<p>not that it’s easy to generalize, buuuuut how is the workload?! haha (I know it depends on major/teacher) but specifically for YOU how has it been?</p>
<p>Well, my first quarter was pretty easy. But I was taking only gen ed classes, so nothing for my major. Also, I had my Crown College core classes, which were pretty fun and not too difficult. I ended up with two A- and two As.<br>
Most of the assignments for my gen ed classes consisted of reading articles and books and things. The core class was all about writing and discussions and such, I think I wrote five essays over the course of ten weeks.
It really wasn’t too bad.
This quarter I really haven’t done much, but that’s because the homework for stats is not required. I’ve taken statistics before, so I get all the concepts and such and I don’t really do the homework, just study for quizzes and exams. For calculus, all I really did was study for my midterm, one online hw a week, and now studying for my final (I have also taken calc before, so it’s pretty much the same situation as stats). For Biology of AIDS, all I ever did was study for the midterm (basically read the book) and about… 7 online quizzes.</p>
<p>That’s it.</p>
<p>I expect to have a LOT more to do next quarter… which kind of sucks because the weather is going to be nice, but I think I’ll manage 
haha</p>
<p>I’m in Cowell if anyone has questions for me…</p>
<ol>
<li>It’s not really “easy”. If you have a car, it’s 1.5 hours away, which isn’t bad. If you don’t have a car (most people don’t), you can take the greyhound for 2 hours or a combination of buses and trains for 3 hours. </li>
<li>I definitely think people here are more friendly than other campuses. You’re going to have your share of nice/mean people wherever you go though.</li>
<li>UCSC is really liberal, and I feel it is one of the most, if not the most, liberal UC campus (others that come to mind: Cal and UCLA). The students here are all about peace and “free love”, and there’s an occasional protest. I’m sure conservatives aren’t looked down upon–I mean, as long as you don’t interrupt a protest saying that you’re in favor of budget cuts, you’ll be okay.</li>
</ol>
<p>cowell ftw.</p>
<p>dining hall is alright, coffee shop is awesome, near the bookstore, close to joe’s, by the gym, awesome view, close to east remote, administration sucks… but you know what? the RAs rule ;)</p>
<p>is it apparent there are more girls than guys ? also how many peopel live in one apartment ? (kresge)</p>
<p>“not that it’s easy to generalize, buuuuut how is the workload?! haha (I know it depends on major/teacher) but specifically for YOU how has it been?”</p>
<p>I’m a freshman this year, and thought I would add my input too.
For me, fall quarter was almost a joke. It was so ridiculously easy that I think it made me overconfident about winter quarter. In your first quarter, you take your college’s core class, which is basically just a writing and composition class. They make is really easy to pass, so I wouldn’t stress about it too much.
I was also taking a random general ed class (AMST 80F. I highly recommend it!) and math. I got really good professors and it definitely made the quarter breeze by.</p>
<p>This quarter, however, has been completely different. I’m taking stuff for my major now (biology) and ended up with pretty horrible professors. The workload is definitely more than what I had last quarter. I don’t want to scare anyone, but don’t let your first quarter here fool you!! Once you start really diving into the harder non-gen ed classes, it does get harder… But that is expected out of any college really.
Then again, I know people who have different majors, such as theater arts, and they are finding everything super easy. I believe it really does depend on your major.</p>
<p>Learn about your resources! MSI, tutoring, even just finding a quiet place to study is key!</p>
<p>@rectangleshorts:</p>
<p>Do you think you could clarify further by the ‘horrible professors’ part? I’m looking to go into Biology, and UCSC is one of my choices. Professors seriously make everything in the sciences D:</p>
<p>I also have a question: is it easy to get good internships at UCSC? Like is there a good network or connections to get very good, resume-making internships? I’m not talking about stuff like paper filing or cleaning dishes, but where you actually do something substantial.</p>
<p>hi-i’m wondering how students get to campus from san jose airport or SFO? (concerned parent of a new out of state freshman here)
supershuttle?
thanks for any info</p>
<p>If you can, fly into San Jose because from there, travel time to campus is ~2 hours-3 hours, depending on traffic and amount of people traveling there.</p>
<p>A good website to check out is [iridethebus.org</a> - A transit guide for Santa Cruz](<a href=“http://iridethebus.org/]iridethebus.org”>http://iridethebus.org/) . It tells you how and how long it will take to get to nearby cities and attractions from the Santa Cruz Metro Station.</p>
<p>are there a lot of gay people here and how is the gay scene?</p>
<p>@serafina (sorry, this is going to be long)</p>
<p>I have a really bad chemistry professor right now and my calculus professor wasn’t the best either. If you can, avoid Schleich for chem at all costs. His class isn’t impossible to pass, you just have to rely on the TAs to learn most of the information. I rarely learned anything from his lectures.
For calculus, I had Tromba (19A), but dropped the class because I did really bad on the midterm. He was entertaining as hell, but I found that the responsibility of actually teaching the material was in the hands of the TAs.
Take Bauerle’s math classes if you can! I took math 3 with him last quarter and next quarter I’m gonna take calculus with him. </p>
<p>This is all just based on my personal experience though, and I’m sure other bio majors had different experiences. It really all comes down to beating the professor at their own game. For my chem class, it comes down to predicting what he is going to test on and utilizing hints he gives us. For other classes it may be just straight up knowing ALL the material in the book or from lectures. It really depends on who you end up with. </p>
<p>Look at the professors ratings before you sign up for a class. It may sound silly, but from my experience so far, they are pretty accurate.</p>
<p>hey @ thumbsupyeah how do you like cowell? i’ve been contemplating that as one of my choices :]</p>
<p>@rectangleshorts and serafina</p>
<p>I had Tromba for 19A this quarter too!
I am definitely glad for my AMAZING T.A., Reuben. Without him, I would have done MISERABLY on the midterm, so I’m with you there. I tried to recommend him to as many people as possible, just because I heard a lot of the other T.A.s were bad.
In these bigger classes, I’ve found that if you are unhappy with your T.A., it’s important to ask other students, see who the good T.A.s are and try and go to their sections instead.</p>
<p>I have also heard horrible things about Schleich from both of my roommates and various other friends… so yeah. Just try and either look at the ratings, or ask around before you sign up for a class!</p>
<p>so i was wondering what type of studying abroad program UCSC had?</p>
<p>@pinkvgirl, check here: [University</a> of California Education Abroad Program](<a href=“http://eap.ucop.edu/]University”>http://eap.ucop.edu/)</p>
<p>sweet! thanks :]</p>
<p>I just got accepted so I was wondering what would be the best dorm/college to stay in for an incoming freshman?</p>
<p>@aleiram51</p>
<p>Yeah, my TA (Brian) wasn’t horrible, I just didn’t really fit well in that section. Everyone else in my section had already taken calculus in high school and totally knew what they were doing, so I felt like by asking questions, I was holding everyone else back. </p>
<p>Congrats on making it through though LOL! I withdrew, so I can’t say much about how his class as a whole was.</p>
<p>@Rectangleshorts</p>
<p>Yeah, I always feel like that when I have questions too, but I figure that section is supposed to be where you learn the material really, so when’s a better time to ask than that? haha :)</p>
<p>Actually, I ended up making a HUGE mistake that I’m trying to fix with that class.
By huge mistake I mean I completely missed the final because I was so sure it was on Thursday when it was actually on Tuesday… such a dumb thing to do, I know, but I’m trying to deal with it.</p>
<p>Sigh, oh well. At least the weather is nice! :)</p>
<p>@aleiram51</p>
<p>LOL I almost did that for my Human Genome class! Luckily a friend in the class informed me that it was in fact tonight.
EVERYONE, make sure you double check the finals schedule!!</p>
<p>And yes, the weather is absolutely wonderful this week! :)</p>