It was a day of tears and cheers as most members of the freshman class moved into their respective residence halls and apartments on Sept. 21. Sixth College allowed its inaugural class to move in on Sept. 18.
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This year, UCSD will welcome 4,350 incoming freshmen who were selected from a pool of 41,354 applicants and had an average high school GPA of 3.93 and an average SAT score of 1238.
Cars, minivans and sport utility vehicles began lining up along campus roads at 9 a.m., when students were allowed to begin checking in, and lasted until about 3 p.m.
Boris Babnko, an Earl Warren College freshman living in the residence halls, began moving into his room around 11 a.m. He drove down from Orange Country with his parents earlier that morning.
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Unloading various boxes and packages from his car into the large laundry bin provided by the college, Babnko was eager to move into his residence hall.
“”I hope I brought everything I need,”” he said, looking at the boxes in the laundry bin and the back of the car.
Not being the first of his siblings to leave home for college, his mother, Galina, felt good about leaving her son at UCSD and wished, like most other parents, for her son’s success.
“”I hope he’ll be successful,”” she said, “”I hope he’ll like it here.””
Although his home is a couple of hours north on Interstate 5, she still expects him to check in often.
“”I asked him to call home everyday,”” Galina laughed. “”I hope so.””
Next to the Babnkos’ car was Nancy Dames of Visalia, Calif., waiting next to her pick-up truck outside of her daughter’s residence hall. With the truck nearly empty and her daughter moving a load of boxes into her room, Dames spoke nothing but praise for the efficiency of the college’s move-in procedure.
“”The move-in process was wonderful,”” she said. “”I can’t imagine she and I trying to move all this stuff.””
Claire Palmer, the resident dean of Warren college, helps to coordinate the college’s move-in day process.
“”Unless you experience it, you can’t imagine the service we provide,”” Palmer said.
Most colleges rented shopping cars or handcarts for students to haul their items to their residence hall or apartment. Some colleges provided students with additional assistance by means of student volunteers to help expedite the process.
Warren freshmen were met by Velvet Touch student volunteers, who used commercial laundry bins to help unload cars and move the items to students’ rooms. The returning Warren students who volunteered with Velvet Touch were allowed to move into their apartments early on Sept 18.
Revelle College freshmen could seek help from the members of the Revelle College Council who worked on the “”Cardiac Squad,”” a name given to the group because of the exercise the students receive helping to move freshmen into the Fleet residence halls. All of the Fleet lack an elevator.
“”By the time they’re done, their heart is pounding,”” said Kevin Jones, the resident dean of Revelle College.
Most students brought with them boxes of computers, laptops, stereos, televisions, clothes and other items anticipating their need.
Revelle freshman Beth Abraham of Alameda, Calif., went as far as to bring her horse to school.
“”I have saddles and wraps, and … I had to get a storage space,”” she said. She hopes to join the equestrian team. The horse, meanwhile, is staying in Del Mar.
Beth’s mother, Susan, liked her daughter’s residence hall room.
“”I think it’s not that bad,”” she said. “”It reminds me of mine [at college].””
Beth’s father, Steve, wished there was an easier way to bring his daughter’s boxes up the flights of stairs to his daughter’s suite.
“”It would have been helpful to have an elevator in the building,”” he said.
The enormity and confusion of move-in day and the campus seemed to affect most freshmen.
Leanna Montez, a freshman at John Muir College, felt her college made the move-in process smooth.
“”Everyone’s been helpful,”” she said. “”I’m still kind of lost, but that’s my fault.””
Her mother, Jeanie, who is from the Bay Area, liked her daughter’s ground-floor Tioga Hall room.
“”It needs some work, but she’ll be safe. The bathrooms are kind of in a state of disrepair. Hopefully they’ll take care of those kinds of things. But I think she’s safe here,”” she said.
Still setting up her room, the younger Montez experienced a little nervousness with the prospect of starting this quarter.
“”I feel alright,”” she said of her academic abilities. “”Any college is going to be hard.””
Outside of Tioga, Yong Lee of Cypress, Calif., waited in line with his daughter’s boxes for an elevator. He said he felt confident about his daughter and her next four years at UCSD.
“”I trust her,”” he said. “”Whatever she comes out like after four years is fine with me.””
