsible in the future.

The fee increase and budget cuts have been very frustrating and saddening.

The most frustrating thing about UCLA is not being able to get into the classes that you would like. If you are a freshmen, you are last to enroll behind and have to pretty much watch as the classes that you need/would like to take fill up before your eyes. You have to take the risk of going on waitlists sometimes, which is frustrating knowing that you may or may not end up in the class and must simply wait up to 2 weeks constantly checking if someone has dropped the course and a spot has opened up

The most frustrating thing about UCLA is the work load and difficult professors for Life Science Majors. All students seeking a profession in the medical field suffer with heavy work loads and challenging science professors. I love UCLA but it is frustrating to see other students having fun and going out while you continue sitting on your desk finishing homework and studying for the next test. Another thing that is frustrating about my school is how large the school is. Lectures have so many students making it harder for one-on-one communication.

Actually, I don?t find anything frustrating about my school. Yes, I experience frustration, but I don?t actually blame anything within the school for it. My personal philosophy is that my external environment is simply my internal worldview projected outwards. If something in my environment makes me uncomfortable, it?s because there is something within myself that I'm uncomfortable with. I feel that frustration is a sign that inner expectations need to be adjusted to match reality; changing circumstances that don?t serve my highest interests is much easier when I begin by acknowledging the way things are.

The most frustrating thing about my school is the quarter system. It moves really fast. Sometimes test can come as quickly as week 2 and midterms as quickly as week 3. This does not allow for any slacking off. Slackers will have a hard time. In my case, I had personal issues that kept me out of school for a couple weeks. Missing a couple weeks in the quarter system can have a ridiculous affect on your grade and understanding of the course because that is 1/5 of the total quarter.

The most frustrating aspect of my university is the lack of availability of classes that are essential to graduating on time. Student are forced to remain at the university for an additional year because they have not completed the neccessary course work to have finsihed their degree in four years.

It is really big so it is hard to meet people. I live in a plaza, which is unlike a residential hall in that we have our own bathroom. Therefore, it is not a very social dorm. The classes are so big that it is connect to others.

The most frustrating thing about school is the school fees. I currently working two jobs to make ends meet while I am a full-time student trying to get good grades. Being a student at UCLA, it is stressful to trying to do well especially when I am still new at being a college student. Everyday I look for ways to navigate through the system and looking for support in order to do well. As a first generation student, I am still trying to adjust to the college life especially when I am away from home.

The most frustrating thing would be that there are many T.A.'s who really don't know how to teach and it is difficult to get the extra help from them which would be a given if the T.A. actually had some vocation for teaching. One of the things one has to do in this case is look for tuturing and collaborate with friends in classes as much as possible in order to understand the material with greater extent.

It is a very competitive environment, so you have to keep on top of the material as it comes along. This can be frustrating because you don't have that much time to sit and relax; you have to study every day.

The most frustrating thing about my school is probably the extreme liberal mentality that the students embody. I've always been more of a moderate when it comes to politics, and it frustrates me that people don't open up their minds to the fact that although there are social issues to care about, we also need to think about the economy. Students here often tend to go with bandwagon liberal thinking rather than researching political facts and statistics to influence their political beliefs and decisions.

Student to teacher ratio, price of text books, and soliciting

The most frustrating thing about my school is the fact that there are so many clubs, guest speakers, performances and presentations available to the students, it is impossible to see everything that you want to see. At UCLA, there are so many opportunities available to you, it can be frustrating to have to pick only a select few of the hundreds of fun and challenging events to attend.

Because of the California budget, the University is cutting many classes, so it is harder to find a variety of classes to enroll, especially for the general education classes. If you don't have priority passes to enroll in your classes, it many be difficult to find classes to enroll.

Signing up for classes as an underclassman is extremely difficult because there are so many people and so few openings. It puts a lot of stress and worry into figuring out which classes to take and etc. Of course with the economy and recession, it has just been hard for public schools.

I would have to say the parking or surrounding area.

The student government at UCLA is inefficient and wasteful. If the student leaders would just set aside their differences and focus on serving the students (as they claim every year), going to school would be even more enjoyable.

Cut-thoat students, competiveness

The classes are rather large, and despite this fact it can still be difficult to enroll in the classes you want. Perhaps it's because I'm in a science major and the competition for pre-meds and engineers is cut-throat (at any school), but once in a while I have trouble getting the classes or professors I want. So far I've been pretty lucky, but I have many friends who are hardly ever able to enroll in the classes they want.

the flaming liberals

Class sizes are too big. It's very hard to get to know professors and feel comfortable asking them for assistance, or for letters of recommendation down the line. Also career services are not as good and as personalized as they could be. The career center cuts you off right after graduation when a good proportion of students still don't have jobs.

The class size and enrollment issues are very frustrating. It also feels like a lot of times professors do not care about their students as mush as they should and that we are just one of their hundreds of students

The school is built on hills and is very large, so if you have to get to the opposite side of campus in 10 minutes you'd better run!