<p>I've applied to 5 UC's including SC, all of which I am seriously considering. I have nothing against the school but if the students really are unfocused I'd like to know. If a student goes there, can he or she find other intellectual students who spend the majority of their time studying? I honestly want to excel in academics during college. A close of friend of mine applied and she's always ranting about it being a pot school.</p>
<p>Is it a pot school? Yes. In regards to the question if students are focused or not…I’d say the caliber of the students attending are quite bright. It’s a top school for sciences, and I think there are some really smart people there.</p>
<p>I know this may sound like a generalizing question, but what would one expect to see of the students? I am very much not into drugs at all but I do enjoy intelligence and amiability, both of which I’m sure UCSC students possess. I’d just enjoy attending a school that promotes education. I definitely want to visit if accepted.</p>
<p>i have a sibling who went there, and I’ve visited UCSC countless times and although it is true there are potheads in the school, it isn’t true that overall it is a pothead school. You will find druggies in every UC(even Cal >.<), and maybe UCSC has more potheads in other school(don’t know I havent visited every UC to judge :)). The school is still a UC and prestigious enough that people should get over the pothead stereotype and base their decisions on the majors it offers, prestige, and whether or not they like the campus.</p>
<p>Well, pot is definitely the drug of choice here, and UCSC has the reputation of being a pot school. While this is true, you can find potheads at any school, and I know people here who don’t smoke pot or do other drugs. Drugs are here, but it’s also possible to avoid them. I mean, 420 might be the only exception but that’s one day out of the entire school year. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>There’s a place for every kind of person here at ucsc as well as at other universities.</p>
<p>You get what you look for.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for focused individuals who value academics above all else, I promise you can find them here as well as anywhere else.</p>
<p>You just have to look harder in some places.</p>
<p>I graduated from UCSC in 2008. While I was there I knew people who smoked occasionally, people who seemed perpetually stoned, and people who never touched drugs or alcohol. It was quite easy to find all three types. There are perhaps a higher percentage of each in the different colleges (Crown is the science/geek college and the kids there are a more studious, whereas Porter is the artist college and has a reputation for more partying). Thise are both massive generalizations, however.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should worry about the stoner culture because once you’re in college you get to chose who you surround yourself with and it’s easy to find partiers or studious kids, depending on what you want.</p>
<p>And even on 420 as long as you stay away from Porter Meadow you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I’m one of the people who isn’t into drugs and I can tell u that UCSC does have people who smoke pot just like any other school but unless u go and look for it most people here are intelligent and smart and do generally care about and value their education</p>
<p>Okay, so I know about the pothead reputation and blah bah.
I’m not into pot, but am down to party and drink.
How’s is the party scene? Is there any at all?</p>
<p>If anything I’d join one of the apparently sparce sororities if that’s what it took to be able to go to a party and wind down everyonce once in a while, rather than smoke…</p>
<p>There is a LOT of pot here and very little regulation. The city of Santa Cruz itself made possession of pot a low priority law so that getting caught with Pot amounts to a small citation and nothing else (which I 100% agree about btw). </p>
<p>On campus as a student, possession of alcohol or pot amounts to a write up, which as far as I am aware, has no effect on that student unless he or she earns more than 5 or so. </p>
<p>There are definitely a ton of intelligent and diversely thinking people here (both smokers and nonsmokers). Most of my good friends do not smoke and I have never touched weed. </p>
<p>I am going to suggest that you do consider the weed aspect of Santa Cruz in your college decision. Yeah, you don’t have to smoke if you don’t want to and you don’t have to be around those who smoke either, but it is very, very prevalent here. You literally walk through campus and smell weed because students smoke right off the main paths. There are other UC campuses with weed, but Santa Cruz reigns number one by far. </p>
<p>@Greenlash: There are plenty of parties and the alcohol is plentiful!</p>
<p>Cali Trumphet::</p>
<p>Wooo!. That’s good to hear.
Curious though, is there off campus housing nearby or what? Or does everyone have to try to sneak little parties in their dorms?</p>
<p>You can’t really have a ‘party’ in the dorms. That is the one area where CSOs patrol. They have keys to all the buildings and walk down the halls, so that if you have loud music and a lot of people in your room, you will get written up. </p>
<p>The apartments, however, are not watched so you can have moderate parties there. </p>
<p>Most of the crazy parties occur off campus, but even those are broken up if they are too out of control because neighbors report them. </p>
<p>There is some off-campus housing around the area, yea. You can get to almost anywhere by city bus.</p>
<p>Yeahh see, that’s what I heard about the dorms. And also that house parties often just
get broken up.
So basically if I wanted to go to a party, it’d have to be at the apartments pretty much?
That would suck cause mainly upperclassmen are living in the apartments yeah? So if I’m gonna be a freshmen and there’s no parties in dorms, how is it possible to be social and party as an underclassman?</p>
<p>greenlash:
Being a freshman does not mean that you will not meet or become friends with any upperclassmen.
It’s college, everyone mingles with everyone else.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman and I know plenty of upperclassmen/people in apartments/people off campus.</p>
<p>You really don’t need to worry about how you’re going to party here. It happens…a lot…and if you want alcohol you can get it. It’s really not a big deal, but I understand your concern. You just can’t really plan on anything until you feel out how the dorms you live in work. At Porter, we had dance parties in our fireside lounge every Friday or Saturday that everyone would go to. We just pregamed in the dorms first. If you live in Kresge, you have to live in apartments, so partying there is really not a concern. Also, you will meet upper classmen or people who know someone.</p>
<p>greenlash- NO college campus allows parties on campus… if they know about them they will shut them down. why would they magically allow underage students to drink alcohol? its illegal and they cant do that. HOWEVER everyone parties in college…how does this happen?
it just does. so dont worry about it so much you will party wherever you go, no doubt</p>
<p>college students find ways. we are smart like that;)</p>
<p>How hard is it to avoid the pot smoking? I know that smelling weed can get you high (by how much I don’t know), so I don’t want to walk around the campus semi-stoned the entire time.</p>
<p>^
You won’t take a whiff of pot every day around campus, it’s just a simple presence at the school- as it is at any other school.
You would need a lot of sniffing to get semi-stoned</p>
<p>^I was under the impression that the school is pretty much filled with pot smoke. I guess that’s an over-exaggerated stereotype?</p>
<p>Um. Yes. There are fire alarms EVERYWHERE. You can barely hot-box a dorm room, let alone an entire campus. The only time it might be possible for you to get semi-stoned off second-hand weed smoke just from wandering campus is 420, and only if you are in the middle of the Porter Meadow celebrations.</p>