COSMOS Review

By: Aryan Bachu

COSMOS is a high school STEM summer program for students all over California to spend 4 weeks at a UC campus. I attended COSMOS this summer, and I want to share my experience with it. From the food, the learning, and the friendships I made, it was by far the best summer I’ve had. 

I lived on the UC Davis campus. Each COSMOS student has a dorm with a roommate. Luckily, my roommate was chill, but a lot of people had questionable roommates, to say the least. Each dorm was designed for 3 people, so space wasn’t an issue at all, since we only had 2. Luckily, my building very close to the dining commons. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when you have to walk there 6 times every day, it makes a huge difference. I lived in Tercero(one of the subcampuses), but my classes were pretty far (0.7 mi away). If I didn’t have a bike, I would have been stuck walking back and forth to classes for an hour a day in the sun.  Some people didn’t bring one and suffered the walk, so if you ever go, make sure to bring a bike. Even more important than the bike is a bike lock. I know this from personal experience, because on the last day of COSMOS, my bike got stolen. Even though I had a lock, they must have cut through it. It was partially my fault because I left it in a shady area, so make sure to try and park as close to your building as possible. 

The food at UC Davis wasn’t that good, but I ate a lot of it because I was on a bulk . There was unlimited food, but all the tasty food would be taken unless you were early. Once you got to the end of the line, they’d give you a small portion size. 

On the academic side, we had a lot of field trips, such as San Francisco, the Sacramento railway museum, and a bike tour. We also had a final project where my friends and I used GIS(Geographic Information System) to map collision hotspots in Cupertino, CA. We used this data to construct a plan on what to do in these areas and presented it to all of COSMOS. My cluster (subgroup) was sustainable transportation and engineering, so we chose to do this since it’s relevant to our cluster. 

Finally, the best part for me was the friends I made on the way. We didn’t have much homework, so after our classes we would spend all of our time together. Over the course of a month, I created so many unforgettable memories and lifelong friendships. Far more than the education or food, the friends and professors that I got to meet truly made COSMOS worth it.