<ol>
<li>There’s a Safeway in Santa Cruz that you can access via bus.</li>
<li>It really depends on your experience, grades, networking, and also what kind of industry you are looking for. </li>
<li>There’s a good relationship between the big 4 firms and UCSC. There are also some local/small firms that will probably recruit, but that usually happens off-campus.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you could answer any of these questions it would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for asking so many questions.</p>
<p>TRANSPORTATION
- How late do campus shuttle buses run?
- How late do buses into town run?
- Can you easily bike ride or walk to get everywhere in town?
- Is there public transportation to and from campus throughout the area?</p>
<p>SOCIAL LIFE
- What is there to do on weekends? What do most people do?
- If you attend there what do you like about the social scene? Dislike?
- What is there to do in winter?
- What is there to do in town?
- What are the most popular social events on campus?
- Any comments about the student population? Are they friendly, outgoing, outdoorsy, etc?
- What is the atmosphere like?</p>
<p>WEATHER
- What is the weather like during the winter?</p>
<p>DORM LIFE/FACILITIES
- Do dorms close for breaks or over the summer? Do I have to move out during breaks?
- Are laundry facilities available? Are they free?
- Are computer labs available? How late are they open?</p>
<p>Do you have any personal comments about the school? Are you enjoying your time there? What do you like and/or dislike about the school?</p>
<p>Transportation:
- I believe the latest any shuttle runs is 1am Mon-Thur, 3am Fri-Sun. Most of the main shuttle routes stop at 11pm/midnightish.
- The bus that runs into town is the latest running bus (see above). Leaves every 20 minutes from downtown to take people back to campus.
- I wouldn’t suggest biking from the campus into downtown due to the hilly ride. Most places of interest to students are no more than a 20 minute walk from the metro center in downtown.
- Absolutely.</p>
<p>Social Life:
- Fudge if I know any more. Depends on your friends/dorm. There are groups that run weekend activities like capture the flag, quidditch, scavenger hunts, and meteor shower viewings. There are also group trips available to attractions like the Exploratorium and the Monterey Bay aquarium, but those offerings depend on the college you live in. And of course the beach and hiking in the trails near campus.
- Like? Plenty of ways to socialize other than alcohol-fueled parties. Dislike? A lot of the social scene moves off campus at the end of freshmen year.
- Honestly, it’s mostly the same things. Sometimes events will get canceled due to heavy rain, but generally that’s the only thing that stops us.
- I’m still living on campus so I admit I don’t know much about this.
- No clue. The college system means that it’s very dependent on where you live, because every college has different event offerings. It’s not that you can’t attend the events hosted by the other colleges, you’re just not likely to hear about them. In Crown it’s probably Humans vs Zombies.
- Mostly friendly/outgoing/outdoorsy, yes. Definitely friendly. I’m continually amazed by the kindness of my fellow students.
- Again, depends on where you live. I hate to keep saying this, but it’s true, and it’s one of the pluses of the 10-college system. You can pick your own scene easily.</p>
<p>Weather:
Right now it’s really odd. We’ll have a week of beautiful sun, then a week of gloom. Generally it’s pretty pleasant temperature-wise, never really dipping below 50 degrees during the daytime. </p>
<p>Dorms:
- The only time that dorms are strictly closed is the break between fall and winter quarters. Generally, you can stay during other breaks if you ask. You do not have to move out until summer, at which point they only keep one college open for summer housing.
- Yes available, free no. Cheap, yes. $1 wash, $0.75 dry. Probably comes out to about $15 a quarter for me.
- Yup! One lab is open 24/7, most others close at or before 10pm.</p>
<p>I really struggle in math at times and was wondering about tutoring options at UCSC. I was wondering if any of you current students can tell me more about it like
- how accessible it is
- how much it costs
- How the MSI program works (how is it different from regular tutoring)</p>
<p>Also can any current Neuroscience and MCD majors can tell me what they like and dislike about their programs and how much it differs from regular bio?</p>
<p>Finally how do budget cuts seem to be affecting the school (specifically getting into required classes)</p>
<p>Thanks alot! :)</p>
<p>It’s very assessable, available year round, and completely free!
MSI is different in that instead of huge class sections taught by a TA, you get to work in a group of usually 5-10 students. And they’re almost always taught by a fellow student who took the class previously, so they can tell you all the tips and tricks. They also do better at explaining things compared to most TAs, because there isn’t such a big gap in knowledge between you and them.</p>
<p>Also look into the ACE program. I wasn’t in it myself, but my roommate was and she benefited from it a lot!</p>
<p>The effects of the budget cuts vary from department to department. Overall it seems like the biggest trouble is they have to cut down on the number of tutors they’re able to hire for each class. They’re also shrinking class sizes, as a result of having fewer people to handle the grading work. :(</p>
<p>Is Orale 2012 all free or do I have to pay any fees? Wondering because I will have to fly from San Diego to SF then take 2 trains and a series of buses just to get there lol</p>
<p>@thelonghalloween</p>
<p>Liesel answered all the MSI/tutoring stuff well, and all I can add is that if you struggle with math or chemistry, MSI is INCREDIBLY helpful and is almost always offered for those classes. For math especially, in addition to the two sections per week for the class, MSI offers an additional 2-3 more personal sessions, and you can take tutoring on top of all of that.</p>
<p>As far as the MCD/neuro stuff goes:
I can’t speak for either of those majors, but I am in the bio department so maybe this will help.
In terms of lower div stuff, they’re all basically the same throughout the different bio majors. Getting into some classes (particularly the general chemistry and bio series) is difficult, but crashing the class if you can’t get in is usually successful. I personally never had any problems getting in, so I never had to crash anything. But I planned way ahead and made sure I knew what I was doing when I went into the enrollment process.
Getting into upper division classes is a lot easier since it’s not nearly as impacted as, say, psychology. So in terms of graduating within 4 years–it shouldn’t be too hard as long as you’re focused. Both bio departments (BIOL and BIOE) offer a lot of upper division classes each quarter, but you’d be focused on BIOL. BIOE is the ecology & evolution area, and BIOL is molecular.
That’s the main difference from a regular Biology BS. With a bio major, you can take classes from either BIOL or BIOE once you get to upper division stuff. So it’s a lot more open to what you want to focus on. MCD/neuro is completely focused on molecular (obviously), so the class options are a bit more limited and you get less of a spread of general biology (you don’t have to take ecology or evolution). If the molecular stuff is totally your thing, then that’s great and you should be fine in that program.</p>
<p>thanks @rectangleshorts and @Liesel! thats great to know!</p>
<p>Hi!
I was wondering if you know how much ucsc weighs extracurriculars?
Mines are pretty crappy, but i really would like to attend…</p>
<p>Would you get your admission rescinded if you received an D and a A for a semester?</p>
<p>Hi, I just get admitted to UCSC and I’m interested in biology.</p>
<p>Is biology a competitive major in UCSC??? How many ppl in a class?
Is human bio BA or BS? Does human bio= physiology??
How are the professors? Science programs?
I also heard that people EITHER get A or F in a class??? @@</p>
<p>How many colleges are there? Can someone list them for me? Thanks!!
Is language class required?</p>
<p>Hi, I’m highly considering to go to UCSC this fall but I had a few questions about the housing. I have already been accepted to UCSC but I have a friend who was put on the waitlist. Would it still be possible for us to dorm together if we both went? Is there somewhere on the housing application where you can request your roommate along with the college of choice? Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I am also interested in biology. Are the biology professors good/helpful at UCSC? How difficult is it to change my major from biology to something else after the first year? Also, what is the average class size for lower division courses?</p>
<p>I got admitted to UCSC, UCDavis, & UCLA, awaiting UCB.
Three of the above I got in and awaiting UCB next week. I was excited when I open the email and know that I was a receipent chosen by UCLA. However, I went to church today and I prayed to God. Guess what, I felt God’s message to attend UCSC.</p>
<p>I don’t want to make a bad decision. My dream school is private university like USC or private univ at Georgia Atlanta. Major likely Business/ Accounting or maybe Nursing. Not definitely sure yet. Can you advise me if UCSC has good managerial econ professor that I can easily survive with decent GPA vs UCLA and that the best route to go about if I want to transfer to private U after 2years. Thank you.</p>
<p>Are we allowed to setup our own routers in our dorm?</p>
<p>Does anybody know if there is some sort of a grid that can guide a UCSC student through the GE requirements with that alphabet soup of CC, ER, IM etc. course codes?</p>
<p>I’m trying to figure out what my kid (freshman) has already fulfilled and what he still needs to take care of before he starts taking classes towards his major. According to his unofficial transcript online, because he came in with some AP credits and some CC credits, plus classes he has taken at UCSC in his first two quarters – so far he has 76.5 credits.</p>
<p>How helpful are the academic advisors with planning ahead? It would be good if he could fill in a bunch of squares on a grid and then take that in to ask his advisor about how best to proceed. Any ideas about this? He seems a bit lost and still isn’t sure about what his major will be… Thanks in advance for any suggestions.</p>
<p>@kcobap: Yes, it is somewhat competitive. Especially when it comes to getting a position in a lab on campus. Class sizes start out 200-400 but seem to shrink pretty quickly to less than 50. You do not get either an A or an F, grades normally work as you’re used to. There is a system called Pass/No Pass that does not give you a grade, and does not affect your GPA. It’s limited to less than 25% of the classes you take though. I highly suggest you learn how to google things: [Human</a> Biology B.S. at UC Santa Cruz](<a href=“http://undergrad.pbsci.ucsc.edu/programs/mcdb/hbiobs.html]Human”>http://undergrad.pbsci.ucsc.edu/programs/mcdb/hbiobs.html)
[Undergraduate</a> Colleges](<a href=“http://www.ucsc.edu/campus/colleges.html]Undergraduate”>Undergraduate Colleges)</p>
<p>@magik510: Yes, there is a place on the form for you to request a roommate. It almost always goes through. :)</p>
<p>@sr16xy: After 1 year it is not too hard to switch majors, especially if you got all your math done. Lower division classes range from 200-400 people, it seems. </p>
<p>@leftywamum0nkey: Yes. They have to be secured with a password, but I believe that’s the only restriction.</p>
<p>@calv1n: There’s often no good way to determine it. I’m not too familiar with the new GE system, but this seems to be the best guide for the AP credits: [University</a> of California - Santa Cruz](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/ap-credits/santa-cruz/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/counselors/ap-credits/santa-cruz/index.html)
Even though your son doesn’t know about his major, if he has any inclination toward Science/Engineering then he needs to make sure he works toward getting his math requirements done. Also, be aware that he has enough credits to be a sophomore. This means he won’t be able to enroll in his core class the proper way (restricted to freshmen). He’ll just need to go to his college’s advising and get a permission code. Not difficult at all, luckily. The academic advisers are great! They’ll help map out how to complete GEs and his major within 4 years or less. They really know their stuff.</p>
<p>@Liesel I’m afraid that the housing selection process may be due before he gets his acceptance (if he does) considering they can be notified from as early as May 1st to June 1st and housing appears to be done at around mid-May. What would I have to do in that case? Would he still be able to request me as a roommate? To my knowledge waitlisted people are guaranteed housing but it doesn’t really state anything specific about whether or not they get to choose their colleges, etc.</p>
<p>Do you know anything about the LGBT population at UCSC? Also, how is the chemistry department? Deciding between UCI and UCSC, mostly dependent on atmosphere and acceptance of the college.</p>
<p>@magik510: Your roommate assignment won’t be known until sometime in August. There’s an appeals period after the college assignments come back, so you have at least that time period when they’ll definitely be able to consider your request. My friend who was not initially accepted to UCSC still got to go through the normal housing application, so your friend should be fine. </p>
<p>@MindySue: I don’t personally participate in the LGBT culture, but my friends who are involved all think highly of it. It seems to be especially strong in Kresge/Porter. I’m also near the Cantu Queer Center, which is a really nice building. I see events hosted in there pretty often, so my impression is that it’s a pretty active population.</p>