<p>Hi everyone, I am finishing up my first year at UC Santa Cruz as a Neuroscience and Behavior major. I would be much obliged to answer any questions anyone has about UC Santa Cruz, life in Santa Cruz, banana slugs, student culture, or anything else that you might be curious about.</p>
<p>How do you find the social life? What do you do outside of class? Are you happy at the school? Any sports culture at the school?</p>
<p>are there a lot of bigger parties there, or is it mainly just smaller groups of people just chilling on the weekends? also, do i stand a chance to get in there with a 2.7 soph year, 3.0 jr year, and 700m 680w 650rc sats from a competitive school? im a cali resident and ive been considering applying there because ive heard that its a really cool campus. does the small city get boring or is there usually stuff to do?</p>
<p>I am very happy attending UCSC. Outside of class you can surf, go to the beach, spend time down town, and spend time outdoors. The campus is definitely an amazing area to explore and is great if you are into nature. Of course, there is a variety of things to do depending on what you are into. There are a lot of sports but there is not what you would call a "sports culture" like you might find at USC or UCLA. There are big parties in town mainly on the weekends and all throughout the week there are people getting together to kick it. I couldn't imagine anywhere having a more relaxed vibe than UCSC. In regards to your question newsnm, the small city doesn't get boring if you really take advantage of what Santa Cruz has to offer. I can't say for sure whether you would get in based on the information you provided but admissions is getting tougher every year as more and more people are being turned away from upper-tier UCs and looking at places like UCSC where they may not have previously considered.</p>
<p>Ok a family friend is going, but she does not like it. She said she was getting easy A's and no one speaks up in class. Her astronomy teacher likes her because she will ask a question. Was your experience different? Perhaps it is the classes she chose?</p>
<p>i have no doubt i'll love the environment. being born and raised in los angeles has made me appriciative of nature. because l.a. is all i know, i also have grown quite dependant on driving. how do people commute over there? bike, bus, car, or any combination of the three?</p>
<p>If you are a freshman, except in special cases, you will not be allowed to purchase a campus parking permit. If you live off campus however, they are pretty cool about it. A lot of the streets near campus and around Santa Cruz have permit/2-hour parking. I have my car here and I park it at a friends house off campus. There are streets that you can park your car if you can't get a parking permit however. The bus system is fantastic and really efficient. Your student I.D. acts as your bus pass too and you really can get anywhere by bus. They run up to campus until 3 am every night so if you don't have a car you can still get on and off campus if you like to go out at night. I imagine that, like many other lecture hall classes, some people may feel nervous about asking questions and speaking up. This really depends on the class size and class. Lower division science classes may have less student participation than would an upper division class for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>are there a lot of surfers that go to ucsc and is it true you can park your car on campus as a freshman during certain times of the day</p>
<p>It isn't like everyone here surfs, (thank god, the crowds would be even worse in the water) but a lot of people do. After 5pm you can park your car on weekdays and it has to be off campus by 7am. On the weekends you can have your car on campus which is great.</p>
<p>In addition to any questions anyone has, I would be happy to clear up any misconceptions that anyone has about UCSC. There are a lot of myths about UCSC and life in Santa Cruz that I feel are invalid and detract from the university's and town's reputation</p>
<p>the 5pm-7am is for people without permits i assume? where do they park at other times?</p>
<p>Goose, Can you tell us a bit how the residential college system affects (or doesn't affect) every day life? Do most people end up hanging out with the people in their college or does everyone kind of mingle across the colleges? Is it hard to strike up friendships with those who live in another college? And, if you could give us a capsule summary about the different colleges in terms of the type of people who live in each (i.e., College X is the artsy one, College Z the one where no one parties), that would be most appreciated.</p>
<p>My daughter is thinking about applying to UCSC but isn't quite sure about the residential college system so any insight would be great!</p>
<p>In response to your question porcupyne, for those without a parking permit who still have a car in Santa Cruz (many students who live off campus are in this situation) may park their car on campus from 5pm to 7am. I do not have a permit and I park my car at a friends house during the week but I have it on campus on weekends and some weeknights.</p>
<p>Carolyn, that is a really good question. UCSC is set amidst a nature reserve in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. Throughout campus, there are ten residential colleges. The college you are affiliated with is the college that your dorm room is located in. You also dine there most often. Each college has classrooms that host a variety of classes. Your core freshman seminar is always located at your college. If you are at one college, you will likely have a class or discussion section at another college. There are large lecture halls and other classrooms on campus that are independent of the college system and students from all colleges are found in those classes, which are primarily large, lower division lecture classes, science labs, art studios, etc. You get to know people in your building and college the best because you are in constant contact with them, however you get to know people all over campus. Each two colleges share a common dining hall and a student at any one college may dine at any dining hall (if they have a campus meal plan). Students who live off campus are still affiliated with their college but they do not live there. I could never categorize the colleges with complete accuracy, but here is what I've gathered from them so far: Cowell was the first college to be built and is beautiful. Stevenson is adjacent to Cowell and is a bit smaller but the residential community is wonderful. Stevenson has a grassy knoll overlooking the Monterey Bay. These two colleges have the best location on campus. I attend Stevenson. Crown and Merrill are located at the top of a hill that is awful to walk up everyday, though they are nice. The atmosphere is always quiet up there and I don't much like it. Colleges 9/10 are the newest colleges with the best facilities and with a good location. They also have a great dining hall. Kresge is an odd college where 5 people are assigned to an apt. rather than a dorm. I don't really like it over there. Porter is adjacent to Kresge and is really pretty. They are known as the artsy/hippy college, but that classification isn't exclusive to them. Porter is not real close to the rest of campus but I like it. College 8 and Oakes are adjacent to one another and are near Porter and Kresge. 8 is nice and has good facilities. Their core course is something like "environmental ethics". Oakes is traditionally, the college for underrepresented minorities. The majority of students there are Latino/a, Asian, or African American. I feel that I would be unhapy there because I dislike the facilities, and I much prefer a college where there is an even distribution of cultures. Oakes is also, really far away from everything. I would encourage your daughter to apply to UCSC. I couldn't be happier here and am very grateful to be attending such a unique university.</p>
<p>Some sterotypes:</p>
<p>Cowell: Surfer College
Stevenson: Jewish College
Crown: Science College
Merrill: Socially Inept College (they have the reputation for hard drugs)
Kresge: Lit/Philo College
Porter: Artsy Hippy College / Partiers (general craziness; also known for hard drugs, but not to the extent that Merrill is)
Oakes: Diversity College
9/10: The Twins // Social Studies Colleges (they're pretty indistinguishable)
8: Drinkers / Environmentalists</p>
<p>... Obviously, as stereotypes, they aren't true of everyone. In fact, that might not even be true of the majority, just of the vocal few. Speaking of vocal few, UCSC is very vocal in general: there is almost always some sort of major protest/walk-out/speech/event going on somewhere. It is quite liberal, but there is a fine forum for everything else.</p>
<p>One of the biggest complaints I hear about UCSC is there isn't a central meeting place for students. Daivs has a quad, Berkeley has Sproul Hall. This makes the campus quieter than it would be otherwise. True?</p>
<p>how about grading at the school? i heard it used to be pass/no pass until recently. i also heard that it was voluntary grading. just wondering if standard grading is the only option now?</p>
<p>Yes and no, dstark. There is a place called Quarry Plaza, which is where the student union and the graduate commons are (as well as the bookstore on campus, and a nice pizza place), but it's not exactly 'central' and I don't see it as impressively "MEET HERE" as Sproul is for Berkeley or the place in front of the bookstore at UCLA (with the gold bear) is.</p>
<p>Porcupyne: Thank you for asking! They discontinued the pass/no pass (with evaluations) only system in '97. Standard grading is the only way to go, but you are still allowed to take a HUGE chunk of your classes pass/no pass. Most majors allow at least 25% of the major classes taken pass/no pass with certain exceptions, and there's a lot of leeway with electives and GEs. You will ALWAYS get evaluations, however, unless the professor is lazy (which has happened to my boyfriend once in 5 completed quarters, which means 15 classes with 15 different professors).</p>
<p>In regards to the pass/no pass system, while many majors allow you to do this to some extent, one may find it difficult for these pass/no pass grades to be accepted by a graduate or professional school.</p>
<p>I heard that UCSC turned away 3000+ qualified CA applicants this spring. Do you know if this is so. I really want to go there but am worried that my 3.1 (unweighted, 3.39 weighted) GPA is going to keep me out of the running (SAT's 2090), and I'll end up at Riverside. What do you hear about UCSC admissions "hooks" these days.</p>