UCLA’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Admit Weekend is an award-winning program held for prospective Southeast Asian admitted students in collaboration with the Southeast Asian Coalition at UCLA (SEA Coalition), including the Association of Hmong Students (AHS), Association of Indonesian Americans (AIA), Burmese Student Association (BURSA), Malaysian Association of Students (MAS), Thai Student Association (ThaiSA), United Khmer Students (UKS), Vietnamese Student Union (VSU), Asian Pacific Coalition (APC), and Southeast Asian Campus Learning Education and Retention (SEA CLEAR).

Southeast Asians, specifically Burmese, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Mien, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Bruneian, are historically underrepresented at UCLA and other colleges and universities. Some factors have led to similar immigration histories, with many Southeast Asians arriving in the United States during the 1970s and afterwards. A lack of representative and disaggregated data concerning Asian Americans also leads to limited exposure to resources and understanding of community conditions. In order to ensure that our unique voices are heard, we want to increase the number of SEA students at UCLA by hosting this special Southeast Asian Admit Weekend. Beyond this goal, we also wish to empower all of our program participants – regardless of their ethnicity or the life experiences they identify with – to critically think about their identity. Already in its 14th annual year, SEA Admit Weekend seeks to promote higher education and increase community consciousness, while introducing Southeast Asian admits to the vast variety of opportunities and resources available to them at UCLA.