we got ourselves a baby bruin

when the bean did that two-week program at ucla for set design, it kind of lit a fire under their ass to go there for college.  you know i loved the idea because that meant that they’d stay local, but also far enough away for them to have some space and independence.  and so when it was college applications time, it was top on their list.

now, the acceptance rate for ucla is verrrrrry low.  and when you throw in the fact that their major is in the theater department…even lower.  for ucla overall, the admit rate is like 9% - and for the theater school, like a point lower than that.  and so they applied to a good handful of schools as well, because duh.  i thought it was a good sign when they were notified that the admissions department wanted to do an interview, and it was done over zoom first as a group, and then each applicant spoke to an admissions rep one-on-one for a quick interview.  from there it was a waiting game until the end of march.

on decision day, i was scheduled for an afternoon barre class.  i knew the bean would be at school till after i was done, so i just said “hey, please call me when you find out and i’ll duck out of class to answer!” 

the call came about five minutes into class.  there were only two of us there plus the instructor (remember “ballerina” from this post?), and i’d given them a heads-up so they’d know why i was running outta there like my feet were on fire.  i could hear a lot of commotion in the background, and the bean was about to log in to the UC system to open that email.  of course, there was some fumbling of the userid or the password and they were panicking for a moment…and then all of a sudden i heard my child scream “OMG, I GOT IN!!” 

the relief that washed over me was so strong, it felt like a wave was actually knocking me over.  man.  what a moment.  ballerina came over to give me a big hug (she knew how important this was to us) and the rest of the class went by in a big blur.

accepting the offer of admission was a no-brainer.  honestly, there was no question.

a couple of weeks later, the bean and i drove out to westwood on a friday morning for the school of theater, film and television (TFT) open house.  there was a full day of programming to attend, and we got there just in time to get checked in and find a seat in the theater.

we were returning the next day with the hub to attend “bruin day,” which was the university-wide version of an open house for all admitted students.  the whole campus was open, with tours and presentations and panel discussions scheduled all day long.  i knew this particular photo op would likely have a long line then, so we took advantage while no one else was around.

the school store was open too, and there was lots of fun merch to browse through.

a couple more photo ops before we left for the day:

bruin day was a lot of fun.  it was more of a “get to know the campus” kind of thing for us, since the bean had already accepted their offer of admission.  we went to the kickoff event in pauley pavilion and learned the UCLA 8-clap:

one of the bean’s oldest friends (they first met back in toddler classes at gymboree and then went from TK through 8th grade together!) had also gotten in and accepted his offer.  we met up with him and his mom to do a few of the orientation panels and then toured one of the open dorm buildings together.

obligatory photos with the bear:

and then we visited the athletic hall of fame.  the women’s basketball team had just won the NCAA championship like a week before, and it was cool to see the trophy in person.

and with the question of where to go to college finally answered, all that was left to do was graduate and enjoy one last easy breezy summer of freedom.

WOOHOO!  the bean’s a bruin!  so freaking exciting!