<p>I am an alum and I LOVED my time at UCSC. I'm a little hesitant though to encourage either of my DDs to apply and I'll tell you why:</p>
<p>They are growing up in the same small rural community that I grew up in. They are a bit more worldly in some ways since they are part of a generally more worldly generation but socially esp. interpersonally they are far less experienced. By that I mean that they have had the same close knit set of friends since middle school. Neither has been on a date or even alone with a guy she was attracted to. They hang out with friends, study, ride horses, read and play soccer.</p>
<p>When I was at UCSC (Stevenson) it was pretty wild. We were left to our own devices and frequently held ragers in the dorms where almost all of us were underage. Sexiling was frequent as was waking up to the sounds of your roommate and her boyfriend in the middle of an amorous encounter. Pot and Coke were frequent party favors and we generally partied from Thursday through to the early morning on Sunday</p>
<p>Is that still the case? I am not worried that my precious little darlings will be corrupted by the environment. I know they will make their own decisions and mistakes along the way as I did. More so I feel that they would be uncomfortable in the hedonistic world I lived in back in the day and that it wouldn't be a good fit for them. Thanks in advance for any input.</p>
<p>I'd imagine it is much different now, seeing how competitive the UCs are getting. For example, compare UC Berkeley now and back in the 60s.. completely different! A little microcosm of activists who willingly risked their education in favor of protests. Now the number of "hippies" has gone down as the competition has gone up. I can't imagine anyone nowadays risking their stay at ze infamous Berkeley in order to stand up for something they believe in. hmph. What I'm basically saying is that I highly doubt all students at UCSC have mediocre grades and mediocre aspirations. I'm sure there are drugs like at any other college (esp. marijuana.. but the police is supposedly lax in Santa Cruz) but (hopefully) the majority of apathetic 3.0 kids have been weeded out with the rise in competition (especially UCDavis.. what will those qualified but rejected students be left with? probably SC)</p>
<p>Hey...I never said anything about us having mediocre grades or aspirations. Some of the smartest best people I know chose UCSC over other, more prestigious options. Thanks for responding but I was specifically looking for insight into current dorm life.</p>
<p>Well I really want to address the drug myth at UCSC. I plan to attend next year, but my brother went there some ten years ago, so it was fairly competitive even then. I spent a week on campus at one time, staying in my brother's dorm as his roommate went back home for vacation. He was in one of the more quieter dorms (Merrill) and I loved the campus and area around it. </p>
<p>Talking to him today, he says drugs were never a problem. They are there if that is what your seeking to get, but people who don't want to be involved in drugs will not have an issue remaining that way. Same thing with parties. He said that parties only really happen on the weekend and the ones in his dorm were fairly chill parties and none of the 'sex and beer' parties you may be thinking of. Though, I bet those exist in the party dorms. </p>
<p>As for the students? I guess I would say you have those who want to get high GPAs or those who want to transfer, but you do have those who just want a chill college experience. Personally, I am one of those people who wants to get the top GPA so I can transfer in 2 years, or at least have that option open. </p>
<p>I do not know if the campus has changed much since you went to school. I am sure it is more competitive. This year you needed around a 3.5, 1800 sats, + some nice leadership. This is quite unusual for a school like Santa Cruz.</p>
<p>Cali Trumpet thanks...are you entering as a Crown/Merrill student? My sense even back in the day was the C and M were the most studious/least party centered of the Colleges. Plus do they still have Banana Joes Ice Cream??</p>
<p>Hehe no problem. Merrill looks like my top pick right now. I am a little unsure about Crown as people call that the 'nerd' college. Do you have anything to say about Crown? Any other colleges impressed you with having many normal people (non-party)?</p>
<p>About the ice cream, I think Banana Joes still exists since it sounds familiar, like I might have read about it in my packet recently.</p>
<p>I know I am dating myself here but when I was there College 8 was in Kerr Hall and there were no residence halls. No college 9 or 10 either. Cowell, Stevenson crown and Merrill were the most conservative even though everyone I knew at Cowell and Stevenson was still pretty liberal. Crown and Merrill were nerdier (which is not even remotely a bad thing) but I only had one Crown friend and I can't remember knowing anyone well from Merrill. Kresge and Porter were almost radical by comparison to the East campus and Porter's Halloween party was legendary but in my mind not in a good way. Oakes was the mutlicultural college where I took a lot of language and history classes. Many older students ie non-traditional were affiliated with Oakes becuse it offered apartment style living so at least back then it was not known as a party college. </p>
<p>I pretty much hung out with Stevenson/Cowell people my four years there as an undergrad. So I'm not sure I'm providing good info...plus senility is setting in and there goes my memory. :-)</p>
<p>So Santa Cruz dorm life, the partying aspect at least, revolves around drinking. The RAs and CSOs are pretty on top of things, and frequently write up dorm parties for alchohol, so its not like its very easy to get away with raucus parties. As for drugs, coke is rare, as are most other hard drugs - on campus, at least. On campus, though, pot is widely used, and it is very easy to get away with - you just step 10 feet out into the forest and you can smoke and not get caught. Some even smoke in their dorm rooms.
However, I think a fair amount of kids at Santa Cruz came not having partied much in high school (myself included) and the "corruption" as you call it isn't any different than it would be anywhere else. After talking to many friends at many other colleges, I have found that Santa Cruz has no more partying than any other university - it's college.</p>
<p>hallio, thanks that is exactly the sort of info I was looking for! It sounds like a lot has changed. We had "Gonzo Night" back in the day with a different mixed drink being served in every room on the third floor of Stevenson Dorm 1. Everyone was underaged no one stopped us. It was big fun. But not the sort of environment the non-partyer would find comfortable. Thanks!</p>