Got off the wait list - what's UCSD like?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
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I visited today but didn’t really like it (reminded me of UCI, which reminded me of home). But I have a few questions:

  • what do students do on the weekends?
  • what’s La Jolla like?
  • any hiking trails/places of nature accessible without car?
  • are GEs at Eleanor difficult? (It’s what I’ve heard)
  • who is the preacher guy at library walk and does he come there often?
    Thanks ~
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  • Weekends: it depends on the student or the week (for example, it's peak midterm season right now so a lot of people are going to be studying at Geisel). Usually, there won't be very many people on campus. We might be at a concert/rave, clubbing, at the beach, at a party, hanging around downtown SD or the malls at UTC and Fashion Valley, hiking, exploring the city, visiting Tijuana or LA, studying, participating in a club or activity, or just generally doing hoodrat stuff. There's a lot to do off campus and most people do it on weekends.
  • La Jolla: quiet and wealthy. Downtown La Jolla is a super nice spot for brunch or a date and not much else. The beaches are pristine, the cliffs are dramatic and the locals are white af. Most students actually spend more time in University City (the SD neighborhood just southeast of campus, which has malls and more student-friendly dining and residences) or Pacific Beach (the smoke shop/bar-hopping neighborhood just south of La Jolla).
  • Hiking: Torrey Pines State Preserve has some nice, gentle trails literally across the street from campus. You could hop the 101 bus for a five-minute ride to the main entrance. The most popular hiking spot is Potato Chip Rock in Poway, but you need a car to get there. Los Penasquitos and Crest Canyon are nice local hikes. Nature spots: obviously there's beaches everywhere. Black's Beach is a kind of intense climb back up but definitely worth it. The gliderport and cliffs across the street are a nice sunset or late night spot. Mount Soledad is about a mile or two from campus and you get a great view of the whole city. A little further out, you can ride the bus to Mission Bay for some watersports or to San Diego Bay and Coronado for beautiful waterfront city spots. If you want to camp, some of my friends have driven east for spontaneous camping trips in the Mojave desert.
  • GEs: yes. MMW is the hardest sequence on campus apart from maybe HUM, and you can't even take one or two online like you could with HUM. If it's any consolation, ERC has the prettiest people and buildings and the best social life.
  • there's crazies on Library Walk all the time but no that was a particularly intense day and that exact guy's only here once or twice a year
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Thanks! :smiley: