The start of the school year is an optimal time for UCI students to set a precedent for how they hope to spend the rest of the school year. New University spoke with students over the phone and through email about their expectations for the 2024-2025 academic year as they transition from summer into the upcoming academic season.
Xiomara Camacho, a third-year student double majoring in criminology, law and society and psychological sciences, participated in summer session for the first time over these past few months. An aspiring FBI agent, Camacho worked as a caregiver while completing five online courses — four upper division criminology classes and an upper division health psychology class. Having moved back home for the summer, Camacho was glad to take advantage of the chance to complete courses she has been interested in virtually.
“I wanted to take them because a lot of the classes that are offered throughout the school year are kind of repetitive,” Camacho explained.
Following a heavy academic summer, Camacho’s main goal this year is to become more involved on campus. During her first two years at UCI, she could not find the motivation to participate in school activities.
“I wasn’t really involved my freshman or sophomore year. Long story short, my roommates were always older, so they just weren’t really wanting to get involved. So it made it hard for me to want to,” Camacho said. “But I’m going to actually be rooming with one of my close friends, so I’m pretty excited.”
She plans on joining the Baking Club and Hermanas Unidas – an academic, community service and networking campus organization. She will also be studying abroad in Italy in the spring.
Third-year computer science major Ian Dai also hopes to delve more into the non-academic aspects of the college experience.
“I was not so much involved my freshman year, and I somewhat regret that. I branched out more in my second year, but not as much as I would have liked. I hope that this fall quarter I have a schedule that I am flexible with but also proud of,” Dai said. He is a webmaster for AI@UCI, a club that is kicking off this year.
For this academic year, Dai hopes to develop the habit of using his time intentionally after spending the summer planning his own software development projects, applying for internships and catching up with friends.
“I think the overarching lesson I learned was how little time I actually had in the day. Whether it was working on myself academically or meeting with people that mattered to me most, I knew that I had to be intentional with my time, especially with only two years left of school,” he said.
Desirae Aldana, another third-year criminology, law and society student double majoring in psychological sciences, is making space in her fall schedule for some much-needed breaks. She also participated in summer sessions I and II to relieve her workload during the academic year, but generally does not advise students to do so.
“I definitely accomplished that, but admittedly for the price of any actual restful break between years. So unless you absolutely need summer classes, my advice is to not take them. Enjoy your peace during the summer,” Aldana said. The quick pace of the summer quarter showed her the value of taking time off from academics.
“No matter how much I want to do everything all the time, I need a break just like everyone else,” she said.
However, while fall quarter grants some students the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, the back-to-school season can also bring the stressful process of financial preparation.
Aldana finds the system of financial aid distribution at UCI stressful, setting students up for a rocky start to the year.
This summer, UCI’s office of Financial Aid and Scholarships experienced delays in distributing 2024-2025 financial aid packages. The fee deadline for fall quarter remained the same for students. For those who received a less-than-expected amount of aid, finding a way to fund their education was distressing.
In light of these inconveniences, the headlines Dai encounters about millions of dollars being raised to fund the university’s research don’t sit well with him.
“I understand that a lot of that funding goes towards projects that are genuinely life-changing, like clinical trials and urban planning, which I fully support. However, seeing another article about students having their financial aid delayed with less than a week before tuition is due just doesn’t look good compared to the millions that were raised,” Dai explained.
Dai also spoke to where he believes the university’s priorities should lie.
“I understand that the flow of funding for these two articles is different and funding is probably a problem that is more about bureaucracy and deeper than I am making it out to be, but student success should be the university’s number one priority, especially when it comes to money translating to student experiences,” he said.
Aside from a smoother financial aid distribution process, school spirit and outreach for events are other things students hope the university would improve on.
“A lot of their events are only spread out to certain demographics, so a lot of people don’t go to them. You get the same people going every year; I think they could be a little better about approaching people and getting more people to come through different types of events,” Aldana said.
For someone who is starting college this fall, navigating the social scene may be a concern. Camacho suggests approaching people often because she believes every interaction in college has the potential to be of value.
“Definitely go out there and try to make friends because I feel like all it takes is for you to say ‘hi’ to someone,” she said. “Even just saying hi to someone, it’s going to make a difference for you.”
Mariam Farag is a News Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. She can be reached at msfarag@uci.edu.
Edited by Victoria Le and Jaheem Conley
