Before You Attend UOP's Summer Program, Read This!

I spent two weeks learning and working at the University of the Pacific as a high school student, specifically at the Pacific Summer High School Institute. It's "a two-week residential pre-college summer program designed for curious high school students to live, learn and grow at one of America's top universities. This two-week program gets students into cutting-edge topics and issues through learning environments focused on real-world, hands-on experiences in our labs, studios, fields and (workshops)" (Precollege Summer Programs). From the Summer Institute, you can take epic classes like coding, creating media, e-sports, game development, pharmacy, curing cancer, competitive debate, investing in stocks, practical innovation (innovating with purpose), sports analytics, and leadership for women. So, how did that go?

Before jumping in, I paid $3300 to attend this summer program in January 2022.

Before jumping in, I paid $3300 to attend this summer program in January 2022. Remember that I am from Tracy, attending a high school in Tracy in San Joaquin County. When I entered the Summer Program, I asked a couple of people why the cost was so high. Many students at the Pacific were from Lodi and Stockton, who got it for free. My roommate was one of them, and the inconsistency of the summer program prices frustrated him. If you're a student from Lodi and Stockton, you can get the Pacific Summer High School Institute for free. That information was the best I could find, and everyone else, even those in San Joaquin County, must pay the three grand. So, the Pacific High School Institute was indeed expensive to attend.

The summer program was also an open-enrollment program where you don't need to write essays or do anything like that. However, this program was selective regarding how many students could fit in a class. Because the University of the Pacific was a small school with class sizes of around 20 people, the Summer Program restricted some people from attending their desired classes. It didn't happen to me because I applied to it so early. For example, my roommate couldn't sign up for coding during March or April because the class was already filled. So, he was forced to take a creative media class. I didn't know that the program was selective. I thought that the program had like 100 students due to the $3000 cost of the program.

my school had no idea what the Pacific Summer High School Institute was

Before attending the program, the biggest problem was how to prepare for the 2 weeks of college life. It wasn't a whole college experience due to the short period, and I'm still a high school student, like all the students in this program. Like any college move-in, I must pack up clothes and stuff like that. I packed over 15 clothes of various types, all my medical and bath equipment, and my hard drive in my most enormous suitcase. I packed my drone bag, all my electronics, including my laptops and mobile devices, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff into my black Stanford medical backpack. All that was done, it was time to go.

Before I went to the University of the Pacific, I assumed that only rich kids were prominently shown on the university campus due to the high price tag. My parents were worried too. They knew that I didn't have a lot of friends and I didn't communicate much with them. (It was very accurate for me to have these characteristics. I have an article detailing that.) Not having friends and regretting the college campus would be the worst conflict for them and me. First, my school had no idea what the Pacific Summer High School Institute was. So, I know no person other than myself who would attend the Summer Program. Second, I must postpone all my stuff for July. Lastly, I don't know where my progress in coding would be.

(Image provided by Wix. I didn't pack like that)

I packed all my belongings in the car and began my journey to the University of the Pacific. We were supposed to go to Grace Covell Hall, one of the biggest college halls at the University of the Pacific. There were many cars eager to send their kids to University. They must go to their dorm rooms at Grace Covell Hall or other residential halls from the University. I forgot to bring my ID to verify the information, but that didn't matter. The employees checked me in with the ID with a few things: a key and a transparent pocket with the room number and whatever the bottom number does, and the photo ID with a black bar at the back. Due to the heavy suitcase, I went with my dad, who accompanied me through the move-in. Once I made it to my dorm, I felt odd. Let me describe the dorm.

(Photo from the University of the Pacific.)

The dorm I'm serving for the entirety of the blog was a two-bedroom. The walls were painted white, with the beds being unusually very high. Underneath these beds were these wooden drawers awkwardly placed in the middle. In front of the beds was a desk with a small drawer and a big storage area to store backpacks. There were two sliding doors on the opposite sides of the dorm with a bit of space to store luggage. Unfortunately, my dorm room was at the highest level, so there were uneven slopes at the top of the room. There were other storage spots, particularly those above the sliding doors and the space between the big drawer, but that was it.

I thought that the experience would take a long time to get used to. But I managed to get some friends and get going.

I went to the dorm and placed all my belongings there. My dad reminded me to make sure that I always lock the door when going out. I looked at the dorm for a while and then left. I went outside for a time until I returned to my dorm to see my roommate. My roommate then was putting his stuff there and was planning to go out. I followed him and began to introduce ourselves to each other. Although I could go to lengths to talk about my roommate here, it's not worth it for the review format. I was supposed to attend a university tour. Still, other students found it to be quite dull and not very useful. So I decided to play games with a group of strangers, which my roommate and I befriended on games like oversized Jenga and volleyball. After a couple of hours of volleyball and meeting with a good chunk of friends, it was time to eat dinner.

The Pacific High School Summer Institute has a cafeteria identical to the one from the University. The cafeteria food was called the "Bon Appetit", where they served a wide range of Western food, like pasta and eggs. I found the food to be quite decent, not the best. The breakfast staple was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, potato tops (hash browns but shorter), a couple of lettuce, and some bread. I don't eat all of the above but most of it. As I progressed through the later part of the summer program, I could eat a burrito containing these ingredients and whatever salad was available. The eggs were not the best, as many were archived eggs from not long ago, but they don't cause any health effects. The sausages were inconsistent, and so was much of the food. These inconsistencies cover almost every meal I've tried in this summer program. The rice served there was the worst food served in the program, where they come from past archived rice. If this part wasn't actual, the rice was performed in the worst possible manner, giving it a plastic and awful taste. The cooked veggies were not treated very well, and I didn't enjoy much of them. Lastly, the proteins were the best part of the cafeteria. I'm very sorry to vegetarians and vegans, but the meats were the only ones I can call good. I summed up my opinion about the food served in the cafeteria. However, suppose you have some spare cash. In that case, you can go to the marketplace just below and outside the DeRosa University Center and to the local Starbucks at the extensive library. These foods were the food you would see elsewhere and not exclusively from the University itself.

(My meal from the marketplace. I didn't eat that on the first day.)

I finished my first dinner in the cafeteria and began exploring the cafe. The DeRosa University Center contains a good chunk of fun things to do, especially when you go upstairs. There are both directions upstairs: a game room on the left and a conference room on the right. My new friends and I went to the game room, and an overweight boy got a deck of cards so we could play some poker. It was my first time playing poker, so I got training during the game until someone managed to access the gaming room. The only problem was that the gaming room was not working correctly. The gaming room has a PS4, a broken PS3, an XBOX series X, an XBOX ONE S, and a SNES classic. The cafeteria operators turned on the XBOX ONE, which required an update. The download was taking too long, the TV had connectivity issues, controllers not working, all kinds of stuff. Not before long, we were forced to go downstairs to attend the conference, which had its separate room taking a large portion of space at the University Center. The meeting was a big one where the heads of the University, including the director of the Summer Institute, came in to discuss the program.

Unfortunately, the meeting was mediocre, and the whole class returned to Grace Covell Hall.

At Grace Covell Hall, there were two activities: a lounge and a reception hall. The reception hall was a big area with a vast carpet and some doors, which was the place to check in and check out of the Summer Institute. The lounge was another room filled with toys and games, with a projector and a beaten upright piano with a sustain not working. The lounge was the time when you would play games with your friends. I tended to play a bit of ping-pong with my newfound friends and played the beaten piano most of the time. But if you're everyone else, it's not a great place to be in. So, I returned to my dorm and went to one of the bathrooms to shower.

if you're everyone else, it's not a great place to be in.

At Grace Covell Hall, you can take showers in one or two places: a bathroom with two showers and two toilets and a separate room with both. Unfortunately, the individual room was progressively less desirable for me to use because it was so filthy. The other bathroom was much better, but I must share that room with four other boys (there were separate bathrooms for girls). The shower and the whole bathing experience were fine. I didn't have any problems with it. Although the Summer Institute provided a person with a bath towel, getting your feet cleaned is quite a huge pain. I brought a towel to make this process much more manageable. This situation was the same in the separate bathroom with a toilet and shower, but that one was just dirty. After I took my bath, put on my new clothes, and put on my retainers, I returned to my dorm and made a bed. I watched a bunch of YouTube before sleeping, and that was the end of the entrance day.

I'm going to take a mild rant on the educational experience.

Monday was the first day entirely at the University of the Pacific, and this day was the perfect day for me to review the classroom and the education experience. I finished my breakfast with the food I mentioned, and all the students went to this staff. These staff held paws that indicated the program the student signed up to. My designated team took my class through a confusing loop because it was far from the DeRosa University Center. My classroom was at the South Campus, one of the fastest in the Summer Institute. I wouldn't complain too much because the University is relatively small and you'll get used to it.

(This is basically my classroom. It's a stock image from Wix)

My classroom has several desks containing a row of desktops because my program was coding and coding involved. The education experience was okay. I learned something about coding throughout the Summer Institute. The class was as long as a typical school day for me, with an occasional 15-30 minute break in a single session in the morning (this may not apply to every program in the Summer Institute). Although the summer program didn't bring me close to developing a program I would like to share, I learned how to code C++. My professor was a lecturer who taught us from the basics of coding on Scratch to getting us to make problems doing specific things. For my program, the class was basically a math class but learning a foreign language. And for the people who understood the language quite quickly would simply play games on the computer or be on the phone. This experience translated to many programs in the Summer Institute, which was probably a predicted reality from the heads of the Summer Institute.

This experience translated to many programs in the Summer Institute, which was probably a predicted reality from the heads of the Summer Institute.

After class at 4:30, there were hosts of fun activities that the Summer Institute prepared for the students. I didn't go to all of them but most of them. Most of them were generally ordinary and nothing too special. Some activities were designed for middle schoolers, like the Inflatables on the DUC lawn and playing with water balloons outside the University Center. Some activities were the ones I enjoyed the most out of this summer program. The scavenger hunt was one of my favorites. I couldn't want more than that event besides painting inside the University Center. I have an article that I documented about this event. The rest were typical in which the students dominated and controlled the experience. I found them quite mixed, and some events were not significant. There was one event where students could go to the extensive library and play VR games. But the period was so short that it was a hassle for me. Some events I joined in much later, such as going to the movie theater at the University Center to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home. The presentations were minimal, and the notorious silence of these students made the hosts bored. I usually went to the gym throughout the whole summer program. Still, the age restriction put me within basically college athletes. Despite all this, I found the activities to be okay.

(I painted all this at the DeRosa University Center. I participated in the Paint N'Sip Fair, and it was delightful. I painted ten pictures (4 showings). From top left and clockwise, a portrait of IU (my favorite Korean artist), Tesla driving across the Australian desert, a girl writing a book while a banhammer is about to hit her, and my logo.

This experience stayed with me throughout the program, even when Saturdays and Sundays only included activities. And I think that you may feel the same.

Dorm life was quite rough. My roommate was quite chill and exceptionally hard working. However, outside the dorm was toxic, at least. Several students ran down the hallway and made incredibly noisy signs. I had a day when one group of students knocked on my door to see me for some reason. I couldn't trust these people unless they were the dorm operators, and I called my roommate to immediately close the door. Besides those moments, I didn't have much opinion other than my first experience at the dorm. Because living in the dorm was the first time I lived alone, I didn't do a lot compared to being at my house. I feared my roommate would disapprove of recording a couple of TikToks (these TikToks weren't dances) due to being alone without my home or my parents. Eventually, I lived with it, and it didn't feel like a big deal. I am glad I lived like this before attending college for around 2-4 years.

Several students ran down the hallway and made incredibly noisy signs. I had a day when one group of students knocked on my door to see me for some reason.

I lived like this for two weeks until the last day of July 1. I woke up early and packed everything to it on the first day. One person helped carry my suitcase to my SUV, where I placed all my stuff. My dad and I went to return the dorm key, and I began eating my last breakfast burrito. It was about time for class, and I made my dad walk to my classroom. He knew that it would be better for him to drive a car. It didn't matter, though, because it was time for the program presentations. During the program presentations, students like myself presented what they did throughout the summer program. I didn't do the best job because my programs were relatively simple and not very complicated. My friends had similar views on their presentations, which revealed their prestige to their target students. While my dad returned to his car, I stayed outside the classroom, playing UNO with my classmates for a couple of hours.

Lastly, my professor called us to go to an area outside the Burns tower, where a festival was held. I grabbed a bunch of goodies and ate with friends my dad brought there. Then the heads of the summer program came. They were happy that the students enjoyed and learned much in the summer program. After their speeches, I came home and went to write this article.

Would I recommend this summer program to you?

I am not sure of that.

If you're from Lodi or Stockton, you should contact your local school if the Pacific High School Summer Institute is free. If it was, then this program is an absolute steal. For everyone else, the $3000 price tag is tough to justify for a college application. You can spend that amount of money for a decent gaming setup, 3 years' worth of groceries, or don't spend it and apply for a job or an internship for way less than a 10th of that price. Hope this article is helpful for anyone here interested in this summer program. I'm Kevin Trinh, and I'll return to documenting myself. Bye!