Many students at UCLA are sociology majors, but what does this really mean? Here’s a preview of what it’s like to be a sociology major if you’re curious about what you can expect! Chloe Taylor, a third-year transfer student, talked to me about her life as a sociology student and what her experience has been.
Why sociology at UCLA?
Taylor majors in sociology and minors in public affairs. She chose UCLA to study sociology because she heard it’s one of the best social science programs in California and offers lots of opportunities as a research school. As a pre-law student, learning about policy is essential, and majoring in sociology can help with this.
Typical day in the life of a sociology student while balancing coursework, study time and extracurriculars
Taylor stated that most sociology classes each quarter are either on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays. She stated that many of those days are busy for her as she will go to class and then will see notices sent by TAs regarding different reading materials. Taylor likes to take notes on statistics and research while in class. She stated that the sociology classes tend to be reading heavy.
After attending class, Taylor likes to go with friends to the library and highlight any materials that might be needed on exams, which tend to be writing heavy. A lot of the work was described as looking at research, reading and writing.
Apart from that, Taylor is a part of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, or USAC, as a transfer student representative. In this role, she advises students on what classes they should take, travels to different community colleges to help students with the transfer process and aids accepted students in applying for student government if they are interested. Generally, they meet from about 8 – 9 p.m., and transfer students meet separately on the weekend.
Taylor described her purposeful scheduling as the “number one most important thing.” For instance, Taylor is responsible for scheduling lots of meetings for her philanthropy-heavy sorority, Kappa Delta. The meetings usually take place before USAC meetings, so going “back-to-back can be hard, but those girls taught me how to balance my extracurriculars.”
Taylor also stated that she structures her week by using the Notion application on her phone as well as another physical daily calendar that sits beside her desk at her dorm since she is a visual person. However, she mentioned that she can sometimes take things on a day-by-day basis. Taylor found that the quarter system doesn’t leave much time for procrastination, noting that she really likes it and has adjusted to it very well.
Time spent in class versus out of class studying
Two of Taylor’s classes require about an hour and a half of in-person class time per week and another class is two hours long, so she estimated that she spends about 12 hours each week in class. But Taylor stated, “I definitely study more outside of class.” Taylor explained that in these classes, professors mostly go over slides, and there is often material complementing class materials. She usually likes to read the material before class in order to gain a better understanding of what is being discussed in class.
Courses or professor recommendations
Over the course of Taylor’s first-year at UCLA, she noted that she enjoyed taking classes with Professor Mindy Steinberg, a Chicano/a studies professor, who became one of her favorite professors. Taylor has taken a lot of elective courses with her. Taylor added, “She is very understanding, and I can tell she’s very involved with her work.”
Preparing for exams and assignments
Taylor described herself as someone who is very slow in studying, so when it comes to in-class exams, she likes to go through materials, examples and terms about a week and a half prior. For instance, she will highlight important materials and put information on a separate document, and each day will cover a different topic. Sometimes her friends will send texts that they are studying at a certain time if anyone wants to study, which keeps her and her other friends on task.
Many of the sociology tests are in-class, paper exams. However, a class such as Sociology of Education or Sociology of Violence is more paper-based, with a midterm and final paper. She tends to prefer this because she likes to spend time perfecting her work.
Challenges of being a sociology student at UCLA
One of the biggest challenges Taylor faces as a sociology student at UCLA is that the classes are very impacted, so enrollment timing doesn’t feel the most fair. For example, sometimes she needs to enroll in a particular upper-division course in order to graduate, but other students, who may be underclassmen, may get an earlier time to enroll. This results in upperclassmen being unable to enroll in courses they need in order to receive their degree.
Another problem arises due to the fast-paced nature of the quarter system. Since there is so much material to cover in each course, it can be difficult to digest all the material because there isn’t much time. “Research can get overwhelming,” Taylor said.
Benefits of being a sociology student at UCLA
One of the benefits of being a sociology student is that Taylor has become more aware of current issues that occur in our world. Taylor is passionate about education and educational quality, such as for those who are disabled. She has become aware of disparities and issues in this field as well as how to approach them, allowing her to educate friends.
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Featured Image Photographed by Tanisi Venkannagari/BruinLife