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UCLA Admission Decision Day 2014: Reflection Thread

UCLA Alumni Facebook Page

Bumped - because this thread is amazing. If you hadn't chimed in -- please do - and tell us about the day you got the news from UCLA admissions office. GO BRUINS. - BN Eds.

Earlier today in the March Madness Day Two thread, freesia39 noted that today, March 21, is UCLA undergraduate admission decision day.

As we anxiously wait to see how well the 2013-14 Bruins can do against Tulsa in the Second (read: First) Round of the tournament, thousands of high school seniors just received their admissions decisions from the greatest university on Earth. Accordingly, I thought we should all take a moment to reflect on our admissions decision experiences.

For those of you who are adopted members of our family (graduate students), married into the family, or are one of those incredibly close family friends our kids call "aunt" or "uncle," feel free to share how you first became connected to the family.

I'll go first:

OK, I have to admit, I wasn't born or raised a Bruin. In fact, I didn't care about UCLA until I enrolled.

My experience with UCLA began my senior year of high school. When my dream school at the time, Rice University, denied my early admission application, I sent out applications to California schools. I had my eyes set on an engineering degree, and I strongly preferred a PAC-10 school. I loved sports, particularly football and baseball, and wanted a school with a strong history of athletic excellence.

When the admissions decisions arrived, my decision was actually pretty easy. I had no desire to move to NorCal (Berkeley), and I didn't want to pay out the nose for second-best education (Southern Cal), leaving UCLA the clear frontrunner.

Just after receiving an admissions letter around this time in 2006, my parents gave me permission to play hookie so I could go visit the campus with my girlfriend at the time, who also chose to become a Bruin.1 At first, I was struck by the magnificence of the campus. I had never seen such overwhelmingly beautiful brick buildings. I grew up in Orange County where everything was stucco and tile roofs, and UCLA felt like a hidden jewel in the sprawl of Southern California.

After a day of walking the campus and wrecking my calf muscles,2 I was confident UCLA was my future. So confident, in fact, that I went to the student store and bought a sweatshirt. At that point, my senior year of high school was devoted to making time pass as quickly as possible. Looking back, I probably should have enjoyed the tail end of my senior year a bit more, but I was anxious to move to Westwood and begin my life as a Bruin.3

1She might even be a better Bruin than me. Her involvement with the Den was remarkable.
2I had no idea the campus was so hilly. But after living on campus for 3 months, I hardly noticed it.
3I even created "BruinHalo" on HalosHeaven before graduating high school.

So that's my admission decision day story. What's yours?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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