34 years after I passed the UPCAT, my daughter has done the same and is now an incoming freshman of the state university this coming school year. Yehey! It was a proud father moment for me when I saw her name on the UPCAT results online. 34 years, was it really that long ago?

I took the UPCAT on October (was it?) 1976 at Benitez Hall in Diliman. My pop dropped me off at the College of Education building and the exam lasted for 4 hours. There weren’t that many examinees back then. There was hardly any traffic or parking problems unlike today. The exam wasn’t really that difficult for me, especially the science and the english parts. It was a different story though with the math part of the exam. Still, I was and still is a great “guesser” when it came to multiple choice tests because come March of the following year, we learned from a friend that I passed. The results then were posted at Quezon Hall, and sure enough, when we got there, there was my name. I got my official notice from UP when we arrived back home that very same day. Uncanny. My father was very proud. Now I know the feeling too.

I went back there May for the physical and a week or so later for the enrollment. Said there on the freshman guide flyer – Parents are strongly discouraged to accompany their sons/daughters during enrollment. That was great! I was really in college and on my own!

My first taste of shock at UP came during the first day of registration for freshmen. I got there (Palma Hall, the College of Arts and Sciences or CAS or AS as it was fondly known then) 7 in the morning thinking that was earlier than enough. I was wrong. The queues were light years long, snaking through stairways and floors. And there were no mp3 players and mobile phones or PSPs to while away the time and I forgot to bring a paperback or anything to read. You can only strike up a conversation with the people next to you to survive. And that was what I did. To this day, the first 2 guys I met then are still my best friends.

I don’t know if this still holds today but incoming freshmen then had to enroll in “blocks” or sections with fixed schedules during the first semester to lessen the “culture shock” so to speak and wean you to life in college. We ended up registering for “Block O-6.” Hmm, M-W-F starts at 1 pm, ends at 5…that’s good. T-Th…oh no! My “Social and Political Thought” class starts at 7 am?!? Good grief. And to think that that was the year Marcos placed the entire country on Daylight Saving Time. So I was actually having a class at 6 in the morning! Horrors! And what was this? CMT? Saturdays? Oh-oh. Bad vibes man, bad vibes.

It was late afternoon when we finished and I still have to return the next day for the assessment and payment. The following day, after finishing with the assessment part, I showed the registration form to my pop. He was grinning from ear to ear, glowing like a christmas light bulb. P475.00 for 18 units! Laboratory fees for my Botany class included. Top that. He was so proud of me, he bought me a year’s subscription to Reader’s Digest. Hey pop, how about the Yamaha guitar I wanted? Nope, Reader’s Digest son, it’ll do you good.

Next, the first day of classes.