Cal Poly SLO vs SB

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Barbara
21

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San Luis Obispo’s downtown scene is every bit the destination spot. It is one of the few places in California where intimate designer boutiques set the mood, and corporate chains are merely background fixtures.</p>

<p>Walking around the streets, experience a sense of the European-style culture that is quaint, exciting, and inviting. If you get tired of the bustling activity, find an escape just a block away on the walkways along San Luis Creek, or choose a deli or restaurant offering outside dining overlooking the water and Mission courtyard.
SLO</a> Chamber of Commerce

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Big-city attractions are also staples of the culture here, like the legendary SLO Symphony and many national talents that are featured at state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly. Whether you are looking for a night out on the town, a world-class dinner at one of the famed restaurants, an intimate stroll along San Luis Creek, the pick of a diverse selection of wines at Taste, or an evening of live entertainment, you don’t have to venture far to find it here.
SLO</a> Chamber of Commerce: Nightlife & Entertainment

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Isla Vista is an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 18,344. The majority of residents are college students at nearby UC Santa Barbara or at Santa Barbara City College. (From Wikipedia)

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Nobody that knows the 1st thing about Isla Vista would say "I am not saying IV is like living in LA (where I also travel at least weekly) but in comparison to SLO it is big city."</p>

<p>Hey, see for yourself. Here is a link to SLO from google maps san</a> luis obispo, ca -- satellite or san</a> luis obispo, ca -- streets</p>

<p>And here is a link to the "bigger city" of Isla Vista isla</a> vista, ca - Google Maps The part below El Colegio is all there is.
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if you are going to be such a jerk, be sure you know what you are talking about!

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Agree 100%, and suggest it's advice cktsing should follow ;)</p>

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Bigger town? Clearly this person has never set foot on or near the UCSB campus. While the city of SB might be bigger than SLO, UCSB is not actually in Santa Barbara. It's about 6 miles north, set in the isolated town of Isla Vista. Oops!!

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<p>I dont understand how you can call it isolated when you can take the 24x and be in downtown in less than 20 minutes.</p>

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<p>I agree w/ southpasadena and wasupieboy!!! Whatever mikemac. I am VERY familiar w/ life in IV and have spent a lot of time there. I have lived in SLO. In the end it comes down to where you feel more comfortable. I found that UCSB is much more the party campus and- for me- that wouldn't work. I'm not saying that is true for everyone, so you need to visit both and make your choice!</p>

24

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I dont understand how you can call it isolated when you can take the 24x and be in downtown in less than 20 minutes.

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Isolated not in the sense that its in the middle of a desolate wilderness hours from civilization. Isolated in that its a world unto the students. Isolated in the sense that the day-trippers and tourists that flock to State Street shops don't stop by Isla Vista unless they took a wrong turn from the airport. As a student what you'll see around IV are other students (and some bums -- to many in the outside world not much distinction to be drawn...). Isolated in that it is not "every bit the destination spot." The Isla Vista Chamber of Commerce promoting it for visitors? Doesn't exist. The hotels for tourists? There are none. The world class restaurants? Ditto, unless you're a huge fan of Sam's to Go ;) The legendary Isla Vista orchestra? Don't make me laugh! The night on the town? How about the night dodging the Foot Patrol and MIP tickets. Isla Vista is a small student-centered world onto itself, ignored and pretty much unknown to the outside world. That's why its isolated.</p>

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<p>Cal Poly Definately</p>

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<p>I will agree about the food. I've lived in a few places (Bay Area, San Luis, Washington D.C.) and San Luis easily easily has the best food. That includes all of the various metro areas I've visited, as well. Great variety...really good date restaurants...it's all there. I think that's one of the things I miss most about my college days.</p>

27

<p>I'm a Cal Poly alum and I think Cal poly is very pretty for a state campus. No the ocean is not that close to campus-you have to drive there, but the town is a nice friendly college oriented place. Parties are readily available if you want them and easy to ignore if you dont. Once you live in SLO you will understand why people love it. Now on the flipside my son is picking UCSB because he wants to be right on the ocean and he wants a UC education complete with research opportunities and travel abroad.</p>

28

<p>mikemac, you make it seem like the students stay only in iv and cannot venture out. When you have santa barbara as a neighbor, you do not need an iv orchestra or fine dining. You have it all within a convenient distance. I am not trying to promote SB as i dislike this area, it is to small for me, i need to be in LA which is why i regularly drive back home. Students dont need to live in a cultural hip area, it is right next to them.</p>

29

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mikemac, you make it seem like the students stay only in iv and cannot venture out.

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Actually if you look at post #20 you'll see I wrote "Students spend most of their time in IV, although of course they go down to SB." That and your other comments in post #28 I think you're missing what I'm trying to say here.</p>

<p>This has gotten out of hand, and will be my last post on the topic. I was responding originally to a post by cktsing who tried to paint Isla Vista and the experience of UCSB students in constrast to SLO students as saying that UCSB kids live in a "bigger town" (see her post #13). I'm not saying you need a orchestra or fine dining in IV! I'm saying it isn't there to point out how preposterous it is to say that IV is a "bigger town" compared to San Luis Obispo (which does have those things).</p>

<p>I don't know what point cksing hopes to make. Looking at some of her other posts it seems like she is a middle-aged mother of college-aged kids, posting a quite distorted view of what IV is like for those who live there. The goal of this forum is to pass on helpful advice to kids choosing colleges. Describing Isla Vista as a big city in comparison to SLO is not accurate and not helpful.</p>

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<p>IV is a self centered town catered to college students with frat boys that start problems, drunken kids that routinely break off random people's side mirrors and glass bottle throwing idiots that do not care if they hit someone. You will be awaken every few nights around 1 because someone decides to let off a firecracker/large firework at 1 in the morning. If you bring a nice car here, it will get damaged especially if your park on the street because people cannot drive or do not care to be careful. You will wake up one night no matter were you live to someone getting in an argument downstairs wanting to start a fight. You have idiots that do not pay attention when biking and you will be lucky if you do not get into at least one accident when you are here. If you drive, you will come into many close encounters with hitting bicyclists because they believe they are king. FOOD is not bad and you have a decent selection of sandwhiches, mexican, pitas, great bagels, great hoagies, good viet and good korean, but crappy chinese - this is why you join the asian clubs. Girls love to wear booty shorts even on the coldest days. You will find your car with bottles covering it or find a box that used to contain beer on top of it. You will have at one time neighbors that constantly have loud music on when you need to concentrate or sleep. </p>

<p>And with all this, people seem to enjoy IV, some do not and i would be one of those. And even with the party atmosphere you still find that the library is busy throughout the quarter with people studying and the 24hr room is always being utilized. This school provides a great laid back atmosphere with lots of fun and a lot of problems - that are easy enough to deal with. People are nice but when people are drunk - and many are - they are disrespectful and if you are someone like me who finds respect very important, you will run into problems here and there. I have had to witness a guy trying to violate a drunk girl - he was drunk himself and i had to stop that. I have had bottles batted at me. I have had bottles fly inches from my face after passing a frat house across from the parking lot of FB. IV patrol will not come to these meaningless calls - if they do they will take there time. So when facing these situation you really have to be able to ignore things since it is a commmon occurence</p>

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<p>And you have a small gang problem - but they usually keep to themselves and most have moved out of iv during the last year. This is something to note, but all the violence that has occured has been gang vs gang and has rarely spilled over into the student population.</p>

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<p>If you factor in the cost Cal Poly $17-19K to UCSB $24-26K and multiply that by 4 years (maybe 5) you can make a better choice............... that is if money is a factor.............</p>

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<p>i do not understand how they figure the costs are 24-26k. It really should be 20k or less for first year in dorms and 14k or less afterwards in a house or apartment.</p>

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<p>"If you factor in the cost Cal Poly $17-19K to UCSB $24-26K and multiply that by 4 years (maybe 5) you can make a better choice............... that is if money is a factor............."</p>

<p>um actually Cal Poly SLO would be something like 13K-17K whereas UCSB would be something like 18K-22K...all depending on a expensive a child you are LOL.....</p>