<p>Any Exp About Ucsb?</p>
<p>It is a party school. If you like being social, surfing, and having fun it is a great place. The location is beautiful. The education is good, but don't expect much clout with a UCSB degree unless it is somewhere in the marine biology department. And if you are doing business, don't do it at UCSB. They have a very famous economics professor and because of this think they have a great economics/business program when they don't at all. The campus itself is disgusting. The architecture looks like objects that a Giant vomited onto Isla Vista. It is the location, location, location that makes UCSB epic. It is right on a beach, campus point, that turns into a great surfing place during northern swells. </p>
<p>Also, if you go to UCSB don't plan in living Santa Barbara afterward. It is one, if not the most, expensive area in California. I am pretty sure it surpassed Atherton in real estate especially due to the Montecito area.</p>
<p>wha!! nooooo</p>
<p>
Wow. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>My eldest son graduated from UCSB. I agree with Sirwatsonl completely. My next three kids were told to not apply there. Beautiful area, but too much party, if you are a serious student. Isla Vista is an unsafe environment for females in particular IMO.</p>
<p>Heh, looks like the few comments we've had here have been from non-UCSB students, so allow me to give a first hand perspective for a change.</p>
<p>The best thing about UCSB is that everyone lives together. It's not like UC Los Angeles where you have LA area commuters and students living in Culver City or UC Berkeley where you have people trekking from El Cerrito. Something like 75-80% of students live either on campus or in Isla Vista directly adjacent to the campus, so everyone is within walking distance or a short bike ride away. Having problems studying for a test? Call up a few friends and within a short time, all of you can easily meet together. </p>
<p>In terms of party/safety issues, I think it's an issue of self-control.There have been plenty of Friday and Saturday nights where I, along with a handful of other dormmates, have stayed up in the lounge room and worked on assignments. It's really not hard to do at all, as long as you understand the consequences of the decisions you are making. If you don't, maybe you should apply elsewhere, but if you do, don't skip the chance to go to UCSB.</p>
<p>Architecture wise, the campus is pretty ugly in general. However, many of the new buildings being built that are replacing the old buildings are very nice. Check out Physics North or the ARC Student Center in construction. I wouldn't be surprised if eventually the campus looks a lot nicer, especially if the 15 year master plan is followed.</p>
<p>The quality of students keeps improving at a very high rate. For the Fall 2005 class, the average SAT of enrolled students jumped 20 points higher than Fall 2004, the average GPA went up .06 points, and SAT II composite score by about 15 points. UCSB seems to be to be breaking away from UC Davis and UC Irvine in terms of academic quality of students.</p>
<p>And of course, there is the location. It's simply stunning, jogging around the lagoon as the sun sets or walking along the beach at midnight (drunk or sober, whatever you want) and looking at the stars, which are very visible in the area. The location attracts many professors, including very talented ones (we've had five Nobel prize winners between 1998 and 2004).</p>
<p>And while SirWatson seems to knock UCSB's academics, for some reason, I see a lot of people at the school succeeding after graduating, including some posters on this board like this and [url=<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=826918&postcount=3%5Dthis%5B/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=826918&postcount=3]this[/url</a>] And there's got to be a reason that our graduate engineering department is ranked #21 nationally (including #3 for materials engineering and #9 for chemical engineering).</p>
<p>My only two complaints about the campus don't actually have anything to do with the campus itself. One, it's pretty far from my home in San Francisco, and two, Santa Barbara isn't exactly a bustling metropolis. I do have to say I'm a big city boy so I miss seeing skyscrapers and big city activity. But Santa Barbara has a very unique charm among California, and it's nice to live in such a close knit community.</p>
<p>I've only been here a quarter, but I've already had experiences I'll remember for a lifetime. Heading down to CSU Northridge for the CSUN vs UCSB playoff soccer game and cheering for UCSB with the Gaucho Locos, walking out to the beach at nice to relax and seeing shooting stars, biking through the many Santa Barbara bike trails, walking through Del Playa during Halloween, etc.</p>
<p>I'd be happy to answer any more questions :)</p>
<p>I'm w/ rc251 on this. I'm a senior and I haven't seen or heard any reason not to apply to UCSB. Beautiful campus right on the ocean and the prestige of the UC system, how bad could it be. Sure, the top UC's that everyone will always talk about are UCB, UCLA, and UCSD, but I agree that UCSB's stock is going up. Unlike rc251, I feel that UC Davis is moving up right along with UCSB and leaving UCI in the dust. UCD is generating a ton of money right now! Research funding is at an all-time high and unlike UCSB, UCD is just now making the switch to D-1 athletics, including football, which will create plenty of room for the expansion and growth of UCD. The other nice thing about UCD is the fact that Davis is a true college town; w/o UCD there wouldn't be Davis! The fact is that UCD and UCSB are moving in the right direction and would be great picks for the future. So, to answer your "how is UCSB?" question: great! Have fun at the beach.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I think Davis and Irvine are great schools too, and if you were here a few months ago, I made a few posts about the agony I faced over making the decision about whether to go to Davis or SB.</p>
<p>In any case, I think the biggest issue UCSB has is reaching out to prospective students and proving that there is much more to UCSB than parties. I'm from San Francisco, and in my graduating class, only about 6 people went to SB, because most people aimed for Berkeley and went to Davis if they didn't get in. Lots of people didn't know anything about SB, and just assumed it was a party school based on the reputation the school has.</p>
<p>But I think that once you really look at all the school has to offer, there's so much more. And if you're concerned about the partying, there has been a major effort over the last two years to clean up Isla Vista. Here's some reading material:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2004/7797.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2004/7797.html</a>
<a href="http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2004/8073.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2004/8073.html</a></p>
<p>And here's a interesting editorial this year from a partier who is upset at how much more has been put into enforcing laws and cleaning up IV:</p>
<p>but
dont you have to pay a lot on rent and living in SB? cuz it's near the beach?
how much the rent? or living quality is higher? yo need to pay more?</p>
<p>also, i heard not a lotta asian there
when i back hs, all my friends are all asians. i admit it's kinda fun to hangout with them but, will i be left alone at SB? i mean diff culture?</p>
<p>Rent is fairly high in Isla Vista. Del Playa, the main party street that's closest to the ocean is fairly expensive, but as you move into the north-western sections of Isla Vista, rent is more reasonable. Also, in about 2 years, the San Clemente graduate student housing complex will be completed. It has 976 beds for graduate students, so that should free up some of the housing around IV and in Goleta. </p>
<p>In terms of ethnic makeup, it's true that UCSB doesn't have a particularily high number of Asians among California schools. So that's a decision you will have to make. I haven't noticed any ethnic problems at the school, and it's not like Asian people don't exist on the campus. There are also clubs for most of the Asian ethnic groups that you could join. However, if you're looking for a school that has a plurality of Asians, then UCSB won't work for you.</p>
<p>how high will the rent be? like a lot?
also what will be the better area that wont have a lota parties going on?</p>
<p>I live in the dorms, so I'm really not familiar with rental costs in IV. You may want to search "Isla Vista" on the housing section of the Santa Barbara Craigslist, like this:</p>
<p>Another option is living in the quitier dorms, like the San Rafael suites, or in the university owned apartments in IV.</p>
<p>Your best memory of UCSB involves going to Cal State Northridge? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Hehe.</p>
<p>Seriously though, it was awesome. It was technically an away game, but we almost made it a home game for us. About half of the crowd was UCSB students, alumni, and even Santa Barbara residents (in fact, the guy that drove a few of us was an SB resident who said he enjoyed good soccer). The Gaucho Locos (the cheering squad) was louder than any of the Northridge fans, and were quite brutal in their chanting ("Where's the beach?" and "State school!" were repeated a few times). In the end, UCSB lost, and we cheered on Northridge to represent the Big West conference in the playoffs. We all rode back upset but everyone had a great time :)</p>
<p>do ppl party in week days?
how much didi you pay for your dorm / month?</p>
<p>In the dorms (at least mine), there's pretty much no partying except Friday and Saturday nights. IV is usually pretty quiet except for these two days as well. Here's the dorm cost:</p>
<p>And the apartment cost:</p>
<p>I did go to UCSB albeit for the summer semester when I was a junior in High School. I have friends going there right now as I have a lot of family in Santa Barbara. My family living in Santa Barbara hates UCSB kids. Keep in mind, my family consists mostly of English conservative geriatrics so that is why they don't like UCSB and its students. The funniest thing I ever heard was that on one halloween there weren't enough ambulances for all of the UCSB students who had alcohol poisoning and other such ailments. But all in all UCSB is a really great school if you are the right person for it. I think UCSB is the 4th best UC and that many people would agree with that fair ranking.</p>
<p>Sorry about m comment then, I didn't realize you had experience at UCSB. Your family in SB has very legitimate concerns about Halloween, however keep in mind that the majority of problems during Halloween are caused by out of town students. For example, this</a> article cites a dean explaining that 68-80% of arrests during Halloween are out of town visitors. </p>
<p>While UCSB may not carry the clout of LA or Berkeley, I think UCSB is has really been establishing a respectable image of itself in recent years. The biggest issue it has to tackle is the "brainless party school image". My friends were pretty shocked when I chose UCSB, and the first thing they asked me was how the partying was like. I explained to them that there is so much more to UCSB and that I wished they had all gave it a chance when applying to the UC system. Because I, as a pretty tame partier myself, was really enjoying the school.</p>
<p>so UCSB is the most expensive UC after UCSD can we say? cuz it's nearby the beach, anything is expensive?</p>
<p>should i consider go USC instead of UCSB since it's that expensive?comparing UCI n UCSB, which one would you think better?
thanks!</p>