loadedwords

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone here might have applied and received word about whether they were awarded any of the continuing undergrad scholarships. They said applicants would find out by email even if they did not get any scholarships, but it's almost mid-May and I have not heard a thing. Thanks.

bman14

they told me they would send out notifications in june with the financial aid awards.

i_lose

You haven't learned that when UCSD says x date, that it really means x to x+10 days, have you? :P So if they said May, it would mean they expect to know May 31, but it may be until mid-June that we get notified.

Haven't got word though. Then again, I don't really qualify, on paper at least, for financial aid-related scholarships, but I figured that I might as well try.

astrina

if you haven't already, i think now might be the time to start looking for a job -- the scholarships are probably limited, and a job will help in more ways than just the monetary reward

i held down two jobs during my last three years at UCSD (totaling ~30 hrs/week) and sure, studying got put on the back burner, but those jobs helped me decide on my future more than any of my "real" classes.

loadedwords

Ooh, I see, thanks guys. I'm not expecting to get much (if anything), but I applied anyway too.

astrina, how in the world did you work so much?! I would find a job but I'm really afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it. What kind of jobs did you have? It doesn't sound like you just worked at one of the dining commons or anything like that!

collegemom16

Go to your campus internship center and see if there are any paid internships in an area that interests you. You can sometimes even earn credit too. On campus jobs are great! Very few freshman take advantage of these opportunities. My daughter started in her internship winter quarter of her freshman year (she's at UCD) and by the beginning of spring quarter of her second year (units wise at this point she was a junior) she was promoted to head intern.

astrina

I had ... nerdy jobs.

The first was TAing for the chemistry department. I started winter quarter of my sophomore year by TAing a general chemistry class that I had taken the year before. I was responsible for my own section of 35 students, which grew to over 50 as I learned more (yay!). We'd go over difficult concepts, present practice problems for exams, hold office hours, and proctor. Pretty easy. Requirements vary from class to class (ie, some TAs graded, some didn't), you get to see a whole different side of the professor, and many depts (Bio, Chem, Physics) offer TA positions to undergrads, most of which are well paid ($13.13/hr x 10 hrs/week) This was an amazing experience, and one I was happy to repeat over and over -- twelve quarters in all.

The second (third?) were labs -- one at a lab on campus in the chemistry department (started summer after sophomore year) and one at Pfizer (started summer after junior year). It was pretty difficult juggling both labs at the same time, so I cut back on the academic one since I was getting paid considerably more ($18/hr) at Pfizer. I got the academic one by emailing the professor, and he actually trained me himself since the lab was so small. (Now they're huge and he's much busier.) Pfizer came along after I saw so many of my friends worked there, and I submitted my resume to their call for summer interns. The summer trial period went well, and I got asked to stay on for the rest of my time at UCSD. (I got to pick my replacement when I left last August -- networking works, even at the student level.) Both lab positions were invaluable in preparing me for graduate school, and the current work I'm doing for my PhD is a direct extension of the techniques I already learned at Pfizer.

So yeah, life get significantly busier if you work, but it's totally worth it, with the new stuff you get to learn, new people you meet, and who knows? You might like something so much that you decided to stick with it forever!

i_lose

Agreed. TA-ing is the best. I look forward to continuing my TA-ship in future quarters. TA-ing = E-Z money and super, super fun (hah, I don't know about y'all, but I'd rather proctor an exam than take the exam...nice to switch the positions around a bit sometimes, eh?)

loadedwords

Wow! Those jobs are truly impressive. Here I thought that TAs were all graduate students. I never would have guessed.

Unfortunately for me though, I am a lit a major, and so far all my searches on PortTriton and AIP have been fruitless.

Well, let me qualify that. It's not unfortunate that I'm a lit major because it's something I want to pursue. It is unfortunate that lit majors don't seem to be in much demand!

I'll continue to look around though. Thanks all, for the advice!