Admissions

1. Time Management: Learn how to mange your time, get a planner so you can be organized and know when it’s time for work and time for play.
2. Network: Get to know your professors, mentors, peers, and other administrators. By taking the time to know people you can create a comfortable environment for yourself and know where to go when you need help or even a recommendation letter.
3. Get Involved: There are tons of organizations and activities to do at UCF. By getting involved you can gain leadership opportunities which will enhance student success and involvement on campus. Most importantly you will get to meet new friends.
4. Live On Campus: By living on campus you will experience the real feeling of living in a dorm and walking to class. After your first year you will already know more about your campus and what goes on during the year.
5. Get To Know Your Campus: Take advantage of your campus and all the resources, assistance, and opportunities you have at UCF. You can find out where is the best spot at the library to study, shortcuts to class, where all the computer labs are, free printing machines, and vending machines that have supplies.
6. Create Strategies for Studying: Learn how to prepare and study for an exam. Go to class everyday, take class notes, participate in class, read the textbook, and complete all assignments. DO NOT procrastinate but keep an open mind and always do your best. It is good to set goals and keep yourself aware of what you want to accomplish. There is so much to learn about but don’t stress yourself either.
7. Have Fun: These are suppose to be the best years of your life so take a break from the books and enjoy the experience.

Top Ten Tips to Surviving UCF
1. If you can, get involved in either the Honors College or LEAD Scholars—I did this and it saved my life here at UCF. Both of these programs are like safe havens for college students. They welcome you into the school and help get you involved. The class sizes in both of these programs (yes they involve taking extra classes) are always under thirty students so you get the feel of a small college on a big university campus, its like having the best of both worlds. If you can, do both. It will pay off in the end.
2. Get involved—There is no easier way to do good in college than to get involve. Lie the old adage says: its not what you know, but who you know. If you get in contact with the right people on campus it will be smooth sailing. They will write letters of recommendation for you, show you the ins and outs of UCF, and even help you go to graduate school or beyond if that’s your goal. Figure out what you like to do and then find a club or organization that fosters whatever that thing is.
3. Get to know your professors—This is invaluable information. Your professors are your gateway to good grades. If you get to know them, they can not only help you understand the information that you are learning better, but can also write you killer letters of recommendation. Most importantly, if your sitting on the border of two grades at the end of the semester, if your teachers know you, they are more likely to give you that shove to the next grade.
4. Utilize SARC—SARC is a great way to help you get the good grades that you need and want throughout the semester. The tutors are usually really good at what they do and are really willing to help. SARC personally helped me get better grades in some of hardest classes so far such as Chemistry II.
5. Live on campus for your freshman year—I didn’t do this and although I don’t really regret it, I think it’s best to live on campus for the first year because you are closer to ...

You really have to manage your time or it will come back to haunt you. While the professors are helpful, they are very serious about the deadlines they set. There is plenty of time to get everything done and still have a social life if you plan accordingly.

Be careful which meal plans you choose--some of them, while seemingly better bang for your buck are really just unnecessarily large amounts of food, especially for those living in housing locations that have kitchenettes in the common areas. For students who don't have transportation, however, and are in traditional housing, the plans can be very useful! There are many options, so look carefully and pick the one that's right for you and your needs so that you don't lose extra money.

Go to LINK events! I wish I had gone to more--they are really fun and you can win points used for the auctions at the end of each semester.

Take advantage of your student benefits. For example, in the union, students can get one free scantron daily from the Student Government, and certain students (Honors College members, Lead Scholars members) even have free printing labs--with basically no limits! All students qualify for a certain number of free pages from the SGA, and so don't let these things go to waste! There are also numerous student events that are both fun and informative, and may offer free meals.

Check out different clubs and drop in on a few meetings. Go to tables outside the union on the days that organizations have them set up--you can find some really interesting things that are not only fun to do but can look great on your resume. There are sporting clubs as well if you tend toward athletic, and not all of them are varsity-type if you just want to play for the fun and the love of the game. There are organizations and clubs for many types of career goals, as well as many religious and ethnic clubs and groups that aren't always limited to people belonging to the religion or ethnicity--only people who are interested. Some, of course, are more religion- or action-focused, and may not have much to offer to people who are just curious, but sitting in on a couple meetings may be interesting for curious people even if they don't feel any reason to join the ...

1. Get a rolling laundry basket for the long walks to the laundry room, seat cushion for the hard dorm seats and a mini fridge to keep some snacks handy.

2. Make friends, join clubs, join a sorority/fraternity, NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK! The more people you get to know the more enriching your experiences are.

3. Even though you will only have them for a semester and there are a lot of people in your class, GET TO KNOW YOUR PROFESSORS! You'd be surprised how much they'll go out on a limb to help you if they have a personal connection with you.

4. Use all of the tools that are given to you to supplement your education. There are free tutoring services for most classes called SARC, supplemental instructors and teaching assistants for SI sessions. There is also CourseMob an app on the iPhone and andriod that sends push notifications for class information ($20/ semester)

5. Don't overwhelm yourself. Stay on top of things the best you can and prioritize your life. Place a lot of focus on studying and reviewing. Every now and then cramming is inevitable, but lighten the load when you can. Any little break you get, use it as an opportunity to review class material.

6. Buy from the bookstore as a last resort. Save money on books by getting them from friends, calling people with flyers up on the bulletin boards or get them from an online book source such as Amazon.

7. VISIT your adviser and make sure you are on track more than just once a semester. Things change and you need to be on top of your education, because if you aren't who is? P.S. always have a Plan B and Plan C!!!

8. Go to the Student Union and use your ID to get FREE scantrons, blue books and more before tests rather than buying them!

9. Don't stay in a bad relationship! There are plenty of opportunities out there for you and if you are having a hard time with a partner there are counselors (FREE) that will help you through it.

10. Go out every once in a while and live it up. Make so...

I am not going to lie, college can be a little bit overwhelming at first. You are being introduced into a new world where, for the most part, you have to learn to take responsibilities for yourself. You are in charge of buying your books, studying hard, and getting those A's. Thankfully, UCF has many tutoring programs FREE OF CHARGE (YAY!) and offices with advisors that help out so much if this does get TOO overwhelming! Without this extraordinary staff, it would be hard. But they always go a step and beyond and provide email feedback to everything and ... theirs is just no better option. UCF is so amazing. Their is so much diversity and their is always something to do! Whether its on campus with all the activities that SGA plans and studying or off campus with all the theme parks, you will not be bored!! The best thing any prospective student can do is to probably get involved... IN ANYTHING!! There are so many clubs, organizations, sororities, frats, etc... to pick from that this should not be much of problem. You get a great experience along with great friends that will last a life time!

Have fun, enjoy what your doing. Take time to enjoy your college years and focus!

You don't have to pay for scantrons! You can get one free everyday in the union with your student ID. DO NOT CRAM THE NIGHT BEFORE AN EXAM, YOU WILL FAIL. I made this mistake thinking it would be like high school, so don't make this mistake! And get involved, go to events, join a club! It's very hard to make friends and meet people in your classes, so the best way to meet others is to join an organization or even just go to the many free events

Be sure to take a guided tour of every school you are considering to see how you feel on the campus and ask people you know who go there for a more personal tour, if you can. If you choose UCF, make sure to get involved in everything you are remotely interested in. Join intermural sport teams, go to free events hosted by the school, and join any club you find interesting. If you can get into the Honors College, I highly recommend it. This group has smaller classes, more volunteer opportunities, luncheons with important people, and very personal counseling which saved my college life!

If you plan on coming to this school seek out clubs and activities before hand, for you to get involved in. While there are many clubs you can be a part of, it's easy to fall into a mundane routine and if you want to make the best of your college experience you should learn how to break that. However, don't take on more than you can handle, college is all about learning how to balance work and fun. Take it easy your first semester, try new things, learn more about yourself and study habits.