Hundreds of prospective students and their parents crowded the UCSD campus on the morning of Admit Day, dampened by the rainy weather that came hours after its start. Admit Day organizers reverted to an emergency rain plan, but the concurrently scheduled cultural celebration, Crossroads ‘04, which takes place annually alongside Admit Day, was forced to cancel most of its planned events.
During heavy showers in the afternoon, parents and students crowded under the enclaves of Center Hall, Price Center and UCSD Bookstore.
Student organizations left their tables on Library Walk and opted to take shelter in the Price Center ballrooms and the Sun God Lounge, while visitors gathered in the bookstore, sifting through various UCSD paraphernalia.
“It’s been pretty crazy … We were well-staffed, though,” UCSD Bookstore Director John Turk said. “The rain was unexpected, so we sold out of umbrellas — we sold more umbrellas today than we have in six months [just by noon].”
The rain plan for Admit Day allowed for most of the activities to proceed as scheduled, with various location changes, and only one event was cancelled.
“Before the rain it was pretty awesome — we got to take some people to the cliffs,” said John Muir College Committee member Meg Gullo. “After the rain, it was interesting.”
Admit Day, which is held every April to welcome prospective students and their parents to the campus, showcases each of UCSD’s six colleges, the campus’ student organizations and presentations by different academic departments.
In spite of the rainy weather, UCSD college ambassadors continued to give college-specific and general campus tours to families and visitors.
“Definitely good, friendly people — they seem pretty cooperative,” said University High School senior Alex Early. Early said his interest in UCSD’s engineering program drew him to the university.
“I think it’s a beautiful campus,” said Early’s mother, Marina Early.
Each college held separate receptions for Admit Day visitors.
“It went pretty well — we had free coffee for people and that kind of livened up people a little bit,” said Revelle College assistant resident dean Pedro A. Scotto.
Los Angeles Baptist senior Nicole Mattison said she enjoyed the UCSD campus.
“Everyone seems really nice and friendly,” she said. “I think it’s a really pretty campus.”
Some parents of prospective students said they were equally impressed.
“It seems to be a good institution … It looks like the teaching ratio is better than compared to other institutes,” said Devender Reddy, father of prospective student Ashwan Reddy.
Berkeley High School senior Toby Hargreves, who was accepted to Muir college, was also enthusiastic about the university, saying “I was impressed with the dorms, the suite-style … Just coming from UCLA, the informal, casual attitude is really attractive, as well as the nice weather.”
Not all planned events scheduled for the day proceeded as expected. Because many of the events for the Cultural Crossroads celebration were planned to take place outdoors, most of the international performances, games and exhibitions were cancelled.
The cultural celebration, which is organized every year on the same day as Admit Day, is sponsored by Thurgood Marshall College, the Leadership Committee for Cultural Connection and more than 20 other organizations.
Paul Stravinsky, program assistant for Thurgood Marshall College, said the celebration would not be rescheduled.
“They start planning this in November,” said Stravinsky, who pointed passersby to the few indoor events that were not cancelled.
With rain pouring down only minutes after the scheduled 11 a.m. start of the cultural celebration, only a few food booths featuring Indian and African cuisine remained after the others had packed up.
