Introverted and transgender at UCSB?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Barbara
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I have visited Santa Cruz but not Santa Barbara. This means my Santa Barbara information is completely based on stereotypes and what I’ve read from websites associated with the school. I suppose what I want is for someone to try to persuade me that UCSB is somewhere I would be happy because I quite frankly did not expect to get in and had pretty much planned everything out at UCSC, and now I need to make a decision.

Here’s why I’m attracted to Santa Cruz: I love the forest, I prefer cool weather, I like that I think it would be easy to find a queer community that’s not centered around partying or cis gay needs, and I think there would be people there already familiar with people like me.

Here’s what I’m attracted to at Santa Barbara: Research opportunities, mostly. I know the campus is beautiful but honestly I sunburn so easily.

Here’s what makes me nervous about Santa Barbara: It just seems so straight, especially with the importance of frats and sororities and sports and the high school I went to for the first two years was this super straight rich kid school and even though nobody was mean to me I felt extremely isolated. When I changed schools I found an actual queer community. I know you aren’t supposed to do this but I am really most comfortable with a close group of politically active queer friends who don’t want to go to big parties all the time. At a school of 2000 I can no longer contain my mental list of visibly queer kids because there are so many. This is where I am happy. Furthermore, parties generally make me uncomfortable, especially involving alcohol. I would much rather be around people who are stoned than drunk; it’s a much less invasive intoxication.

Please, try to persuade me that Santa Barbara is not what I assume. I realize I do not have enough information to merit the unease I have about the school, and I think it’s largely because I get the same vibe from it as my first high school. If you think it’s not right for me, say so. It’s not homophobes and transphobes I’m afraid of, it’s isolation and noise and the lack of up to date transgender information I can find on websites associated with the school. In a few years I will probably be comfortable having a lot of cis and straight friends, but I’m not there yet and I want a school which can accommodate that. I know College Confidential is not the best place for answers about this sort of thing but I hope somebody can give me more information than I have.

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hello from a current gaucho. to be honest i don’t know the campus’ queer community very well but i can honestly say that this is one of the most friendly places i’ve ever been. Everyone is incredibly nice and welcoming. I’m not in greek life but i know plenty of people who are and they are not like what the media portray sorority and frats to be like.

from what i can tell, we do have a few very active lgbt clubs that are constantly putting events to get people more involved and educated. there is also a rainbow house where you can opt to live in. i don’t actually know much about this but here is the link (http://www.housing.ucsb.edu/blog/apply-be-rainbow-house-mentor-2015-16)

and to address your party concerns, it is fairly easy to avoid partying. all the parties happens in isla vista(DP to be exact) which is 100% avoidable. You don’t have to go unless you want to. And let me tell you. getting high on the beach while looking at the stars and listening to the waves is one of the most wonderful things ever.

i get that i probably didn’t do a very good job of answering your question but i just wanted to put in my 2 cents. UCSB is a beautiful campus with an extremely supportive community and student body who will always gauchoback.

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Hi skypremed, I can actually answer this question quite well I believe. I’m a gay transfer who found that UCSB’s queer community was completely unexpectedly active and pretty awesome. I know we specifically have a trans* club and am friends with more than a couple of trans* folk as well. To give some examples, during my first Fall quarter here, the RCSGD (Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity) held its first LGBTQ+ Student Orientation which basically introduced new students who identified as any of LGBTQ+ to all the LGBTQ+ resources, clubs, and etc. on campus and held panels of faculty basically saying to our faces they’re okay with us being queer, want us to participate in stuff, and etc.

Perhaps that sounds kind of lame, but to be honest I got kind of emotional and was surprised that such an event was even put on. While I was already mostly out to my parents and friends, I am mostly an introverted person who perhaps you wouldn’t assume was gay when you first meet me, but I felt pretty comfortable with the queer community here and attended a couple of clubs (and am currently active in a queer specific one that I felt most in tune with).

QComm, in particular, is one you might want to look into if you like being queer and politically active (really cool and impressive club, ask about our Queer Bomb shirts, the history behind them is so cool).

At the orientation, most students echo’d your statements with one even saying they thought UCSB would be a “straight person wasteland,” although the room was pretty damn full, so there’s definitely more queer students here than you would think.

As for the research opportunities, it is excellent like you probably know about already, although I haven’t attended UCSC so I can’t say if it is much better or worse (honestly depends on your major which from your username I’d guess bio/STEM or something related, in which case you can likely find that here).

Like you can probably find in other answers in other threads about the “party” school reputation, the long and short of it is that it’s pretty easy to avoid if you want. From my experience, I did go to kickbacks with my friends occasionally before I transferred here, but once I got to UCSB I pretty much got it all out of my system and get relatively bored at parties (science research is a lot more fun!). I did not have a problem avoiding parties, even when walking home at night through IV (Isla Vista), people usually aren’t going to force you to do anything you don’t want to and everyone seems pretty nice. Sure it would be pretty easy to find a party, but just as easy to relax by the beach/library/your room. It seems that our party reputation may have calmed down in the recent years as well (people have said the IV police have gotten more strict since the unfortunate shooting). Although this is from the perspective of a transfer student who lives in the student apartments, I am unsure of what it is like for Freshmen in dorms/etc. There’s plenty of academic/social clubs that avoid partying.

For the sunburn part, don’t worry, choose the right major and you won’t see the light of day, much less the beach, for long stretches of time (choose Physics and be prepared to sleep in the library or fail, not kidding). UCSB is relatively highly ranked for a reason, just because we are the UC by the beach does not mean the classes are any less harsh.

Feel free to message me for any more information regarding being queer/STEM at UCSB, I can direct you to clubs, elaborate more any questions you have, and etc.

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Further, I know we support trans* medication health coverage in some way if that’s something you’re interested in looking into, as well as having the ability to go through certain channels to arrange for queer specific housing. However, to be honest the systems they have in place for queer specific housing aren’t too reliable, so if you can get into the rainbow house that’s better, if not then you’d have to be more active to obtain housing with other queer people.