<p>I can't be the only one who applied there to seriously attend the school, not just as a backup. If so, we should definitely meet up sometime when we get there! Keeping my fingers crossed for admission! :)</p>
<p>Oh c’mon, out of 311 viewers I can’t seriously be the only one.</p>
<p>UCSC is also my first choice!</p>
<p>Tag to UCSC for Computer game science and applied to uci. ill be happy to either. but i might like the change of pace at ucsc and the area is nice.</p>
<p>I was seriously considering applying both in high school and this year as a transfer. If I got in, I would have thought of going and not just as a backup.</p>
<p>What stopped me both times was the distance. It’s just a little too far and I like SoCal.</p>
<p>Beautiful campus though! It really does look like a good school. I hope you get in!</p>
<p>I applied but not my first choice</p>
<p>I’m tagged and I’m seriously considering going there:) I’m going to go visit the campus soon too!</p>
<p>It’s my first choice! I have too many units for Davis and hate Berkeley but really wanna be up north. It’s a gorgeous campus. Good luck to everyone who else wants to actually attend!</p>
<p>Sweet! I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one! I absolutely love the campus and needed to get away from Southern California for a while. UCSC seems like it’s the best fit for me personally. Do any of you have any idea of what you want to do for living arrangements next year? Transfer community or apartments? I’m interested in the apartment approach, but I feel like it would be really difficult to haul my entire room up from SoCal to NorCal (My family isn’t exactly wealthy), so a pre-furnished place would be best…</p>
<p>probably dorm, looking at a google map of the area, an apartment wouldn’t be as ideal as let say apartments around uci/la and stuff, just seem a bit furthur than your normal 10-20minute walk.</p>
<p>Hey kingdom, did you hear that Ucsc doesn’t like ac2 haterz</p>
<p>@jnguyen- Yeah, you pretty much are limited to taking the bus if you chose to live in off-campus apartments. Biking/walking is not optimal with all those hills, especially the Empire Grade! I’m just a little worried about on-campus apartments though. I’m hoping its not exactly like a dorm experience, because I’ve been there and done that already…</p>
<p>@Lawlking- Ac2…really? I wasn’t aware of such a thing. They can just deal with my lack of caring for “Ac2” 
hahaha. Forreals though, my boyfriend plays SC2 and loves it, among other things…like Team Fortress 2.</p>
<p>Unless they’re changing it again, they stopped letting transfers live in the on campus apartments (at least their first quarter) when they created the abomination known as the transfer community. Options for this year were Transfer Community (Building A taken from Porter), The Village (several single rooms together in an “apartment,” but I use the term loosely… they’re basically large trailers near the base of campus), or University Town Center (off-campus). I’m sad they took away University Inn as a housing option for all students.</p>
<p>It was better when they let transfers choose to live in their affiliated colleges right off the bat. The on campus apartments used to have a lot of transfers and people seemed generally more happy. But I’m probably biased because I was among those pushed out of Building A so it could become the transfer community :P. So take my complaints with a grain of salt, but I would like to think I’m more annoyed at the forced segregation than the loss of a promised building.</p>
<p>Honestly, I will say that living off campus is very difficult here especially if you’ll be relying on the buses to get around. It takes a dedicated person to make that trek. It’s not exactly a place I’d recommend walking to either (never walk down Bay late at night; while campus might be safe, that path is off campus and is lower than the road and surrounded by trees… there have been multiple muggings there). The campus is up on a hill in a forest. If you found a place along High, even “close” to campus, one is better off just catching a bus at least at the base of campus since walking would take forever (but would be great exercise).</p>
<p>It’s expensive on campus, but worth it to be no further than the Village. No meal plan is required there either so you can save quite a bit. All university owned housing has basic furnishings (bed, dresser, desk, wardrobe, deskchair), but you provide things like towels and bed linens.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have heard that current transfer students at UCSC have some mixed feelings. On one hand, I feel like the transfer community at porter could be a positive- Being around other new students (who also have no friend) would allow students to make friends more easily, as it is likely that core groups of friends have formed starting from freshman year within their residential colleges. On the other, it seems like they are segregating transfers away from current students, which can also be disadvantageous. So far, I have some mixed feelings about it.</p>
<p>Kender, can you tell me anything about what The Village is like? I’m considering living there, but I would like to know if you think its a nicer area to live than Porter. Like, what are the pros and cons of each, in your opinion? There is also the alternative, Family Student Housing (My boyfriend attends UCSC currently, so we may live together if he does not become an RA), but I don’t really see that in my future right now.</p>
<p>Thank you for your thorough recommendations and advice! I do appreciate it. :)</p>
<p>The problem with the transfer community is that UCSC is designed around a residential college system. I came here before the change was made (and am graduating here at the end of the quarter) and was witness to what it was before and what it was after. I’m a Porter affiliate so I’ve been forced to witness it and suffer the consequences first hand.</p>
<p>The only positive I have ever found is it puts transfers closer to STARS (special group just for transfers and re-entry students). However, I have never used them since I came here.</p>
<p>The transfer community creates a sense of segregation. It forces transfers to be viewed as completely different, not real slugs. I found no trouble coming here as a transfer in the normal system (I ended up in a hall in the dorms with mostly frosh as it was a substance free hall) and making friends and connections with people. I also had no trouble meeting other transfers despite being a mid-year transfer. In contrast, I have made zero new transfer friends on campus since the change was made. Building A is successfully cut off from all but new transfers.</p>
<p>From a Porter affiliate’s view: The attempt to cater to transfers to make them feel like they are not second class citizens (which I feel the transfer community did by giving the impression that transfers were so different that they didn’t deserve to live with other slugs) has caused unrest at Porter. We have things called College Nights. These are for affiliates only. Transfers living in the transfer community are permitted to go to Porter’s College Night, their own affiliated College Night, and special transfer nights (note these are only for new transfers). Further, transfers were allowed to reserve rooms at Porter for the following year regardless of their affiliation.</p>
<p>You have to understand that Porter needed that extra building. We were promised it and that there would be plenty of space for, and I quote, “all Porter students.” Unfortunately, come housing time, it was made clear we would lose our just renovated building. It doesn’t end there: Porter affiliates were forced out to other colleges because of space issues.</p>
<p>Like I said, take what I say with a grain of salt since I have a lot of annoyances over the transfer community both as a transfer myself and as a Porter affiliate, but I honestly believe my reasons are sound and not totally “grr! arg!” :)</p>
<p>On the Village
I’ve only been down there a couple times. I even considered it so I knew I’d get a single with no risk of being stuck with a roommate. They’re just basic, single rooms (decent enough) with a kitchen for a set of said single rooms. The worst I could say about it is the location for an on campus residence. There are bus stops available, though, near the entrance to the road that leads down to where the Village is.</p>
<p>The biggest negatives you’ll find with how they treat transfer housing is they have taken away the ability to choose affiliation based on location on campus (in fact, they’ve taken away any real reason to have an affiliation beyond “transfer,” but that’s another rant ;)). Such as some people like to be on the east side of campus so they’re closer to the gym and quarry plaza. Porter is on the west side of campus and a decent hike from everything… especially when they stop the buses on that side of campus due to 4-20 :(</p>
<p>The Village can be a lonely place if you’re not very outgoing. I was enticed by the lack of a meal plan (I randomly have to be on special diets due to digestion problems so being able to just cook for myself is a good thing), but in the end it just didn’t work for me personally. I do know people who loved it and people who despised it.</p>
<p>I still think Village is better than University Town Center, but that’s a personal opinion and showing my laziness with not wanting to deal with the trouble getting to campus. I know little about UTC except what is online. I never took the opportunity to visit. I did know more about the University Inn, though, but that’s not an option anymore.</p>
<p>Now, the interesting housing is the trailer park on campus. That’s one I always thought would be a hoot to live in, but never pursued it further than that.</p>
<p>I’d be careful about choosing to live with your boyfriend. I don’t mean this harshly at all, just saying it might not be the best idea. But that’s for you to judge :). Family Student Housing… priority goes to students with kids. If you wanted to live with your boyfriend, I believe you have to actually prove you’re married or in a committed partnership? I’d have to relook up the details on that. Just know it’s not as simple as applying with a boyfriend… it’s proving you’re in a committed relationship where you two must live together.</p>
<p>And of course :). Honestly, while choosing an affiliated college was a big stress, it was partially because of housing that it was such a burden. I ended up choosing Porter because of the location to theatre arts (one of my majors) and I just pay dearly having to walk across campus to get to classes for my other major (literature). I’ve lived in the dorms my entire time here, but was almost in the apartments. I only went with dorms because it was the first single I was told was available when I transferred. I’m glad I did or I wouldn’t have met all the wonderful people from my hall that year (we even made shrinky dinks as a hall project one month!).</p>
<p>I was talking with someone who transferred the same quarter I did originally before they took a leave of absence. He had initially lived off campus and felt no connection with his affiliation (Porter, same as me) until he came back from his leave of absence and chose to live on campus. He now gets why the residential college system is such a great thing. That sense of community within such a big area is such an incredible thing. The one thing that made me feel so at home here and like a real slug just part of one big family and not just “another transfer” was my college affiliation. People don’t really get the system until they’ve experienced it and see just how great it can be.</p>
<p>Obviously I love UCSC and I am willing to talk forever about it, haha! Sorry if I bored you too much. I’m really going to miss this place when I leave in a couple weeks. Take good care of it :)</p>
<p>I tagged as well. I have been considering going there but the only thing that stops me is that they don’t have Geography as a major :l</p>
<p>yes ucsc is my first choice! I seriously need to find people that love the beach as much as i do once i get there. capitola,boardwalk, etc FTW</p>
<p>@Cindy- Perhaps you could propose your own major? See [The</a> Individual Major 2011-12](<a href=“http://admissions.ucsc.edu/academics/majors/individual-study.html]The”>http://admissions.ucsc.edu/academics/majors/individual-study.html)</p>
<p>@Anythinggoes- That sounds like a plan! You would think you’ll find people that enjoy those type of things up there…I have the same hopes as you!</p>
<p>kingdom, I added you as a friend soooo when I am walking around campus with my thumb up my ass not doing anything I shall PM you! haha</p>
<p>Oh! and are you (or anyone else) planning to do summer quarter? I was seriously contemplating it to get a head start and get my feet wet before I hit the ground running in the fall with a full schedule. I am really wanting to get my BA in 2 years. I just couldn’t financially afford anything else tbh</p>