<p>
I would recommend living off-campus. On-campus housing is limited, pricey and noisy. Expect to pay around $800/mo for a half decent place.</p>
<p>Food and social averages don't seem abnormally expensive to me compared to most metropolitan areas.</p>
<p>800 a month, do you mean on campus or off?</p>
<p>I believe The Critic means off campus costs around $800/month. On-campus housing isn't payed for with monthly payments.</p>
<p>What's the difference between all the colleges, like 8, 9, and 10? I just got accepted and will be a history major. Which college will I be in?</p>
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It's up to you. The colleges are fairly different from each other (the type of people that live there).</p>
<p>how are the econ and astrophysics programs there?</p>
<p>Do you think that living off campus your first year would limit the potential to meet more people, etc? I would think that one of the advantages of living on campus is you get to know everyone in your building.</p>
<p>I'm thinking about choosing Cowell as my college! I'm just curious about the dorm size and the quality of living. I'm worried about getting stuck in party central where there's constant drinking and constant loud noise. :[</p>
<p>calvinator: i would say living on-campus definitely gets you adjusted to college social life, and of course you meet your friends for the next 4 years in your building, and around campus I guess. I can't imagine living off campus freshman year and still meeting the people I have.
thatbird: i don't really think it makes a huge difference where you live - wherever you go there will be some noise and some drinking. Maybe you wouldn't want to go to Porter, which is one of the more rowdy colleges. But besides that they all have a similar amount/attitude towards drinking and partying. There is a fair amount of it here.
I'm living in Cowell, and there's pretty much people drinking/smoking/partying most nights out of the week, but it's usually not too disrupting - and the library is always a valuable escape. Overall, the focus isn't incredibly academic. But you have control over the work you get done, etc.</p>
<p>Oh, and archileta: I know the astrophysics program is very well-regarded. I am not sure about the econ program.</p>
<p>What's there to do in UCSC, for fun, except for partying? Movies, recreation?</p>
<p>CCC classes as a senior = added to UC GPA?
I've taken 3 community college courses (as a hs senior). Are the grades I received added to my UC GPA (when I attend in fall '08) or are the credits merely transferred?</p>
<p>To add on to what badhairdude asked, what are some popular student activities except partying. </p>
<p>Are the clubs active? Which ones? Are there groups of kids who hang out alot. Say musicians for example. </p>
<p>I was interested in getting involved in the UCSC newspaper... is there one? Haha. Also, are there clubs that do volunteer service actively? </p>
<p>Any tips and answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for setting a thread up like this :)</p>
<p>also, do mostly hippie types attend sc, or are there normal kids too. The names of the colleges kind of worry me a little, and ucsc has the sort of hippie reputation</p>
<p>disregard my last question..I found the answer.</p>
<p>And now for another:</p>
<p>How does one get involved in student leadership? Do you have to serve on your school's "parliament/government" before you can join the student union assembly? What options are there for an eager freshman who wants to become involved in the campus?</p>
<p>do you know anything about the social sciences at ucsc? i'm an anthropology major</p>
<p>@badhairdude</p>
<p>You can co to the beach, surf, go to the boardwalk (which has rides, a decent arcade, minigolf, and lasertag), go bowling, go rockclimbing (indoor and outdoor), go to the movies, go eat at a restaurant, etc. Once you're 21 you can hit up the bars as well.</p>
<p>@Cali Trumpet</p>
<p>There are many active clubs, too many for me to name in fact. I know of a Film and Video series club, a Bike co-op, a Natural foods co-op, a hiking club, but there are many many more.</p>
<p>There are several UCSC newspapers/journals. The chief paper is City on a Hill Press, which serves as the traditional newspaper for the whole school. There are many others which serve as poetry journals, literary arts journals, and the like.</p>
<p>Many groups of people hang outside. Often I'll see people studying together in a quad, in a grassy knoll, or out on Porter meadow. People hang out and play frisbee, play guitar, and whatnot.</p>
<p>@bbf</p>
<p>Each individual college has its own student covernment (Kresge Parliament, College 9 Senate, etc.), but there is also a student union assembly. I believe a freshman can join the student union assembly without participating in his/her own college's government, but I'm not entirely sure.</p>
<p>@nitrampf3</p>
<p>Google is your friend :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info Vicious. I'll try to get involved in some of those.</p>
<p>How far away are the boardwalks, arcade games etc..walkable?</p>
<p>The campus itself is pretty detached from the city, that is, there is nothing in reasonable walking distance from the campus to the city.</p>
<p>If you want to go somewhere in the city and you don't have a car, you have to take the bus to get there. Usually it takes a good 20min to get from campus to the city on a bus.</p>