<p>I'm heavily considering UCSB this fall, and I'm wondering what is the validity of UCSB being a party school? I'm not really interested in going to a party school. I'm more interested in the educational opportunities UCSB has to offer. :)</p>
<p>I want to know this too. I’m thinking of going to the spring orientation thing. But I kind of feel like it is… and I’m just trying to decide if I should deal with that or not.</p>
<p>There are relatively few colleges in CA where most if not all students are living away from home and near campus. And its a real bonus to be able to walk or ride your bike to campus when you just have a small thing to do such as see a TA or prof during office hours, or to have friends a quick walk away from you. But take a bunch of college kids and remove parental supervision, you’ll have parties. You’ll have kids that abuse their freedom.</p>
<p>But that’s not all there is at UCSB. It is a well regarded school with good academics and plenty of serious students. If that’s what you’re looking for, that’s what you’ll find. If you’re looking for parties and a couple of years hanging out on the beach, you can find that too (provided you study enough to at least pass your classes; there are plenty of surprised students after Fall quarter).</p>
<p>Any other feedbacks? :)</p>
<p>The campus itself is relatively quiet and sedate (and beautiful!). The nearby town, Isla Vista (“IV”), is notorious for partying (and has been for decades). Unfortunately, there are a large number of non-UCSB students living there who, I think, are responsible for pushing the craziness to the edge. (wannabe CC transfers, etc.) I think it’s entirely possible to be a “serious” student at UCSB and have healthy fun as long as you’re not sucked into the late night IV insanity. Increased foot patrols in IV have (possibly) made things a bit more under control. UCSB is a really nice school overall.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses! :D</p>
<p>I don’t think the school gets the name UCSTD of no reason ;). From a kid in Southern California, I can assure you that it is known as a party UC. However, we still acknowledge it as having great academics and the highest matriculation rate into UCLA dental school of any UC.</p>
<p>In other words smart kids just want to have fun? lol</p>
<p>^lol and wow I did not know that about the UCLA dental school! I want to be a dentist so that’s huge for me. I’ve been accepted to UCSB and I am about 89% sure that’s where I want to go. Thank you guys who added your experiences, it has helped set my mind at ease!</p>
<p>Your responses has really helped to change my perspective of UCSB. I have friends that go there and I used to think all UCSB had to offer were nice views and parties. lol Now I know that UCSB is also about great academic opportunities and can really help me get into my dream Public Health grad school. 
I’ll definitely go here if my top 3 choices don’t go through! :D</p>
<p>UCSB is such great school academically and aesthetically as well. I’ve lived in SB for all my life, 18 years, and I can say that it’s such a great place to live. UCSB is located right next to Isla Vista (IV), and IV has a not so good reputation. Everyone (in high school) knows that IV has parties and things of that degree, and it also has a lot of “gangsters”, for lack of a better word. The thing is though, a lot of the of the problems in IV are not UCSB related, and the reason why UCSB gets targeted is because UCSB students live there. The primary problem with IV is that there are tons of families with low incomes who live there. These families tend to be hispanic, and the teens or even kids of these familes can be problematic. UCSB is a beautiful school located near the beach, but when you are looking for an apartment after freshmen year, pick a place where mostly UCSB students live cause it will make things much better. Santa Barbara is also very laid back, and you get that same vibe at UCSB, even though technically its in Goleta!! I’m sure if you don’t look for the parties, you wont’t have any trouble! I can’t wait for Tuesday! Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Oh I forgot to mention Halloween! IV gets crazy for halloween! The parties start on Friday and go on all weekend! Some may even start earlier if halloween is on a weekday. I have never been to IV during halloween, so I don’t know how bad it gets, but I do know that usually the cops have to stop letting people get into IV because of all the partying.</p>
<p>Also there was a thing a couple of years ago called Floatopia i think, and that was when all the students went to the beach and went out in the water using floats! Look it up in google…it was pretty crazy!</p>
<p>Thanks for the information! I really appreciate it! :D</p>