Frequently Asked Questions About WICS Committees
General Questions
Are we able to apply to multiple committees?
Yes. On our application form, we have first preference, second preference, third preference. Your deliverable will just be for the first preference. No need to make deliverables for second/third preference. When spring rolls around, you have the opportunity to switch committees for the next school year, so you have the chance to experience other committees.
What are coffee chats like?
They are 15-minute casual “interviews”. Some questions include what your hobbies, why are you interested in WICS Committee and other questions based on your application. Coffee chats help us understand who you are. Chair(s) of the committee that you’ve been selected to interview for will chat with you. Just be yourself!
How big are committees?
Internal Affairs, External Affairs and Community Outreach will each have around14-15 people. Marketing will have around 7-8 people. We do not have a specific number of how many people will be accepted to each community. Don’t apply to a committee because it has more spots available! Just apply for the committee you like! Since we have preferences, if you have have a strong application/interview you will be able to join a committee outside of your first choice.
Internal Affairs
*Answered by Melissa Wong
How much time do you spend for your committee?
Not that much time at all! I would say besides the general and committee meetings, outside of them, it averages to 30 minutes depending on the tasks you volunteer to take on. Tasks kind of look like creating blurbs for marketing, brainstorming ideas in and outside of meetings, and creating things related to certain events. Super simple and easy to manage tasks!
What do you like about your committee?
I like the creative freedom internal affairs provides. I think there are lots of opportunities to create social events and make them better and more inclusive. I personally, as a 4th year student, have been to many social events and have taken lots of pros and cons of each one and with that in mind, as I am planning events in this committee, I can take what I’ve learned and make each event better and better. Whether it’s repeating an activity I really enjoyed in the past or remembering an event similar that I didn’t enjoy, I can use my creativity to balance my past experiences and turn it into something even better!
What’s one good memory you have from being in WICS committee?
One of the best things about WICs is the mentorship program. As a mentor last year, I was able to create many close friendships and as an internal affairs committee member, you are a part of the planning process of mentorship. What I mean is that you are a part of a program that brings people closer together beyond the mentor/mentee pairings. You organize events, come up with ideas on what mentorship families can do together, and are on the sidelines watching the relationships grow fonder!
What skills have you learned from being in your committee?
Lots and lots of communication and leadership skills. As a committee member you represent WICs and the amazing community it provides. I am truly grateful that being in committee brought me the confidence to interact with everyone during general meetings and allowed me to get out of my comfort zone when meeting new people. In committee we get super close to everyone and communication has never been easier!
What are interactions like with people in your committee and outside of your committee?
We are the best committee! At committee meetings, we ALWAYS have a MEME and an ICEBREAKER for internal! They bring out the personality within our committee. For example, one question we discussed was “rant about one of your current classes right now”. I also interact with other committee members through setup, cleanup and lunch dates! We’re also paired with new people all the time in committee. We do casual socials randomly in our free time!
What was the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself or about WICS after joining committee?
I joined as a general member in my first year, then dipped, I felt super lonely learning CS by myself. In my second year, I saw that many people were struggling in the same way as me and that surprised me. Committee gave me help in my classes and socially. It’s great to meet so many people on the CS track!
External Affairs
*Answered by Rongbing (Crystal) Lai
How much time do you spend for your committee?
It depends on the tasks complexity assigned to me but mostly it is less than 30 minutes per week. The tasks are fairly easy such as creating spreadsheets and forms, but there are times where we need to be helpers or leaders for workshops or company events, so it would be 1.5 hours for the general meetings every week. There is also a 1 hour committee meeting every week, so total it will be about 3 hours per week!
What do you like about your committee?
I was in the executive committee that does not exist anymore (rip), and it was divided into internal and external affairs. External Affairs takes the professional events part plus the work of the corporate team. So I choose and like the External Affairs committee because it has more variety of work, for example from researching catering, planning company events, to leading/helping in events and organizing Technical Mock Interviews in the futrue. I got to learn a lot of skills in very different areas. External Affairs also allows me to know more about companies and can be helpful for getting jobs and internships! The committee is also pretty chill and fun!
What’s one good memory you have from being in WICS committee?
The committee retreat from last school year was one of the good memories I have where all WICS members went to BJ’s restaurant and had fun! It is actually hard to state one good memory because being in the WICS committee is just a good memory as a whole! It is a very inclusive and chill committee where you will always find someone who has the same interests as you and hangout, or go to classes and study together with WICS committees that have the same class as you.
What skills have you learned from being in your committee?
I think communication skill is definitely an important thing that I learned as we discuss tasks and plans during meetings that build up our final events. Also researching/searching is another one because we need to find a lot of information for all kinds of events, such as logical questions in the WICS Games.
What are interactions like with people in your committee and outside of your committee?
For committee, it just happens! It’s pretty chill because there’s no formal way to interact. We just talk and chat, and especially when you stand together, you start a conversation because we’re all in this together!
What was the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself or about WICS after joining committee?
As an international student, I did not dare to speak English before WICS. WICS helped me to communicate and chat with people. I found out that I am more fluent in speaking and comfortable in writing. WICS helped me become more comfortable in this foreign environment, and it feels like family!
Marketing
*Answered by Grace Manning
How much time do you spend for your committee?
The time commitment starts with our weekly committee meetings, which are one hour long. During these meetings, we are assigned tasks to complete during the upcoming week. The great thing about marketing is that the time commitment is small; you might spend 5 minutes creating a Facebook event or 2 minutes making an Instagram story post. Depending on how many events we have in the upcoming weeks, you could have as little as 2 or as many as 7 tasks in a week.
What do you like about your committee?
The Marketing Committee is important, but the responsibilities are not stressful. Tasks are generally easy to complete and can be lots of fun. We inform people about WICS events and are in charge of the club’s image and presence on social media. I enjoy brainstorming fun ideas for marketing with other committee members, such as TikToks or other social media posts outside of our typical content.
What’s one good memory you have from being in WICS committee?
It’s hard to pick one, since being a part of WICS Committee has brought a lot of great experiences into my time at UCI. One of my favorite memories would have to be from a boothing event, because these have allowed me to get to know committee members better, while also interacting with other UCI students or prospective students who want to know more about WICS. I can learn a lot about fellow committee members when I hear them talk to other students about their college experience.
What skills have you learned from being in your committee?
An overarching skill of being in WICS Committee is learning how a club is organized so that it can run efficiently. I have carried this knowledge into other leadership positions. I also learned about the importance of being a reliable team member. Marketing an event follows a specific schedule, and it is important to complete tasks on time so our audience finds out about our events in a timely manner. Dependability is an important quality of a WICS Committee member. Lastly, being a part of Marketing has sparked my interest in graphic design as well.
What are interactions like with people in your committee and outside of your committee?
I’ve gotten to know everyone in marketing very well by starting every committee meeting with an icebreaker. I’ve gotten to know everyone outside of marketing pretty well through committee retreats and socials. It happens naturally from chatting with people before committee meetings and talking to the people you sit with. When I was on board last year, I made eye contact with everyone during committee announcements. I liked seeing people’s reactions to announcements.
What was the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself or about WICS after joining committee?
I saw myself becoming more vocal and involved in things. Regarding virtual events, knowing everyone around me was very welcoming and helped me to turn on my camera and be active. In turn, I encouraged others to do the same. I was surprised that I found myself more extroverted. It became a positive cycle, and I felt encouraged to continue.
Community Outreach
*Answered by Ashley Liu
How much time do you spend for your committee?
It depends on the quarter and the programs we’re working on, but it ranges from 30 minutes to 1 hour a week. For outreach, since we typically do about 2 programs a year, a lot of the logistics planning and content creation happen in the fall quarter. And in winter and spring quarter, those are when we would actually go to the high schools we partnered with and host the events.
What do you like about your committee?
So this is actually my third year in outreach. When I came in as a freshman, I knew I wanted to be involved in some kind of teaching or tutoring role where I can give back to the community, so I immediately gravitated toward outreach. And that’s really my favorite part of outreach, even if you don’t have prior teaching experience or background, we still encourage you to take on these opportunities where you can impact younger students . And you get to interact with high school freshmen which makes me feel young again lol.
What’s one good memory you have from being in WICS committee?
I guess this isn’t really one single memory, but last year we had committee meetings an hour before WICS general meetings, and I remember always looking forward to that one hour break. After committee meetings end, some of us would be like, “wanna get boba?” and we would just go on like a little off-campus stroll to UTC. Or sometimes, we’d do homework together or just chill, but it’s these small moments that add up and make you feel this sense of community.
What skills have you learned from being in your committee?
A lot of soft skills! I think the biggest is definitely public speaking and leadership skills because sometimes you’ll get to organize and lead workshops and during those workshops, you get to present the content.
What are interactions like with people in your committee and outside of your committee?
I get to know outreach members very well because I see them every week. I interact with other committee members in my classes and during setup and cleanup sessions for general events.
What was the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself or about WICS after joining committee?
Before college, I didn’t see myself doing things that involved talking to too many people, but here I am! In my first year with outreach, there were a lot of opportunities for me to lead. Talking to people and building relationships with them broke me out of my shell, and I started putting myself out there. I build a lot of confidence through this. Outreach enhanced my leadership and impact on students.