Welcome to UCSB First-Gen Student Stories! Learn about some of your first-gen peers and graduate students, their experiences at UCSB, and the advice they have for fellow first-gen college students.

Student Stories

Undergraduate Student: Faith

Faith is a first-gen transfer student and Psych and Brain Sciences major. She is a strong advocate for mentorship as a Peer Educator for the Transfer Student Center as well as being a mentor in the Psych department. Tune in as she strongly encourages seeking out mentor relationships for research/professional opportunities.

Undergraduate Student: Guillermo

Guillermo is a second year Linguistics major who immigrated to the United States when he was 15 years old. He talks about the importance of community and being able to identify with those around him.

Undergraduate Student: Kevin

Kevin is a third year Psych and Brain Sciences major who is in pursuit of a medical career as a physician’s assistant. He challenges the stigma about being a first-gen transfer student and discuss how he uses resources to succeed in STEM courses and became in involved in clubs like rugby.

Undergraduate Student: Miranda

Miranda is one of our very own ONDAS Student Center Peer Mentors! She is a Psych and Brain Sciences major pursuing minors in Applied Psychology and Theatre. Tune in as she talks about her first year experience at UCSB.

Graduate Student: Jeremy

Get to know Jeremy Edwards! Jeremy was a first-generation college student at UCLA and is now earning their PhD in Education at UCSB. Watch to learn more about Jeremy's experiences, advice for students, and areas of research!

Graduate Student: Sergey

Meet Sergey Saluschev! Sergey is a PhD Candidate in History at UCSB. In addition to being a first-generation college student, Sergey was also a transfer student.