<p>If you lived in San Diego and had a chance between Riverside and Santa cruz, which one would u go to?</p>
<p>I hear that riverside is basically just a boring campus while santacruz is a rich environment with a beautiful campus. Santa cruz's average gpa and SAT also seem to be higher... but there is so much talk about how they have a bunch of hippies and potsmokers and partiers.... </p>
<p>Please tell me which campus you would attend if you were given the choice... thanx</p>
<p>Don't believe the rumors about hippies and pot smokers at Santa Cruz. There will be hippies and pot smokers at any California school you go too.</p>
<p>Which school you go to should depend on the stregnth of the program you plan to pursue. Personally, I would choose Santa Cruz just because I love the campus and because I like the area. Santa Cruz also has a very good linguistics department.</p>
<p>Santa Cruz. My school sends a lot of people (probably 3-5 a year) to each of them. Everybody i know who goes to riverside hates it because its in a bad spot, terrible social scene, and its really the ****tiest UC school. Santa Cruz, on the other hand, is a beautiful campus, great program. About being hippies there.. yes, there are, but there are also very straight-laced students and pretty, well kept girls. I visited it today, what I noticed was that everybody was really free to be who they wanted to be. If your worried about being the only non-hippie there, don't, there are plenty of people just like you, to be sure. Academics there are excellent</p>
<p>I want to major in Computer Engineering... and I really dont want to go to Riverside as I just learned that it is ranked 12 of the school with the most unhappy students nation wide.... but my parents want me to go there cause its closer... :( and the diversity also sucks at riverside.</p>
<p>UCSC has a beautiful campus, and downtown SC looks pretty interesting too. Riverside is basically a dump.</p>
<p>You live in San Diego? Tell your parents you'll go to Riverside if they'll move to Yuma, AZ. Fair is fair, right?</p>
<p>Anyway, it's only a 10-11 hour drive to UCSC, I'm sure you and your folks can handle that.</p>
<p>"Tell your parents you'll go to Riverside if they'll move to Yuma, AZ. Fair is fair, right?"</p>
<p>thats hilarious! lol and pretty accurate 4 that matter... I visted riverside last week and I agree, it IS a total dump. The whole school is very boring with absolutely NO diversity.... kinda obvious judging by the dominant colors of the college. (brownish red).</p>
<p>Anyway, we'll see what happens... only time will tell..</p>
<p>bumpidy bumpidy bump</p>
<p>santa cruz. there's nothing in riverside, very boring.</p>
<p>I have never, ever heard anybody ever reccommend Riverside for anything. I have 3 friends who are now at Santa Cruz, and each of them love it. You're more likely to meet interesting people, and excellent profs at SC, not to mention, it really is a beautiful, unique place. I'd recommend having your parents go with you to visit both campuses, I'm sure it would solidify the choice of santa cruz for you, and make them think twice about telling you to go to riverside.</p>
<p>"...it's only a 10-11 hour drive to UCSC, I'm sure you and your folks can handle that."</p>
<p>It doesn't take 10-11 hours to drive from SD to UCSC unless you take Hwy 1 and stop along the way. Hearst Castle, Solvang, Pismo Beach...</p>
<p>Whether a nice day or overcast day, the California coastline is simply heaven!</p>
<p>gsp: 2 hours SD to LA, 6 hrs LA to SJ, 1 hr SJ to UCSC, 1 hour stopping at In 'n Out for Burgers(King City), and 2 stops for gas. Route is 5 to Los Banos/Gilroy Cutoff, 101, 17.</p>
<p>You must drive faster than me-- and pack your lunch and pee in a bottle.</p>
<p>I've visited both campuses and met people from both campuses... anyway, when I visited UCR, the sky was gray from smog and it was unbearably hot. I felt like ripping my skin out. The air seems.. so dirty. And (I went with two girls) I also had the chance to check out the shopping area... theres a mall there. lol. There are places to go and some things to do, but the campus itself hideous compared to UCSC.</p>
<p>UCSC, on the other hand, had such a ncie campus. Beautiful. Like astoundingly beautiful. And its in a better area than UCR. It has an awesome pier with rollar coasters and everything. Oh, did I mention the air was blue and smelled so clean and good and the weather was nice? lol. Fun fun. It rains a lot there... UCR is much more hot I believe.. Anyway, I had an awesome time in Santa Cruz. Riverside made me want to die.</p>
<p>However, I know people who go to both schools and both are happy where they are. Still, I firmly believe in UCSC > UCR. =] Hope this helps.</p>
<p>haha. yep that helps. I'm currently working on showing these responses to my parents. Its quite apparant that UCSC is the better choice since every single person has said so. thanx.</p>
<p>USCS. The only reason I'd even consider going to UCR is if I wanted to apply for that 20 students/year 7 year UCLA/UCR medical school program.</p>
<p>"gsp: 2 hours SD to LA, 6 hrs LA to SJ, 1 hr SJ to UCSC, 1 hour stopping at In 'n Out for Burgers(King City), and 2 stops for gas. Route is 5 to Los Banos/Gilroy Cutoff, 101, 17."</p>
<p>joemama, I used to drive San Jose to San Diego overnight in 8 hours via I-5 with one stop for gas at Hwy 58 (Bakersfield turnoff I think) right before approaching the Grapevine...but that's just me. Drive any slower, especially at night, and the 18-wheelers will run you down!</p>
<p>maps.yahoo.com quotes the SD to SC trip at 7 hrs 25 mins, but that's too fast.</p>
<p>I used to take weekend SD theater trips to the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Rep, etc.</p>
<p>Hwy 101/Hwy 1 is much more scenic and slower, but I'm usually in a hurry. I'm old now and prefer to take naps along the way.</p>
<p>Why in the world they decided to build in Riverside is totally beyond me. It's a terrible area -- desert-y, gets the worst of the smog, heats up like crazy during the summer and is muggy and otherwise gross during the rest of the seasons... and it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to Los Angeles and about 1 1/2 to get to Palm Springs. There's skiing nearby (Big Bear is about 1 1/2 away...), and the beaches if you're in for a real drive.</p>
<p>Now, aside from that. Riverside has a pretty good science department (but so does SC). The sal from my graduating class is going to UCR because she still has access to the world-class figure skating training facilities (up in Lake Arrowhead) and she can do her pre-med with some good research opportunities. My AP biology teacher is a UCR alum, and he certainly wasn't held back because of the campus. He was one of the scientists working with the DNA for the OJ Simpson case, has worked with a successful plant virus company he runs with his dad, and has published some really good research on a particular citrus virus.</p>
<p>... Anyway. SC's environment can't be beat. You get ocean views on campus, you're in the middle of a forest, the weather is gorgeous (most of the time) and winter is basically a bunch of cold rain and some groggy days. Temps run between 30-40 in the winter to 80-100 in the summer. Note that it's March, and we've already had a couple good weeks of 70-80 temps with perfect beach weather. Plus, it's not too far to go skiing (there's a Ski & Snowboard club that runs trips to Reno, Mammoth, etc). </p>
<p>There are a bunch of hippies, potsmokers and partiers, but it's something you can get around. No escaping the liberals, though (they're militant here!), so if that's something that's going to bother you, I suggest you consider going somewhere else.</p>
<p>a correction on previous poster's description of weather. It is in the 30s MAYBE 10 days a year, my dad went there and said it didnt freeze once in his entire time there. The only bad thing about winter at SC is that it can get foggy. Itll be in the 50s and foggy. This sucks for being active, but oh, after teh rain, in the fog, the redwoods smell so good, its like teh whole world is fresh again, every time teh fog rolls in.
/its never fresh or new in riverside, always stagnant and smoggy</p>
<p>stayoutofriverside: Do you know anything about the Honors College or Honors Program within UCR?</p>
<p>santa cruz...no question about it.</p>